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Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe says it is a “horrible feeling” to not know what he is going to get from his side.

Howe thought Newcastle had “turned a corner” with a win against Manchester City in November and a more recent four-game unbeaten run, but Sunday’s damaging 1-0 defeat against arch-rivals Sunderland has been a jolt to the system.

Newcastle put in a limp performance after Howe sent out his team to be compact rather than bold at the Stadium of Light.

They now sit 12th in the Premier League table, having won just one away league game since mid-April, and Howe cut a frustrated figure as he assessed his team’s inconsistency a few days on.

“It’s a horrible feeling, because when you enter a game you want your players to go on to the pitch and give absolutely everything they have within their soul and their body to get a positive result,” Howe said on Tuesday.

“That’s the only thing I ever ask a player to do. Then I back their abilities once they go on to the pitch with that mindset to deliver a really good performance.

“There have been a few times this season where I’ve left a game unsure on that, and that’s mentality. That’s knowing you’re representing yourself and your families when you enter the pitch.

Using the disappointment of a painful away defeat to bounce back has become a recurring theme for Newcastle this season, following losses against Brentford, West Ham and Marseille in the last couple of months, and Howe said that is not how he wants his team to be operating.

But Newcastle have to quickly rally once again when Howe’s trophy holders meet Fulham in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup at St James’ Park on Wednesday.

Captain Bruno Guimaraes recognised that Newcastle won’t be able to truly “set things right”, until the next Tyne-Wear derby in March, having labelled his side’s weekend performance a “mess”.

Howe said that talking off the pitch was “important”, but the head coach stressed it “pales in significance against your will to prepare”.

“Bruno’s comments were 90% right, initially,” Howe said. “I don’t think we were a mess. I don’t think the other parts of his original comments were wrong.

“We weren’t a mess – we were very well organised. We just didn’t deliver the performance that we wanted to.

“Bruno is very emotional and that’s part of his success. That’s why he’s such an outstanding player for us and leader for us.

“It’s making sure our messaging is right to the outside world. The mindset now is we can’t affect the past – we can only affect the future. We need to do that today.”

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven said he “never expected” the club to sack former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian’s two-year tenure came to an end just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final – the club’s first major trophy for 17 years.

However, the club’s European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with Tottenham finishing in 17th place in Postecoglou’s final season in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank in the summer but Spurs currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 matches, and suffered a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

“He was a really good manager. I still really like him,” Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

“I don’t know how everything went backstage. I didn’t expect it. It was strange how everything went after – he’s the manager that won silverware for Tottenham.

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte, and enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, taking 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches and Tottenham’s season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou’s style of play, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes Tottenham lacked a “plan B” and revealed he and Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

“I liked the offensive play [under Postecoglou] but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure at the back. I don’t like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack,” he said.

“At the beginning [under Postecoglou], no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football.

“But managers analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn’t really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn’t have solutions to get out.

Brighton have apologised after plans to remove a tribute wall at Amex Stadium were criticised by fans.

The club announced plans to remove their Heritage Tile Wall, which contains more than 2,500 tiles paid for by fans, after saying it was “falling foul of time and weather conditions”.

Brighton intended to replace it with a virtual ‘Fan Wall’ – which fans could upload a photo on to for £45 – to celebrate their 125th anniversary.

“We are aware that the club’s decision to find a new format to recreate and preserve the messages on the heritage tiles has caused distress to some fans and confusion for others. We are very sorry for this,” Barber wrote in a letter to fans.

“We are fully aware that many tiles represent significant sentimental and emotional moments and connections in people’s lives, hence our desire to protect and preserve the messages.

“In looking at all new options, we have listened very carefully to the heartfelt feedback we have received in the past few days and we will not merge the heritage messages with the new 125 wall as originally proposed.”

Brighton aim to have the new installation in place during the 2026-27 season, and have said that all current messages on tiles will be transferred for free.

Hindsight is wonderful.

It provides satisfaction, comfort and expertise. It is much easier to dissect a decision than to make it. Talking and writing about sport in hindsight is more straightforward than playing sport in real time.

England are at the point of confronting hindsight. At 2-0 down in this Ashes series, anything other than a win over Australia in Adelaide will lead to a lot of recrimination on the journey to Melbourne, Sydney and beyond.

Hindsight is not casting a favourable light on England’s Ashes warm-up plans or preparations for the pink-ball game in Brisbane.

