AT any other club, the use of the word ‘crisis’ just a week-and-a-half into the season would rightly be regarded as ridiculous. At Newcastle United, it is merely par for the course.

With the euphoria of last season’s Championship title success having long since dissipated, a familiar sense of festering frustration has swept across Tyneside.

It reflects failings on the pitch, with Newcastle having lost their opening two Premier League matches and suffered a League Cup defeat at the hands of Championship opposition, and problems off it, with Rafael Benitez clearly still unhappy at the way in which the financial goalposts appear to have moved this summer.

There is uncertainty about Benitez’s future, and unease about the Magpies’ prospects if proven reinforcements do not arrive ahead of next Thursday’s transfer deadline. There is also trepidation about tomorrow’s game with West Ham United, one of four other sides who are also still searching for their first Premier League point.

This weekend’s game will not make or break Newcastle’s season, but ahead of a two-week international break, it will set the agenda for the weeks and months to come. Even at such an early stage of the campaign, you fear for what another defeat might mean for a club that has regained its reputation for being disunited.

“It is a big afternoon,” admitted Isaac Hayden, who will return to tomorrow’s starting line-up after finding himself on the bench for the Carabao Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest. “West Ham obviously haven’t started very well either, so it is a big afternoon for us. But we also have to remember it’s a game of football and that’s the way we have to take it. We can’t think about it as anything too serious, it’s only three games into the Premier League season.

“The way we’ve started is obviously disappointing. No one wanted to lose the first three games, but we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We can’t blame anybody else – we can’t blame the manager, we can’t blame the fans, it’s down to the players on the pitch to do the business.

“The manager obviously puts the players on the pitch that he thinks are suitable for the game, and it’s up to each and every one of the lads to do the business.”

While Huddersfield, who beat Newcastle last weekend, have carried plenty of momentum into the Premier League following promotion, the Magpies appear to have gone backwards since last season.

They have spent more than £40m on new signings, but the majority of their additions have either been young players taking a step up, such as Jacob Murphy and Christian Atsu, or players with a point to prove after struggling at their previous clubs, such as Javier Manquillo and Joselu.

Unable to shop at the very top table – partly, it must be said, because of a need to move out unwanted players signed as recently as last summer – Benitez has been forced to pack his squad with youngsters.

That could have its benefits in the long run, but as a member of the Under-23 contingent, Hayden claims it was always bound to lead to teething issues.

“If you look at the team, especially with the additions we’ve signed, we’re all young players,” he said. “It’s very difficult going into the Premier League like that. You look at the Premier League as a whole, and there are not that many young players playing in the Premier League in other teams.

“Burnley don’t have many. Crystal Palace only have a couple. But you look at our team and you’ve got Murphy, myself, (Mikel) Merino, Jamaal (Lascelles) captain at 23. You’ve got Manquillo, (DeAndre) Yedlin, players that are between 21 and 23. They’re not going to suddenly come here and have all the experience and the knowhow.

“But we’re doing the best we can at the moment, and it’s going to take a bit of time to gel together as a group and improve on the pitch and get used to the Premier League. But I saw improvements against Huddersfield, and I’m sure there’ll be improvements on Saturday.”

Benitez’s experience could be crucial over the next few weeks, with the former Champions League winner having to assume an important role both as a figurehead for the club and the leader of a group of players who will need careful guidance and support if positive results continue to prove elusive.

“The manager has been fantastic,” said Hayden. “We’ve got a young group and he hasn’t dug anybody out individually. He’s made it more of a team thing, and he’s been fantastic for everybody, especially the young lads, but also the whole team.

“It’s just about making sure that whoever gets on the pitch, whatever time that is, whether it’s for three minutes or 90, that they do themselves justice and do the fans justice too. It wasn’t meant to be (against Forest), but we’re out of the cup so we just have to leave it now and forget about it, and move on to the Premier League and concentrate on that.”