Newcastle’s season in danger of unravelling as pressure mounts

As attention switches to domestic issues, Eddie Howe needs a good result in the League Cup quarter-final against Chelsea next week

There are two ways of looking at Newcastle United’s exit from European competition after their home defeat by AC Milan.
A game in which Eddie Howe’s players chased a place in the Champions League and ended up out of Europe completely. It was twist or bust, the stakes were high and Newcastle lost all their chips.
Was it a disaster, caused by naivety, that exposed players and coaching staff at the highest level? Or is it going to be a blessing in disguise for a squad who did not look strong enough to compete on four fronts this season back in August and who have been decimated by injuries since?
It is a question that can be raised in the aftermath of a difficult defeat, but it is probably one we will only know the answer to in the not-too-distant future.
Howe had called for a magical European night under the lights at St James’ Park, but it turned into yet another nearly night for a club that has specialised in them.
Newcastle are a club who cannot shake off their past. They are a club who have lost five cup finals in a row since last celebrating silverware, a club who failed to win the Premier League in 1996 despite having a 12-point lead at the start of the year. They are a club who have not been able to get over the line so often that you always expect them to trip and fall on the home straight.
This was another of those implosions against AC Milan but it does not need to be a disaster. Newcastle are out of Europe but there were those of us who always felt Champions League football had come a little too soon in their transition from relegation battlers to ‘big six’ disruptors.
And even amid the crushing sense of disappointment as Newcastle threw away a 1-0 lead and then refused to settle for the draw that would have ensured the consolation prize of the Europa League, there was a sense that this campaign can still be a successful one.
But although a tricky question about where this leaves Howe and his players can be asked now, the truth is we will only know the answer this time next week.
Newcastle might well be out of Europe, but with a League Cup quarter-final against Chelsea to come in just six days, the domestic cups will either salvage or ruin the first half of their campaign. Thin margins, but after three defeats in a row, Howe needs a good result at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday.
Win and Newcastle will be two games away from a second successive domestic cup final and Howe will have another wonderful opportunity to end the most infamous trophy drought in English football.
But lose to Mauricio Pochettino’s side and all of the positive work done since August will start to unravel. Pressure will build, it is just the way things are in football. The stakes are always high and Newcastle cannot always keep losing their chips.
Suddenly, a campaign full of promise is teetering on the precipice. A wrong step now and the ground underneath them will start to crumble. Newcastle will be in danger of taking a tumble.
“Yeah I think that is of course a challenge,” said Howe, when asked if there was danger of a hangover after a defeat like this. “We have another game in two days time and Fulham are going to come here and not make it easy for us. We have to park it and adjust. That will be even more difficult with the result.
“The Premier League is unrelenting but we have tried to embrace it as a positive, we have tried to play football the Newcastle way. We had to try and go for the win.
“I definitely think that [protecting the confidence of the players] is absolutely part of my job. Confidence is a very fragile thing, even when you are winning, players need to believe how good they can be.
“This is a good test for us. Football is an amazing thing. If you go back 10 days, we had just beaten Manchester United with our best performance of the season and one of our best performances for a while and now we have had three defeats. 
“It is relentless but that is the challenge we accept. We have to park this and move on and I’m sure we will.”