Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao saw Newcastle claim their third successive Champions League victory and climb to sixth position in the league standings, a placing that would be good enough to secure an automatic spot in the last-16 if it was maintained over the course of the next four European matches.
However, while the Magpies are sweeping all before them in continental competition, their domestic form in the Premier League, particularly when it comes to playing away from St James’ Park, is far less impressive.
Eddie Howe’s side head to Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday languishing in 13th place, having failed to win any of their five league away games to date. Last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham came courtesy of an especially poor showing, something Guimaraes accepts he and his team-mates have to tackle head on as they return to London this weekend.
“We owe the fans after our performance against West Ham,” said the Newcastle skipper. “We don’t want to feel what we felt, especially straight away after the game. We felt so bad.
“Of course there were some honest words said. We don’t want to feel the same way that we did after West Ham. We had a tough conversation between ourselves as players.
“We had to prove ourselves and put a few things right. The magic of the Champions League was there for us [on Wednesday evening], but we know that if we want to play in the competition again next season, then we have to improve our form away from home.
“We know that we have to perform the same way that we do at home when we play away. We have another chance to do that this weekend, and the message in the changing room is that we don’t want to feel the same way that we felt after West Ham.”
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Last season, Newcastle recovered from a similarly slow start to eventually finish in the top five, with their improvement ironically being sparked after some harsh home truths were delivered in the wake of a 4-2 defeat at Brentford at the start of December.
The Magpies were down in 12th after they lost to the Bees just under a year ago, so there are obvious parallels to the position they currently find themselves in.
They are five points off sixth-placed Tottenham, so there is still plenty of time to turn things around, but there is also an acknowledgment that it is no good starring in Europe if, the following weekend, domestic standards are nowhere near the same level.
“I don’t want to put limits on our dreams, I just want us to take things game by game,” said Guimaraes. “We have to win games away from home. At home, we have been in very good form, but we definitely have to start to win games away.
“We have done that in the Champions League, against Union [Saint-Gilloise], but we have to improve. We had a very good conversation after the West Ham game, and I think the boys are going to be motivated for Sunday.”
Guimaraes is confident he will be okay to line up against Brentford, even though he admits he was struggling with the after-effects of an illness as Newcastle beat Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night.
The Brazilian trained on his own in the build-up to the game to avoid passing anything on to any of his team-mates, and while he insisted he was fully fit ahead of the match, he admits he found it hard going as he played for more than an hour.
“I’ll be honest. I felt bad right through the game, very tired,” he said. “It was like playing with ten kilos on my back. But I will do everything I can for this club. I love to play here. It is my home. It was big proof that I will not give up for my club. I will always do what I can.
“It is never easy to play when you are feeling tired because you are not very well. It is never easy when you try to run, but your body does not really follow you. It is always hard.
“Maybe I should have been honest with the gaffer and said that I was not really fit enough to play, but the only way for me to not play is if I break my legs. I always want to play. It was a good performance, but it could have been better. Hopefully, I will be 100 per cent fit for Sunday.”