The Magpies remain in 12th position in the table after Dango Outtara’s 86th-minute winner condemned them to a third defeat in the space of a week in all competitions.
Having been subjected to a smattering of boos at the half-time whistle, Newcastle’s players and staff were forced to listen to a much louder chorus of booing at the final whistle.
There has been mounting social media questioning of Howe’s position in the last few weeks as Newcastle’s form has stuttered, but yesterday was the first time that discontent has really been evident within St James’ Park.
Nevertheless, Howe insists he is not concerned about his own future as head coach, insisting no one can put more pressure on him that he applies himself.
“I always feel under pressure,” said the Newcastle boss. “It's irrelevant to me, the type of pressure. When you're in this job, you're always in that moment, whether it's pressure to win and keep winning or whether it's pressure to turn around results.
“We're very much in that feeling. I've always said the pressure I put on myself couldn't be more extreme because I demand really high standards from what I'm doing, how I work, what I ask the players to do and I'm obviously not doing my job well enough at the moment.”
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Howe was particularly disappointed with his side’s defending as they were beaten on home soil last night.
Sven Botman allowed Vitaly Janelt to peel off him for Brentford’s opening goal, Jacob Murphy handled the ball to allow Igor Thiago to score the visitors’ second from the penalty spot and a whole collection of defensive failings led to Outtara firing the winner through Nick Pope’s legs in the final few minutes.
Newcastle have conceded ten goals in their last three games, and while the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account, Howe accepts that is a record that is simply not good enough.
“It’s not good enough [conceding goals] and it’s been out of character with the performances,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve been conceding a lot of chances, we’ve just been conceding a lot of goals.
“Today would be a similar theme for that. You take the penalty aside and I don’t think they’ve created too much. But there are certain moments in the game where we didn’t defend anywhere near well enough, individually or collectively.
“Ultimately, from 1-0 up to 2-1 down very quickly, we only have ourselves to blame. And I think accepting that is the only way to improve.”