More questions than answers as Newcastle yet to catch fire

Newcastle United players waited impatiently in the tunnel at the Etihad.

It was three minutes until kick-off and the Carabao Cup holders were desperate to get going as a bemused Kieran Trippier looked around and wondered where his counterparts from Manchester City were.

There was no sign of Pep Guardiola’s team.

The hosts took their time to emerge from the dressing room, but they quickly left Newcastle in a daze after racing into a 3-0 lead in the second leg of their semi-final.

On a day CEO David Hopkinson doubled down on his assertion that Newcastle will be competing for the biggest prizes by 2030, the naive visitors looked a long way off in that first half.

Head coach Eddie Howe certainly did not hold back in the away dressing room as he made a triple change at half-time.

“I was really annoyed,” he said.

Not for the first time.

Newcastle managed to rally after the break and pulled one back through substitute Anthony Elanga as they bowed out with a 5-1 defeat on aggregate.

Despite the loss, those 5,400 supporters in the away end repeatedly chanted “Eddie Howe’s black and white army”, in recognition of the head coach who ended the club’s seven-decade wait for a major domestic trophy in this very competition.

In truth, Newcastle have yet to catch fire six months into the campaign.

That may seem a curious statement.

Newcastle have reached a third EFL Cup semi-final in four years.

Howe’s side remain favourites to progress past Qarabag into the last 16 of the Champions League.

They could still get back to Wembley through the FA Cup – even if an awkward fourth-round tie against Aston Villa awaits next week.

But Newcastle sit in 11th place in the Premier League.

The players previously spoke among themselves about trying to make history once again by becoming the first Newcastle side to qualify for the Champions League in successive campaigns.

However, this travel sick team have only won two away games in the top flight this season.

Howe’s men have picked up just 11 points from a possible 36 against those sides currently above them in the division.

They have dropped 16 points from winning positions.

It has felt like a season of transition, following the damaging departure of top scorer Alexander Isak, and Howe’s response was telling when asked if he could tolerate such a word this week.

“I can,” he said. “Transition from the team is an obvious one because we brought players in from the summer and we lost players in the summer.

“There was always going to be a change to the team. Now change doesn’t have to be negative – it can be positive. We are trying to find that flow and rhythm that we have been searching for all season, really.

There have certainly been glimpses of what this team could be in recent weeks.

There was a devastating first-half display against Chelsea, a spirited hour away to Paris St-Germain and a fine opening half an hour or so at Anfield.

But games are not won in snatches.

It has been a frustration of the coaching staff that they have lacked the training time during an unrelenting run of fixtures to really work on things and piece it all together like they have during previous sticky spells.

Instead the players have come to rely on meeting rooms, analysis sessions and walk-throughs.

This is the reality of life at clubs who aspire to fight on multiple fronts, of course, but competing in four competitions was an unprecedented feat for Newcastle going into February.

The relentless nature of the schedule has had a knock-on effect on the squad – Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Tino Livramento and Fabian Schar are all currently sidelined, while Anthony Gordon hobbled off with a hamstring issue on Wednesday night.

It has also had an impact on the adaptation of Newcastle’s summer signings who, aside from defender Malick Thiaw, are still finding their feet at the club.

Thiaw, Jacob Ramsey, Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa all joined in the final fortnight or so of a turbulent window, in which the club operated without a sporting director and missed out on a host of top targets.

Newcastle, remarkably, are still searching for a settled combination in the final third despite spending £179m on forwards.

Elanga enjoyed a lively second-half cameo at the Etihad, but Woltemade was substituted at half-time – having failed to score since December – while the rusty Wissa missed a host of good chances in both legs.

It leaves Newcastle with more questions than answers as they embark on a crunch run of fixtures.

“Where does that leave our season?” Howe asked. “We’re still fighting on several fronts.