Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe applauds the away fans at Brentford
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe applauds the away fans at Brentford
Newcastle United players did not exchange a single word as they left the pitch at Brentford following a tough defeat in London.
Afterwards, as a shell-shocked Eddie Howe face the Press, he made it clear he would have to bite his tongue until Monday. There was no immediate inquest in the dressing room as players filed out of the Gtech Stadium in near silence having conceded four goals against one of their rivals for a European spot.
Something is missing from Howe's side and they now look a pale shadow of the team that qualified for the Champions League in 2023. We saw glimpses of that team against Liverpool in the 3-3 draw on Wednesday but Howe failed to see that transferred to Brentford on Saturday.
Why? Well that is the million dollar question for Howe who made it clear that Newcastle would "bounce back" soon.
It's a strange situation for Howe's team after they lifted their game against Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at St James' Park this season. But at Fulham, Crystal Palace, Everton, Bournemouth and now Brentford, Newcastle have looked like a different team.
It might go deeper than just not being able to lift themselves for the games against the Premier League's so called lesser lights. Travel sickness? Complacency?
Or did Howe's team take it for granted that not being in Europe would open the pathway for a stronger season given the amount of preparation time on his backroom team's hands? As Alan Shearer labelled the defending "laughable" on Match of the Day, and recent switch offs against West Ham, Crystal Palace and of course Saturday suggest that if this team are being drilled in defensive discipline it's just not showing on match days.
Despite having less games and more time on the training pitch, Howe suggested that his players have been hit with fatigue lately. He told reporters: "The Liverpool game probably took a lot out of our players, and I would like to have rotated a little bit more. I didn’t really feel I was able to do that, due to the fitness of some of the players on the bench compared to the levels needed to start at Premier League game."
The other factor that has changed this season is the arrival of performance director James Bunce. Given Newcastle already had a director of performance in Daniel Hodges, you wonder how that unfolds on a day to day basis.
It's a situation sporting director Paul Mitchell has to manage delicately with his former Monaco colleague Bunce. And that's before we get started on the tricky situation ahead of the January transfer window.
As Rafa Benitez once stated, it's "easy" to find possible problems when teams are struggling and it will grind on Howe and his backroom team that suddenly everybody is talking like the expert. Howe needs to get his team back to basics.
A victory over Leicester City would be worth its weight in gold now. You can turn the clock back to Howe's first win as head coach over Burnley in 2021 when on that day he just needed three points on the board.
The victory at Leeds in early 2022 was also a good example of the type of gritty showing Newcastle need against Leicester City on Saturday. Stopping the rot and building confidence from the bottom rung of the ladder is where Newcastle are at right now.
And the glum expressions of the team as they trooped off the pitch at Brentford in muted mode actually said it all. Actions will speak much louder than words.