Our expert panel takes a look at Newcastle and tries to work out why performances have been up and down, whether they got things wrong in the transfer market and whether they can challenge for the top four this season.
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00:00Hello, I'm Matthew Gregory, and welcome back to the Premier League panel. This week, we're
00:08going to take a good long look at Newcastle United. Are they serious top four contenders?
00:12Did they make a mess of the transfer window? And what's changed since last season? To help
00:17me pore over everything going on up at St James' Park, I'm joined, as always, by an
00:21expert panel. North East football reporter Mark Carruthers is here, as is National World
00:26Football journalist Curtis Leland. Mark, I'll come to you first. It's been a bit of
00:31a strange season so far, some quite up and down performances and results. You know, you've
00:35got a very creditable draw against Manchester City very recently, a comeback win against
00:40Wolves, also a pretty disappointing show against Fulham and so on. What do you make of where
00:44the team is right now?
00:46If I'm honest, I don't know. I know this is really boring, but I don't know.
00:52That's a strong start to the show, thank you, Mark.
00:54No, I mean, you look at the first sort of five, six games before the Fulham game and
00:59results were, on the whole, really positive. You know, getting a draw down at Bournemouth
01:03when they didn't play well was a positive. Getting three points against Southampton opening
01:08day when they were down to 10 men for over an hour, really positive. Beating Tottenham
01:12is kind of a given at St James' for Newcastle, so certainly these days anyway. The one thing
01:18I would say is that performances weren't there, that the results didn't really match what
01:24was going on in the pitch. I don't think the levels of intensity and aggression and
01:31togetherness were there from Newcastle through those games. I think that sort of culminated
01:35in the Fulham game where no one hit the levels. It was a really poor display and I think they
01:41got what they deserved, basically. I think it had been coming throughout those games.
01:46What I would say is I think the Man City game last Saturday, you sort of saw little bits
01:51of the qualities that led the club to that fourth place finish two seasons ago. There
01:57was the intensity, there was the high press, there was the energy, there was the anger,
02:03if anything, where most of the players looked as if they were ready to really get stuck
02:07into players and really make it uncomfortable. I just felt, even though the home record last
02:11season was still strong, really strong to be fair, I didn't feel it was as uncomfortable
02:17for clubs to come to St. James' Park. Whereas for the first time this season, and I'm fully
02:22aware there are only three, four home games in, Manchester City, who are, let's be honest,
02:27the best team in the Premier League by some distance, looked uncomfortable and looked
02:31awkward. And I think Pep Guardiola accepted that after the game and that's what Newcastle
02:36needed to do more. So to answer your question, I guess, yes, it's been a positive start of
02:42the season results wise, performances are improving. So I think we're very much sort
02:47of, and I am sitting on the fence here and I apologise, we are sort of in a wait and
02:50see scenario with Newcastle now to see where they go next. Can they replicate that performance
02:55against Manchester City over the coming games?
02:58Well Curtis, I'll ask you basically the same question then. I mean, do you sort of share
03:02Mark's cautious optimism, I suppose, about results and improvements, or are you a bit
03:07worried still about the level of performance we've seen and some of the specifics?
03:11I'd have to echo most of what's Mark said really. I think, particularly the Manchester
03:17City game, I think that was the nearest thing to Newcastle at the best. I think for most
03:21games they've kind of rode the look. The Bournemouth game probably is the main summary of that
03:27because there was a last minute goal and even I was sat there when it was disallowed kind
03:32of going, we've all let off there. So yeah, I think it's a case of like at the moment
03:37it's just been individual moments have got us out of games. Things like what Harvey Barnes
03:43is capable of, flashes of what Gordon's capable of. But yeah, I don't think they've got going
03:49at all yet. And like last night's game against Wimbledon kind of summed it up as well. They
03:54didn't really push on after getting that first goal.