Newcastle United's 2-0 defeat against Man City felt like the story of the Magpies' 2023 in a nutshell. Man City had just one more shot on target than Newcastle yet the clinical champions scored two goals at the Etihad. Newcastle, in contrast, failed to find the back of the net. Again.
In truth, Newcastle did not even force Ederson into action from some promising situations. Anthony Gordon lost his footing at the crucial moment when played through early on; Sean Longstaff took too long to pull the trigger inside the box; Callum Wilson failed to properly connect with Kieran Trippier's knockdown on the volley; and Joelinton was unable to get his foot on the end of Joe Willock's teasing cross.
As competitive as Newcastle were, in the final third, the visitors looked every inch a side who had only scored three goals in eight top-flight fixtures. No matter how many intense finishing drills are repeated in training, this team appear drained of confidence in front of goal come match day.
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Newcastle's forwards have scored four measly goals in the league since the restart. Beyond them, no one has stepped up to ease the burden in the top-flight; Newcastle's giant defenders are not scoring from set-pieces while Joelinton remains the only midfielder in black and white to notch in the Premier League in recent months.
It is important to stress Newcastle are still sixth in the table, with two games in hand on Spurs, having just reached their first cup final in 24 years. However, there is no denying that Newcastle are misfiring in front of goal at a crucial juncture of the campaign. In the last eight league games, alone, Newcastle have had a whopping 102 shots yet Eddie Howe's side only have three goals to show for their efforts.
No wonder Newcastle have only picked up eight points from a possible 24 in that time. To put that haul into perspective, Newcastle claimed 22 points from 24 in their previous eight fixtures, scoring 20 goals in the process.
“I’m not going to lie and say it’s not a concern because, of course, it is," Howe told reporters. "But I think if you’re still creating them, and we did, then that’s a positive.
"We didn’t create an abundance of chances because we were playing against one of the best teams in world football, but we had the moments and I back the players over the long-term that we will start scoring again. We need to - that’s a fact - because the confidence of the team is dependent on it really. That’s certainly something for us to reflect on."
That lack of conviction in the opposition box has come at a time when Newcastle's usually watertight defence have been giving away soft goals in recent weeks and the Magpies have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last four league games. For context, Newcastle kept four shutouts in all of their previous four top-flight fixtures.
Those frustrations in both boxes have a knock-on effect; the defenders know the forwards are not scoring enough so keeping a clean sheet is more important than ever yet, at the same time, the forwards know the defenders are shipping more goals than usual so they simply have to take their chances.
Who starts Sunday's huge game against Wolves will be telling, but this is a frontline that looks in need of freshening up. No Premier League side has scored fewer goals in 2023 and Fulham, Brentford and Leicester are among those teams who have been more prolific in the top-flight this season.
While Newcastle are still creating chances, it certainly feels like opposition sides have a better handle of what to expect from Howe's team when the intensity the black-and-whites played with perhaps came as a shock earlier in the campaign. With that in mind, you can see why Howe feels Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon will both have big roles to play in the second half of the season and beyond.
The pair are still young, still not at their optimum fitness levels and still adjusting to what Howe and his staff want from them, but they will give this side a different dimension in the years to come. In some ways, Saturday felt like a little glimpse of that.
The manner in which Newcastle's forwards pressed and harried City into mistakes in the opening stages hinted at why Gordon started ahead of Allan Saint-Maximin while Isak was electric when he came on after the hour mark. However difficult it may be to drop some experienced names, surely it won't be long until the £108m signings start together as Newcastle look to keep their European dream alive.
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