It’s been a rather rude awakening for Newcastle United fans about what this season will look like over the last few Premier League gameweeks. Back-to-back 4-1 defeats away from home against sides we’d have been hoping to get something off hasn’t exactly bred positivity.
But, while questions have been raised about Matthias Jaissle and whether his tactics are really well suited to Premier League football, the last two away results are actually part of a much wider footballing pattern that has spanned the last 16 years.
Newcastle United just hate Mondays.
A damning Monday Night Football record
Since 2010, Newcastle United have played 35 games on Monday Night Football, only six of those at home and a massive 29 on the road.
During that time, the record is pretty dismal. The Magpies have won just seven of those games, drawing six and losing a whopping 22.
That equates to a 20% win ratio across games played on a Monday night over the last decade and a half. Absolutely abhorrent.
In those games, opponents have scored 60 goals, whereas the Magpies have managed just 32.
All of those stats suggest we maybe shouldn’t have even been surprised with the way the last two away games have gone. Not only do we almost always lose on Monday, but we always lose away from home on Monday - both the Leeds and Coventry games were a recipe for disaster and we didn’t even realise it.
Will it end?
To put it bluntly, as long as we keep being given away games on a Monday I don’t think it will ever change.
For years we have been a side who turn up at home when there is a bit of an atmosphere, but simply don’t seem to be able to navigate not playing in front of a stadium full of our own fans.
That will continue with Matthias Jaissle, especially if he keeps playing the same, expansive, open system that has seen us getting caught in transition so often.
Hopefully that will be the end of our Monday excursions, though, and we can begin to try and turn those away fortunes around moving forward.
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