The Magpies had limited time to prepare for Brentford and it showed as Newcastle struggle to deal with Champions League and Premier League duties
Eddie Howe during a Newcastle training session
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe oversees training(Image: Newcastle United via Getty Image)
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Newcastle United looked dead on their knees in the second half against Brentford, and the worrying thing was this felt worse than West Ham just seven days earlier.
They looked they were close to some kind of mental burnout as they struggled to cope with even the most straight-forward decisions. Even if Dan Burn should have been taken off by Eddie Howe when sitting on a yellow card, surely the player's own intuition should be to not dive in a second time and just moments after avoiding a red card and previous penalty award?
Burn has been a black and white giant but that looked like the thought process of a tired guy. Although he wasn't alone, there were plenty of tired performances on the day.
Having had just one recovery session and two full training sessions at best to prepare for the Bees' throw-in bombardment, the game plan crumbled after an opening 45 minutes in which Newcastle rode their luck. As Michael Kayode gently tossed his first few throws back to his defence, you got the feeling that the home side were luring United into a false sense of security.
When the bombardment we all expected started to come thick and fast, Newcastle's preferred method of dealing with Kayode's missiles was for Nick Pope to come out and punch them clear. Only this was causing just as much as panic as the throw-ins themselves.
Pope's punches were erratic at times and nobody knew where the ball was going to drop next. Should the centre-backs been allowed to do their job and clear their lines?
Given Newcastle have 6ft 4in Malick Thiaw and 6ft 7in Dan Burn, with 6ft 6in striker Nick Woltemade also on board, it felt like the best way to snuff out Brentford's tactics.
When asked if the players executed what they'd been asked, Howe told Chronicle Live: "We did for the majority - but the majority is not enough.
"Invariably, you are going to get punished. We stood up to that (throw-ins) test very well at times but not for the first goal of course and ultimately that did change the game."
That was when the accident waiting to happen unfolded at a rate of knots. Kayode's ball in was weakly punched by Pope and Kevin Schade guided a header home in a confused penalty area.
After that the second half was a write off for Newcastle as Brentford threatened at will and Newcastle didn't manage a shot at goal. Suddenly Harvey Barnes' opener against the run of play felt a long time ago and the jaunt back to the North East for supporters felt a genuine trek with rail replacement bus services in place up the East Coast Mainline.
So that's two trips to London in a week and not a point on the board.
Howe said that preparations for Man City start right away last night and the quest for answers would follow. But it feels like simply hitting back at critics after defeats is wearing a bit thin now.
Newcastle aren't the team fighting relegation and coming off the back of Steve Bruce and Mike Ashley any more. If they are going to keep up with Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, they are going to need consistency.
Getting too high after the win against Bilbao was always going to burn away at the little bit of energy Newcastle had going into Brentford. And the moment they encountered a stressful situation at 1-1 they faded quickly.
At his Press conference afterwards, Howe - whose side are offiically in a slump right now - said: "We haven't done our jobs and we feel we have let everybody down. When you do that, when you make mistakes, it's not intentional from anyone.
"All you can do is hold your hands up and go: 'Right, let's try and fix it'. That's what we are going to try and do."
Things can get better and probably will but with Man City at home, Marseille away and then Everton away, it's a case of when that will be. A couple more defeats in the Prem could have Newcastle in the relegation zone, that's the concern.
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