Another Premier League away day, another defeat for Newcastle United.
Harvey Barnes gave us a first half lead against the run of play, giving us something to protect heading into a big second half, but we threw it away (again), conceding three poor goals, one penalty and going down to 10 men as Dan Burn saw red for two bookable offences.
The result consolidates our shocking away form away from home and a terrible start to the 2025/26 season, leaving us 14th, six points behind Bournemouth in ninth and only two above the relegation zone, making it three straight defeats on the road and back-to-back away games where we’ve scored first and lost.
We looked a mess in every department, conceding some awful goals, lacking control in midfield and creating so little in attack, with Barnes’ shot for the goal our only effort on target. Howe also got it horribly wrong, not just in our game management, but his decision to keep a booked Burn on the pitch when we were crying out for Hall.
Heading into the international break, we have huge problems and so much to work on heading into a busy six weeks to end 2025.
Eddie Howe made one change from our midweek win over Bilbao, bringing in Jacob Murphy and moving Harvey Barnes to the left as Anthony Gordon was ruled out entirely with a hip injury.
**Newcastle XI:** Pope – Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn – Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton – Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes.
**Subs:** Ramsdale, Hall, Schar, Lascelles, Krafth, Elanga, Willock, Ramsey, Miley
It was such a scrappy start. We were so poor on the ball, barely stringing together more than three passes or building any patters of play in the final third, then giving away cheap free kicks at the other end as Brentford threw balls into the box.
But, just before the half hour mark, our first moment of quality arrived. Shortly after Joelinton was forced off and replaced by Jacob Ramsey, Murphy’s cross and Woltemade’s attempt to gather the ball fell to Barnes. He twisted, turned, sold two Brentford defenders and fired the ball past Kelleher.
> 👏👏👏
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> [pic.twitter.com/jfx9HdTTY1](https://t.co/jfx9HdTTY1)
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> — ToonArmy (@toonarmy\_com) [November 9, 2025](https://twitter.com/toonarmy_com/status/1987530497820438878?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
It had been slow and unconvincing start, but that strike was the settler we desperately needed, only now we HAD to take confidence from it and not sit back as we did at West Ham last Sunday.
Woltemade’s link play had been a little weak and needed to improve. The service up to him was limited and he was often isolated with a lot to do, but he needed to be a bit stronger and help us get a hold of the ball up top up on the rare occasions we found him.
In many ways, it was another poor away performance, as we struggled on the ball, barely threatened and were fortunate to survive a few scrambles in our own box. However, a few slices of fortune and one quality Barnes finish saw us head into the break 1-0 up and 45 minutes away from our first league win on the road in seven months.
Bruno grew into the first half and was one of few showing some class on the ball, but our best two players in the opening 45 were Thiaw and Trippier, with the former defending well once again and the latter showing his experience to bail us out of a few tricky situations on and off the ball.
The second half started with us kicking the ball straight out of play and Ramsey gifting possession to Brentford in a bad area, forcing Pope into an early save just a minute after the restart.
Burn was then booked for a pull on Ouattara, leaving him on four for the season and one away from a one-game ban, then a lovely ball from Bruno released Barnes, who cut the ball back straight to a red and white shirt rather than get a shot off.
Then came the equaliser, and what a mess it was. Pope came into no man’s land, made a hash of his attempted punch and the ball fell to Schade, who headed into an unguarded goal to make it 1-1. Sigh. Such a soft one to concede and we were very lucky moments later not to give a penalty away, as Ouattara was booked for simulation despite replays suggesting he may have been tripped by Burn in the box.
A big let-off for Newcastle and the hosts went close soon after, as Thiago forced Pope into a decent save. We had one of few sharp attacks at the other end as Bruno, Woltemade and Murphy all combined before the latter’s low cross was flashed across the box without a Newcastle shirt in sight.
The game had gone flat and, as for much of the game and most of our away matches this season, we didn’t really look like scoring. Howe had changes ready, but then came the killer blow. Burn brought down Ouattara, a penalty was given and he was shown a second yellow card.
I couldn’t see much contact, if any, from Burn on Ouattara, and it was less of a penalty than the first incident. Between that decision and the spot kick, a dazed Pope (he landed heavily moments earlier) was replaced by Ramsdale, with Hall, Elanga and Willock also on for Barnes, Murphy and Tonali before it was taken.
Nevertheless, Thiago stepped up and sent Ramsdale the wrong way. 2-1 Brentford, Howe punished for not taking Burn off sooner and it was nothing short of what we deserved for another timid and toothless away performance, where we didn’t build on a 1-0 lead, conceded poor goals and never threatened in attack.
We now had 10 men and 10 minutes to get back into it, although any hope of that felt remote at best given we’d not managed a shot on target with 11 men in the second half. To his credit, however, Hall did come so close to making something happen, as his driving run and low cross was somehow cleared on by Henry just as Elanga was about to tap in.
11 minutes of added on time was signalled and it Brentford who rubbed salt into the wounds with a third. The loose ball from Thiaw’s tackle wasn’t read by a labouring Botman, Thiago beat him to it and finished. 3-1 and another awful goal to concede, with a superb 98th minute stop from Ramsdale denying Brentford a fourth.
And that was it. The only real positives? Hall will be back for our next game following Burn’s red and we don’t have to watch Newcastle for two weeks!