It was the low point in a huge summer for Newcastle United and a moment which always felt consequential. Johan Manzambi rejected a move to St James’ Park in favour of Aston Villa, and the Magpies were haunted by that failure on Saturday.
The Swiss midfielder scored the winning goal on another difficult and damaging evening for Matthias Jaissle, but the upshot was much more than that. He completely ran the show, drifting into spaces left very deliberately by tactics becoming increasingly controversial among Newcastle fans, who greeted both the half-time and full-time whistles with a chorus of boos.
In many ways, losing out on Manzambi could be seen as the catalyst for the issues Newcastle are currently facing.
Perhaps that is hyperbole, but he was their top target to reinvent a midfield which would be gutted by the departures of both Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes and, crucially, a player former manager Eddie Howe wanted before resigning at the end of July.
His goal was a first-half header, but it was patently clear throughout with his overall play that his profile would have elevated Newcastle, particularly as Jaissle deploys a No.10 despite not having a specialist in his squad.
Where both Yoane Wissa and Joe Willock have struggled to stake a claim, Manzambi would surely have knitted everything together.
Rebuilding the squad with a more youthful outlook was always the plan for sporting director Ross Wilson. But Manzambi felt like the perfect balance; while only 21, he helped Freiburg to the Europa League final, where they were beaten by Aston Villa and then became the breakout star at the World Cup. He was ready to make an instant impact in the Premier League.
Newcastle spent north of £200m on eight new players, four of whom were on the bench. Amar Dedic has recently been injured, Sean Steur has impressed but, at 18, is not able to play every minute, while Aladji Bamba has barely featured at all. Jaissle does not seem yet convinced by him or Bazoumana Toure, a £50m winger. Only Toure made it onto the pitch in this game.
The balance in the squad is not quite right, and that uncertainty is causing problems.
After the game, Jaissle reinforced that such a big summer of change in the dugout and within the squad was always going to result in teething issues at the start of the season. Having gone unbeaten in their opening three Premier League games, Newcastle have suffered defeat in three of their last four.
“You need a reality check after a couple of months during a transitional phase,” he said in his post-match press conference.
“We have all thought about it. There will be ups and downs, at the moment, this is a down, that is not for discussion. It is clear.
“It was a step in the right direction between the boxes. There is huge potential but we need to learn fast. We need to be more efficient in the final third and be more clinical.
“We were all aware when we arrived. Big names left the club before and after. We knew that with the brave approach to sign young talents, it will be even more challenging. That is not an excuse.”
Jaissle is right, this new Newcastle needs time, and given what happened in the summer, this sort of form is not entirely unexpected. But there are also real concerns about how long it will take and whether the manager is willing to adapt his principles.
He spoke in the summer about ‘intense, front-foot football’ and it has been clear since the start of the season that he encourages risk for the sake of reward. But they have conceded 14 goals in the league this season, the most at the time of writing, while having the second-worst xG only behind Coventry City, who scored four past them last week.
Right now, that is all risk for no reward.
It is up to Jaissle to show that progress because every game feels the same, chaotic and not in a good way. There have been good results, but even they have been caveated by concerning underlying metrics.
He will get time and support, but the Coventry game was supposed to start a run of winnable fixtures before the next international break, with Crystal Palace, Everton twice, in league and cup, and Fulham set to follow.
Arsenal, Brighton, Manchester United and Sunderland await soon after. There is pressure to deliver as soon as possible.
