There is a yellow wall in Bournemouth, but it is made of sandstone and lies beneath the row of pines that edge the cricket pitch just over the road from the car park. Having played in front of the Yellow Wall at Dortmund on Tuesday – capacity of stand: 25,000 – a process of recalibration is required for Newcastle to play at Dean Court – capacity of stadium: 11,379. That readjustment, as much as fatigue, is the problem presented by the Champions League.
And it is becoming a problem: Newcastle have won only one of four games after European ties this season. That was, admittedly, the 8-0 win at Sheffield United, but at West Ham and at Wolves they were as flat as they were here. Seven points have been dropped in those three games. That doesn’t in any sense means that another Champions League qualification is impossible or even unlikely, but they do now lie behind Manchester United, for all their perpetual crisis. “We couldn’t be where we needed to be for it,” said Eddie Howe. “In and out of possession we were unrecognisable. They’re such honest players and they’ve given me so much that I’m absolutely clear I have to support them.”
