Newcastle has plunged into its most challenging period since the club was by Saudi Arabia鈥檚 sovereign wealth fund five years ago.
And its under-pressure manager knows it.
鈥淚鈥檓 aware of the results and they aren鈥檛 good enough,鈥� Eddie Howe said after a 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, which marked a third straight defeat in the Premier League for Newcastle and a seventh in the last 11 games in all competitions.
Newcastle received boos at full time and the team is languishing in 14th place in the 20-team top flight with five games remaining of the campaign.
Howe 鈥� , weeks after the takeover by Saudi鈥檚 Public Investment Fund 鈥� has been popular with the Newcastle fans after qualifying for the Champions League in two of the last three seasons. But support might be starting to turn. Last month, the club did he鈥檒l be in charge beyond this season.
鈥淢y belief in myself can鈥檛 waver, and it鈥檚 not,” said Howe, who acknowledged his team had become too easy to beat in recent matches. 鈥淎t this moment of time, I feel very flat.鈥�
Indeed, these are tough times for PIF, which in recent years has spent heavily investing on sporting projects such as LIV Golf and funding the biggest soccer teams in Saudi Arabia.
This week, PIF in the kingdom鈥檚 most successful club, , and there was also huge speculation about whether the fund was on the brink of cutting its financial backing of LIV. LIV鈥檚 as scheduled, its chief executive said, but the situation beyond that remains cloudy.
Truffert scores late winner
At St. James鈥� Park, Adrien Truffert broke a tie in the 85th minute with his first Premier League goal to win the game for eighth-place Bournemouth, which is unbeaten in 13 straight league matches 鈥� including six wins.
Marcus Tavernier turned in Rayan鈥檚 cross across the goalmouth in the 32nd minute to put the Cherries ahead. Will Osula equalized in the 68th minute after an initial offside call was overturned in a video review.
Newcastle captain Bruno Guimar茫es entered in the 62nd minute after recovering from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him since Feb. 10.
Howe said he sees 鈥渢otal commitment鈥� in his squad but hesitated when answering whether he believed his players have the same fire that he had.
鈥淚 believe they do,鈥� he eventually replied, 鈥渁nd, as I say, from what I see in the training ground, I don鈥檛 see any sense of poor attitude or poor commitment to their work. 鈥� If I I did, I would make the adjustments.鈥�
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