Newcastle suffered their 12th defeat of the season in the Premier League Monday night, leaving them bang average as number 10 in the table. A hefty down-swing in form compared to the five defeats in total last season. With an away game against Manchester City coming up in the FA Cup, could this end up being a season to forget?
"I don't think so. Now that they've got no European games, I think you'll definitely see in an improvement in the last 10-11 games of the Premier League season," says Newcastle legend Shay Given in conversation with Tribalfootball.com.
"Obviously, every Newcastle fan would love them to win the FA Cup, but they've had no luck at all with the draws in the Cup competitions this year. They faced Manchester City and Manchester United in the EFL Cup, before getting knocked out by Chelsea.
"They had the toughest group at all in the Champions League and now Man City away in the FA Cup. Then again, in a one-off game at the Etihad, you just never know. Manchester City might have one eye on the Champions League and the Premier League. It depends who is fit for Newcastle, but we know strange things can happen in the FA Cup," Given adds hopefully, still putting a lot of faith in manager Eddie Howe.
"Eddie's brilliant on the training ground, and he's had more time in the last few weeks to coach his team. In the first six or seven months of the season there was no preparation going on. It was just wrapping the lads up in cotton wool and ice baths and getting ready for the next game.
"That makes it difficult for him to coach and prepare for games. I think you'll see Newcastle with a strong finish to the season," says Given who doesn't join in the choir who's had it in for Martin Dubravka as he has deputized for the injured Nick Pope in goal.
"I think he's done really well. He performed at a high level in FA Cup, saving a couple of penalties against Blackburn and also made some brilliant saves in the game as well. It's just easy to blame the goalkeeper isn't it," he asks rhetorically pointing instead to how big a problem it is that Kieran Trippier is now sidelined with an injury.
"He's been absolutely brilliant and he's shown real leadership qualities. Every time Eddie Howe speaks about him, it gets highlighted what a great player he is, but also what he does off the pitch as well. He's the main voice and it would have been a huge blow if he had left for Bayern Munich in January"
The upcoming battle against Manchester City is also a battle between the two wealthiest clubs in the Premier League. However, Given believes Newcastle are facing some obstacles Manchester City didn't face when Sheikh Mansour arrived at the Etihad with a huge wallet.
"I think all Newcastle fans and even with myself as an ex-Newcastle player there's frustration about the financial fair play. Newcastle have the wealthiest owners in the world, that's common knowledge, and still, they are speaking about having to sell Bruno Guimaraes to generate money to buy players. It feels like there's something not quite right with that situation.
"How do you get to Manchester City's level or how do you even compete at City's level if you're having to sell your best player? It feels a bit ironic that you have to weaken your team to try and strengthen your team to get anywhere close to Manchester City," Given while looking back at his time with Manchester City.
"When I joined there was no financial fair play at the very start and they really had a fast forward button to speed things up to try and catch the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and the like. Now it feels that all these sorts of things are put in place to stop clubs like Newcastle or Tottenham or any sort of club to catching up to the big boys. That doesn't sit really well with me either."
Shay Given is a brand ambassador for sports betting platform CopyBet. Visit CopyBet.com.
