**Newcastle United are the footballing equivalent of Jekyll and Hyde this season. Absolutely fearless in the cups and ultimately woeful in the league (unless they're backed by the St James' Park crowd).**
It's a conundrum that Eddie Howe has to work out - How does he get his players motivated for the Premier League in the same way as they do for a cup game?
More importantly, how does he get the team to remember how to play football when they don't have 50,000 Geordies telling them what to do from the stands?
The team's mentality has come into question of late, and while [Jamaal Lascelles has denied it is a mentality issue](https://nufcfeed.com/jamaal-lascelles-thanks-fans-for-sticking-by-newcastle-united-during-tough-time-as-players-mentality-is-questioned-1680952), something is definitely awry.
Jack Colback has an idea to explain why Newcastle's league form is suffering
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Former Toon midfielder Jack Colback has told TalkSPORT it may just be as simple as fatigue after getting so pumped up for a midweek cup game and not having anything in the tank for the weekend.
> “What's difficult for them is that they are playing European football and maybe it's difficult to lift yourself so high for those games, to then go again in the Premier League a few days later. It's tough. You see it a lot with teams who are in Europe, they struggle in the league.
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> “I don't think Eddie House's job should be on the line at all. He’s done remarkable things and for all the talk about Newcastle and the money they've got behind them, they can't really spend it. They've lost (Alexander) Isak, which is a huge loss for them. But I'd put money on Newcastle finishing a lot better than where they are now.”
Why can't Newcastle United handle the Champions League?
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Newcastle struggled with the inclusion of Champions League football two seasons ago too, but that was also against a backdrop of a pretty hefty injury crisis which was a huge factor.
Eddie Howe has had injuries to contend with this season, there's no denying that, but the squad is bigger and better this time around, so that excuse can't do as much heavy lifting this time around.
We're still a way off from having enough top-quality players to full out two separate starting XI's so there are some players who are being asked to work doubly hard, but other teams manage it. Why can't we?