Is not finishing Premier League top four with this Newcastle United squad a failure? | OneFootball

After losing two (Fulham and Bournemouth at home) of the last three league matches, Newcastle United find themselves outside the Premier League top four with 14 left to play.

United in fifth, currently (morning of Monday 3 February) behind fourth placed Manchester City on goals scored.

The momentum we gained on the back of a nine (six of them in the Premier League) game winning streak has faltered.

I have read a range of view on The Mag comments section and elsewhere.

Some fans claiming that the squad is not fit for purpose, the bench is poor, NUFC haven’t bought enough players to get back in the Premier League top four. The list goes on and on.

It left me wondering what Newcastle United fans really think the realistic expectations are, where we should be?

I get the impression that for many supporters, failing to qualify for the Champions League isn’t good enough.

If that’s the genuine case, then how on earth can the same people turn around and say Newcastle United should be pushing for Premier League top four, yet think the squad on the whole isn’t good enough and there’s been a lack of backing for Eddie howe in the transfer market?

The whole thing for me looks contradictory and it doesn’t make sense.

You can’t expect Premier League top four, whilst at the same time criticising the squad and saying things along the lines of United have maybe three or four top players. It’s ridiculous.

It is the results that determine where we end up, at the end of the day.

Newcastle United finished fourth, two seasons ago, plus we deserved our spot.

Most of that team is still at the club, yet on a regular basis I see comments questioning the ability of players such as Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock, who are rarely even starting any matches.

Have some of these players been as good as they were previously? No, probably not.

However, it is those lads, along with the rest of the group, who put Newcastle United back in the Champions League and helped enable the club to spend big money on Harvey Barnes, Sandro Tonali, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon etc.

The club have bought better players arguably since Newcastle finished in the Premier League top four, yet much of what I read as soon as a couple of bad results occur, are people blaming a few individuals for the club’s problems.

The reality is, the results haven’t backed up people’s claims we should be expected to be a Premier League top four club now and that anything below is a failure.

Since finishing fourth in 2022/23, Newcastle United have played 62 Premier League games, losing 21 of them, drawing 11 and winning 30.

That is 101 points in 62 matches and that average points per game over a 38 match season, gives you a fraction under 62 points.

That’s not Premier League top four, more like sixth.

Did United overachieve two seasons ago?

Or are we underachieving now?

You can’t have it both ways.

Either the players aren’t as good as we think they are and that goes for everyone, not just the scapegoats , or we are expecting too much with a so-called not fit for purpose squad.

With 41 points from 24 PL matches, Newcastle United are currently on target for around 65 points, which would almost certainly fall short of a Premier League top four finish.

It’s fine to have ambitions and expectations, but in my opinion you can’t turn around and say we should be definitely  getting top four, whilst in the same breath demanding new players and lamenting the lack of quality in the squad.

In other words, you are basically saying we should get that top four spot with a squad that you don’t think is good enough to be in the automatic Champions League places.