The first Champions League group stage game of the season is always a special occasion, and the visit of Barcelona to St James’ Park was no exception.
While the 2-1 result did not go Newcastle’s way, the nature of the competition means there is plenty of time to recover.
With seven matches still to play, the dream is far from over. The fixture list ahead offers opportunities for points, and the team must now quickly regroup and focus on the next challenge in Brussels against Union Saint-Gilloise.
However, beneath the surface of a single defeat to a European giant lies a much more pressing and concerning issue that threatens to undermine the entire campaign.
The club is facing a genuine crisis in the most important position on the pitch: centre-forward. The decision to leave record signing Nick Woltemade on the bench against Barcelona has raised a massive red flag and sparked serious questions about the team’s attacking options.
Consider the recent timeline. For weeks, the team struggled without a recognised striker after Alexander Isak’s departure, forcing winger Anthony Gordon to fill in as a false nine with limited success.
The excitement was palpable when the club broke its transfer record to sign Nick Woltemade for £69 million. That excitement reached a fever pitch when he scored the winning goal on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers. It felt like the problem had been solved, that a new hero had arrived.
This is why the team sheet for the Barcelona game was so shocking. Not only was the new goal-scoring hero dropped to the bench, but so was Jacob Murphy, the man who provided the assist for his winning goal.
Instead, the manager chose to start with a front three of Anthony Elanga, Gordon, and Harvey Barnes three talented players, but a trio who had not scored a single goal between them all season. This was a bewildering choice for the biggest game of the season so far.
The decision inevitably leads to difficult questions. Was this a purely tactical gamble, or was it an admission that the club’s record signing is not yet physically ready for the relentless intensity of the Premier League and Champions League?
Comments from the players themselves have hinted at the challenge. Captain Bruno Guimaraes joked after the Wolves game that he had never heard of a player getting cramp after just an hour on the pitch, and Woltemade himself has spoken about finding the physicality of English football tough.
This is a deeply worrying situation. The club invested a fortune to solve this exact problem, yet now finds itself in a seemingly worse position than last season.
Then, they had a 27-goal striker in Alexander Isak. Now, the situation is dire: Yoane Wissa is out long-term with an injury, the new record signing is already being treated with caution, and Anthony Gordon is suspended for the next league game. This is the definition of a striker crisis.
The late consolation goal against Barcelona, created by substitute Jacob Murphy and finished by Gordonnow playing in his natural wide position only served as a glimpse of what might have been with a different starting approach.
It is understandable that the manager wanted to use Elanga’s blistering pace on the counter-attack, but his final ball was often lacking.
There is no doubt that both Woltemade and Elanga, who cost a combined £124 million, have a great deal of potential and will hopefully come good. They deserve time and support. But time is a luxury the team does not have.
The cold reality is that the team has only won one match since the end of last season a run that includes six pre-season friendlies, four Premier League games, and one Champions League outing.
To achieve the goals for this season and avoid playing catch-up, the team must start winning immediately. And to win, you simply have to score goals. Right now, finding a reliable source of those goals is the biggest and most urgent problem facing the club.
