Saturday’s match ended Brentford 4 Newcastle 2.
Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.
Plenty to talk about after this one…
On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:
POSITIVES
We can avenge this defeat in eleven days time
I’ll take that 4-2 reverse if we beat this lot in the League Cup a week on Wednesday.
The incentive if we do is that, we’ll reach the semi-final for the second time in three years.
We scored two!
That’s five in our last two outings after averaging just one goal per game in the league before that.
Isak did really well to stoop low and direct Murphy’s cross-come shot past Flekken.
Barnes redeemed himself for his errant pass that led to Brentford’s second by finding space in the box to turn and score with a neat finish to make it 2-2.
Murphy grabbed both assists
Jacob Murphy might not be everyone’s cup of tea but Eddie is showing faith in the boy from Birtley and the lad contributed by assisting both goals.
NEGATIVES
Sloppy defending
Brentford were gifted both goals in the first half.
I counted at least four Newcastle players around Mbuemo and yet he still got a shot away to give Brentford a 1-0 lead.
For their second, Barnes sloppily gave the ball to Wissa who still had a lot to do, but was left unopposed as he surged forward to shoot past Pope for 2-1.
When Collins made it 3-2, no one put in a challenge and by the time the fourth went in, I’d lost the plot.
Profligate in attack?
Honestly, even accounting for those two sloppy goals conceded in the first half, we should have been home and dry at the interval. I counted SIX big chances that we didn’t take.
Sean Longstaff was unlucky with his thunderbolt that cannoned off the bar after just four minutes.
How did Isak not score when he’d gone round Flekken? That would have put us 2-1 up and might have proved significant.
Bruno’s shot went agonisingly wide, with Flekken beaten.
Murphy should have scored from a Barnes cross but couldn’t direct his header on goal.
Hall’s slide rule pass put in Barnes who was unlucky to see his shot blocked.
Flekken did well to save Murphy’s deflected shot.
Mid-table blues
I’m not saying we’re looking over our shoulder and goodness me, there are several teams in this league that are considerably worse than we are, but we’re hardly setting the heather alight, languishing in mid-table and don’t look like breaking into the top six any time soon, which is where we aspire to be.
We brought some decent reinforcements off the bench today, but the injection of almost £100 million of talent on the hour made little difference, in fact, I thought we looked worse after Tonali and Gordon appeared.
Callum Wilson did nothing when he came on and Miggy did even less!
Brentford 4 Newcastle 2 – Saturday 7 December 3pm
(Stats via BBC Sport)
Goals:
Newcastle United :
Isak 11, Barnes 32
Brentford:
Mbeumo 8, Wissa 28, Collins 56. Schade 90
(Half-time stats in brackets)
Possession was Newcastle 56% (53%) Brentford 44% (47%)
Total shots were Newcastle 16 (9) Brentford 11 (4)
Shots on target were Newcastle 3 (2) Brentford 8 (3)
Corners were Newcastle 4 (2) Brentford 3 (1)
Touches in the box Newcastle 40 (19) Brentford 26 (12)
Newcastle team v Brentford:
Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall (Trippier 83), Joelinton (Tonali 60), Bruno, Longstaff (Wilson 73), Barnes (Almiron 74), Isak, Jacob Murphy (Gordon 60)
Unused Subs:
Dubravka, Targett, Osula, Kelly
(Brentford 4 Newcastle 2 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)
(The wrong kind of six goal thriller this time – Brentford 4 Newcastle 2 – Read HERE)
Newcastle United upcoming matches confirmed to end of January 2025:
Saturday 14 December – Newcastle v Leicester (3pm)
Wednesday 18 December – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (Carabao Cup)
Saturday 21 December – Ipswich v Newcastle (3pm)
Thursday 26 December – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon
Monday 30 December – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports
Saturday 4 January – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30pm) TNT Sports
Sunday 12 January – Newcastle v Bromley (3pm) BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)
Wednesday 15 January – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports
Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports
Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)