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Eddie Howe is not given to dramatics or grand public statements. Based on his usual demeanor, his press conference after the weekend's 3-1 defeat qualifies as a angry tirade. His side took an early lead but West Ham took the lead by half-time, while also hitting the post and seeing a spot-kick revoked by VAR, leading Howe to execute a three substitutions at the half-time.

“That was the frustrating thing about the first half,” the coach said. “Virtually any player could have been substituted and I think that was a reflection of our performance level at that stage during the match and it's extremely uncommon for me to feel that way. Actually, I cannot recall having done so during my tenure as manager of Newcastle, therefore I believed the team required a significant change at half-time. This explains why I made what I did.”

Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at half-time and Newcastle managed to steady somewhat in the second half, without ever really looking like they could get back into the game against a side that had won only one of their previous nine league matches. Considering the congestion the middle of the standings is, with a mere three-point gap separating the top spots from mid-table, and nine points between the upper and lower ranks, a sequence of 12 points from 10 games has not placed Newcastle adrift but, equally, they must not end the campaign in 13th.

The Issue of Perception

The challenge to an extent is one of perception. In the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the club have the wealthiest owners in the world. The assumption when the Saudi fund bought 80% of the club in recent years was that it would bring a transformative effect, as the former Chelsea owner achieved at Stamford Bridge or the City Group had at Manchester City. The difference is that those two owners took over before the introduction of financial fair play regulations (while the current allegations against Manchester City concern if they breached those guidelines after they were in place).

Profit and sustainability regulations limit the ability of proprietors, no matter how wealthy, to spend money on their teams and therefore likely might have slowed any Saudi effort to elevate the team to the level of City. But there is no need for the club's expenditure to have been quite as cautious as it has; they might have spent more and remained within the threshold – or simply taken a fairly minor European penalty since their major issue is more with the European than the domestic rules.

Stadium Investment and Financial Regulations

Besides which, infrastructure spending is exempted from Profit and Sustainability assessments; the easiest way to increase revenue to generate additional PSR headroom would be to extend or renovate the stadium. Given the location of St James’ Park, with protected structures on multiple sides, practically that likely implies constructing an entirely new stadium. There was talk in spring of potentially undertaking the short move to a local park – opposition from local groups might have been surmounted with a promise to create a replacement green space on the existing ground location – but there has not been any progress on that proposal. There has occurred substantial cutbacks from the Saudi fund on a variety of projects as it shifts focus on domestic affairs; the attitude to Newcastle appears completely in alignment with that strategic shift.

Player Sales Situation

The star striker saga was arose from that conflict. A more confident leadership could have framed his sale as essential to free up capital for further investment; instead there was a vain effort to keep him. That meant Newcastle started the campaign amidst a sense of frustration even with the acquisitions of several new players. The opening was mixed: one win in their initial six fixtures.

Yet it seemed a turning point was reached. They secured five in six before Sunday, a run that featured convincing wins of Union Saint-Gilloise and a Portuguese club in the European competition. This explains the display against West Ham was such a shock. The issue perhaps is that the team's style is very aggressive, very high-octane; a minor decrease in intensity can have significant effects. Perhaps the strain of domestic, Champions League and cup competition, five fixtures in 15 days, had got to them. The German forward started all five matches and looked particularly weary.

Reality of Contemporary Football

This is the reality of today's football. Coaches must be prepared to rotate. Howe has been unlucky that Wissa’s injury has left him lacking forward choices but, no matter how valid the reasons, the weekend's showing was unacceptable –particularly after taking the lead at a stadium ready to turn on its own side.

Howe will hope it was merely a temporary setback, an off-day when everybody is below par at once, but if Newcastle are to secure the European competition next season, let alone eventually launch an actual championship bid, they must not be as unreliable as this.