The Magpies produced a horror show at Brentford and pressure is starting to mount on their manager
Brentford 4-2 Newcastle (Mbeumo 8′, Wissa 28′, Collins 56′, Schade 90′ | Isak 11′, Barnes 32′)
GTECH COMMUNITY STADIUM — Even as Storm Darragh battered Brentford, Eddie Howe stood stoic as ever on the touchline, watching grimly on as his Newcastle side committed one unforced error after another until eventually the self-inflicted damage was unsalvagable.
Howe will have hoped that Fabian Schar’s dramatic equaliser against the Premier League’s runaway leaders in midweek would be a turning point for his team after a campaign so far dogged by inconsistency. It didn’t take long for the good vibes to vanish.
A heavy defeat in west London means that Newcastle have taken just two points from their last four games, leaving them 12th in the table.
Ignore the stirring fightback against Liverpool and the Magpies have one point from a possible nine against West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brentford. And they were very lucky to leave Selhurst Park with anything.
The Bees are tough to tame on their own patch. Thomas Frank’s side are a free-scoring force at home, rattling in 26 goals in their opening eight matches at the Gtech, by a distance the best tally in the Premier League.
They barely had to work for their four on Saturday, though, each individually gift-wrapped by players in red and navy stripes as though they were playing Secret Santa.
It took just eight minutes for Bryan Mbeumo to breach a defective defence, cutting inside Lewis Hall far too easily before rifling a shot past Nick Pope.
As reported by The i Paper, Mbeumo has admirers in Newcastle’s recruitment department and while the winger would improve any Premier League squad, they have other more pressing issues to attend to. This was a defensive disasterclass from a team that is becoming increasingly easy to play against.
The visitors enjoyed a brief period of authority after Alexander Isak had stooped to head them level from a Jacob Murphy cross. Isak was a constant threat in the first half, but missed a huge chance to put Newcastle in front after rounding Mark Flekken before inexplicably allowing the keeper to recover with the goal open in front of him.
Instead, Brentford scored the second goal, assisted by Harvey Barnes. Only Barnes will know what he was trying to do, but his misdirected pass across the pitch fell to Yoane Wissa who curled a shot into the same top corner that Mbeumo had located 20 minutes before.
Barnes did at least atone for his mistake minutes later with an assured finish to bring Newcastle level for the second time, but the desired improvement did not follow.
Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon appears dejected after the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Picture date: Saturday December 7, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story SOCCER Brentford. Photo credit should read: John Walton/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.
Newcastle are 12th in the table (Photo: PA)
Newcastle regressed in every aspect after half-time, but they were especially discombobulated in defence. Brentford’s forwards had so much space that it seemed at times as though they were rotating an invisibility cloak amongst themselves.
Pope made a miraculous, if unsuspecting, save to divert a deflected Wissa cross-shot onto the post two minutes after the restart but it was only a temporary reprieve. The third goal that Newcastle conceded was somehow even worse than the second.
Flekken became only the third goalkeeper to register a Premier League assist this season but Schar effectively set the goal up by mistiming his jump and allowing the Dutchman’s deep drive to sail over his head. Nathan Collins finished it with aplomb but Schar committed a Sunday League cardinal sin of allowing a long ball to bounce.
Kevin Schade sealed the win late on, bursting through the heart of Newcastle’s statuesque backline but more comedy was to come. Pope is an excellent shot-stopper but less gifted with the ball at his feet. When he collected the ball by the touchline midway through his own half it went about as successfully as you’d expect: Mbeumo tackled him and would have scored his second of the day had Dan Burn not slid in to stop his shot from distance rolling in.
It was a horror show from a side that just 18 months ago had the joint-best record in the Premier League across an entire season.
“We didn’t defend well enough, simple as that really. The goals we conceded, we’ll look back and cringe a little bit I think,” Howe admitted.
“Uncharacteristic from us, poor defensively. I could go through all the goals and highlight not just one mistake but three or four mistakes in every goal. Defend like that and you’re not going to win any game.”
The problem with Howe’s assessment is that it isn’t really uncharacteristic. Newcastle’s defence has been declining for some time.
Once upon a time, they had an enviable defensive record, the joint-best in the Premier League across the 2022-23 season. They conceded 33 goals in 38 games that season, keeping 14 clean sheets; they have let in 21 goals in 15 games so far this campaign, including 10 during this latest four-game winless streak.
Howe doesn’t seem to be under any immediate threat of losing his job, but the pressure is certainly building from a frustrated fanbase. One post on X that went viral last week compared Howe to Steve Bruce but with a Peloton bike.
Anything less than six points from Newcastle’s next two matches against Leicester at home and Ipswich at Portman Road, either side of a reunion with Brentford in the Carabao Cup, would only intensify the heat.