There was the decision not to try a specialist opener when Zak Crawley got injured in 2024, dithering over Ollie Pope and Jacob Bethell at number three, not bringing a specialist back-up keeper to the Ashes, or another frontline spinner alongside Shoaib Bashir.

Hindsight would suggest a specialist fielding coach might have been useful in Paul Collingwood’s absence from the backroom staff, and that putting Brydon Carse in a Perth hotel attached to a casino was not the best move 18 months after he served a ban for historic betting offences.

And there is the mid-series break in Noosa. Hindsight has yet to catch up with that one. It could prove to be a stroke of managerial genius, or turn out to be English cricket’s equivalent of the football team in Baden Baden during the 2006 World Cup.

Perhaps hindsight has slapped England captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum in the face.

In the aftermath of the defeat in the second Test in Brisbane, there was talk of weak men and glass jaws.

But Stokes and McCullum have made their bed with the culture of this England team, and now they must raise their sleeping team from it.

How often have we heard the leaders speak of “removing the pressure” from Test cricket, hoisting an umbrella over their men to shield from the reality and expectation of international sport.

Sometimes the only way to deal with bad weather is to get wet. Now England are soaked to the bone.

Bar Stokes, Joe Root and Jofra Archer, every England player in Australia was either saved by, given a debut by or dragged out of the wilderness by the Bazball regime.

Therefore, this culture is all they know. Good vibes, running towards the danger, golf courses. McCullum has regularly said that these players should be having the time of their lives representing England, which is a fair point. Enjoying Test cricket is great, but so is winning.

Stokes has suggested that part of England’s struggles has been a result of players new to touring Australia not coping with the challenge of playing in this country. Is that another issue the management could have predicted?

Remember when the Australia squad was written off as ageing, creaking and over the hill? In hindsight (there’s that word again) they look crafty veterans.

England made a raft of changes to their personnel 18 months ago with this tour in mind.

At the time, selections of Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson and Bashir were justified not only by their performances, but also a collective temperament that seemed like quiet steel. Now neither Atkinson nor Bashir are in the XI for Adelaide, and Smith must somehow find something after a desperate display in Brisbane.

Two years ago, England found themselves 2-0 down in the home Ashes. They prepared for that series with a golf trip in Scotland – one wonders if they would change that decision, given the chance.

As England gathered for the third Test at Headingley, smarting from the Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s, Stokes addressed his team with a word that cannot be printed on the BBC. It worked. England fought back and would have won the Ashes had it not rained in Manchester.

Back then, the England team was filled with battled-hardened soldiers, willing to fight in the Ashes trenches. Bairstow, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood. None of those men are in Australia now.

It is not too long ago that England were happy to get in a battle with India in the home summer. There were flashpoints at Lord’s and Old Trafford, and Stokes’ men looked a better side with fire in their bellies.

Did they think they could bully India, only to then wilt in Australia?

There is a nagging suspicion that the current team leaves too much to Stokes and Root, the captain present and past. Adelaide means plenty to both men. Root played club cricket here, Stokes made his Test debut in this city.

Both were part of the Andy Flower team that fell apart in 2013-14. Root has played 16 Tests in this country without a win, Stokes has played 11. On this tour, Root has England’s only century, Stokes their only five-wicket haul. They are in danger of being let down by their team-mates.

Pope has 63 Test caps – more than Ted Dexter, Steve Harmison and Robin Smith. Crawley has played 61 Tests – the same number as Jack Hobbs and Raymond Illingworth. Have either of Pope or Crawley matured yet?

Ben Duckett is usually a key Stokes lieutenant, buzzing around in the field, never shy of a word. So far his highest score is 28 and he dropped two catches in Brisbane.

England have patiently waited for Archer, primarily with this tour in mind. He has more losses than wins in his 17 Tests. How they need him to produce the lightning pace from the closing stages of Brisbane again in Adelaide.

Perhaps the player with the most making up to do is Harry Brook, who is yet to show the responsibility befitting his elevation to vice-captain. “Shocking” was the way he described his dismissals in Perth and Brisbane. If Brook scores as many runs as he sunk beers in Noosa, he will be fine.

So, this is it. The forecast is for the temperature in Adelaide to reach 39 degrees. The stakes for England are even higher.

Win, and it’s a Christmas cracker of a live fourth Test on Boxing Day in Melbourne. Lose and some careers will be over or put on hold.

England have made all the right noises and done all the right things since arriving in Adelaide. They appear sincere in their understanding of the mistakes made so far.

Is it too late? From now on, the consequences are very real.