MANCHESTER CITY’S bench at St James’ Park on Saturday cost a combined sum of £261m. Newcastle United’s comprised two goalkeepers, two completely untried youngsters, four full-backs and a stand-in centre-half.

Pep Guardiola was able to bring on Kevin de Bruyne to completely change the game midway through the second half, and could still leave three England internationals – Rico Lewis, Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish – as unused replacements. Eddie Howe threw on Lewis Hall with four minutes remaining and opted not to introduce Matt Ritchie or Paul Dummett.

So, yes, Newcastle are in a slump, with Saturday’s defeat making it six losses in the last seven league games and forcing Howe to reflect on back-to-back home reverses for the first time in his two-year tenure as Magpies boss. But even the harshest of critics would have to accept there is considerable mitigation for the current malaise, which has nevertheless derailed Newcastle’s season in the last month-and-a-half.

With Tino Livramento absent because of illness at the weekend, Newcastle were without ten senior players. Most are either midfielders or forwards, severely limiting Howe’s ability to make tactical alterations either before or during a game. Everyone could see that the home side needed some fresh minds and bodies as Manchester City piled on the pressure in the final quarter of the game at the weekend, but when Howe looked behind him, the options were simply not there. As a result, while City successfully staged a last-gasp recovery mission that could prove pivotal in the title race, Newcastle were left to reflect on yet another missed opportunity.

“I think what I’d say on our situation is that we love the players we have, it’s just unfortunately for us, all our attacking players are not available,” said Howe. “There are a lot of attacking players missing and, whenever you get that, you’re in a difficult situation. If the injuries had been spread out a bit more evenly, it wouldn’t be so defining for us.

“It’s not having the ability to bring on players that can execute what you want them to do to the maximum of their ability. We've got some incredible athletes missing at the moment that would have given us another gear or couple of gears. Then there’s also a psychological impact of not having those players available to the players that are playing. That is sometimes under-estimated.”

READ MORE:

Newcastle have been running on empty for a couple of months now, fading from the battle for a top-four finish and also fading in the latter stages of individual matches. In four of their last eight games, they have established a winning position, only to go on to lose.

As Howe was forced to concede on Saturday night, their latest defeat followed a now all-too-familiar pattern. Newcastle were rampant when they were full of energy, tearing around to close down Manchester City’s players, winning the ball back in key areas and forcing errors that enabled them to establish a 2-1 lead.

As their collective energy waned, though, so did their effectiveness, resulting in them sitting back in the closing stages in a futile attempt to cling on. It was the same story against AC Milan, when the Italians scored with six minutes remaining to knock Newcastle out of Europe, and at Stamford Bridge, when Chelsea struck in injury time to secure the penalty shootout that saw the Magpies exit the Carabao Cup.

Saturday’s game witnessed yet another stoppage-time strike, with Oscar Bobb slotting home in the 91st minute after a wonderful floated pass from super-sub de Bruyne, who had struck his side’s equaliser within five minutes of coming onto the field.

Newcastle have developed a damaging habit of conceding decisive late goals, but like so much else that has happened in the last couple of months, the wider picture provides context for their woes.

“I don't sense a psychological issue from our perspective,” said Howe. “I didn't sense a goal coming. Yes, Manchester City were on top in the game, but I felt we defended a lot of really difficult situations very well and I felt that we were okay psychologically in the game.

“We sort of knew where we were. We had to defend well, we had to close space well and for the majority of the time, we'd done that, so the goal felt a little bit like a couple of other games where it’s come out of nothing. Whether you compliment them or criticise us, it's sort of an individual action that's happened and we've ended up conceding.

“Obviously, we don't want that to continue, that has to stop at some stage. But I do think it's linked to our inability to change things from an attacking perspective, bizarrely, because fresh legs (make a difference). We've seen it so many times ourselves this season, you bring on an attacking sub and suddenly your team dynamic looks totally different.”

Having slipped to tenth in the table, Newcastle now head into a ten-day break that has to reinvigorate their season. For all Howe’s downbeat messages over transfers, it is surely inconceivable that the Magpies will do nothing this month, with a loan deal for Phillips still the likeliest scenario. Things might have been different at the weekend had the midfielder been on Newcastle’s bench instead of City’s.

The trip to Villa Park at the end of the month is a daunting one, but the schedule becomes kinder after that and Newcastle could still be a factor in the latter stages of the FA Cup. The season is not finished yet, for all that events of the last few weeks mean ambitions have had to be recalibrated.