Our torrid run of form continued on Saturday night as we were beaten 3-2 by Brentford at St James’ Park.
Sven Botman scored his first goal in two years to make it 1-0, before a Vitaly Janelt header and Igor Thiago penalty before halftime gave the Bees a slender lead.
Bruno Guimaraes, on his return from injury, both won and scored a penalty of his own to make it 2-2, before another defensive lapse allowed Dango Ouattara to net the winner just before stoppage time.
It’s three crushing losses in a row, and serious questions must be asked about how we plan to turn things around heading into some huge fixtures. Here’s what a visibly emotional and dejected Eddie Howe had to say after the game:
A lot of credit must go to Keith Andrews and his side for their performance at St James’ Park, but fans everywhere will be asking just what was Howe’s plan for Newcastle today?
With the team booed off the pitch at both half time and full time, very few can truly hold their heads up high after that display. And Howe takes full responsibility for the latest defeat, admitting he has to “got do more” after underperforming as manager.
“There’s a harsh reality for me. I need to think long and hard about me. I need to work better and do more, work out solutions. I need to take full responsibility for what you see on the pitch.
“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.
“There’s a harsh reality for me. I’ve got to think long and hard — not about my effort because I can’t question that about myself — but I think I’ve got to work better, I’ve got to do more.
“I’ve got to take full responsibility for everything you see on the pitch and I’ve got to work out solutions. I think that’s for me to do.
“Then, of course, I have to ask the same from the players. It’s a difficult moment for us, there’s no denying it. Today we have to take full accountability.”
Eddie Howe says the last couple of weeks have been a ‘harsh reality’ for him and his players 😳 pic.twitter.com/D0r3IT2tRl
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 7, 2026
Mentality wise, the current crop of Newcastle players are a shadow of their former selves: the same team that won the Carabao Cup and dispatched the Premier League’s top sides at a canter.
Once we went survived a penalty scare less than two minutes in, and promptly 1-0 up, it became all too predictable just how things would pan out for the lads.
”Tough game. Really disappointed with the result. When we took the lead and we go 1-0 up, you’re thinking this could be a really good day for us and just what we need.
“And there was a few moments where we could’ve possibly gone 2-0 up and then it might have been a different game. But we let the game get away from us, we conceded two poor goals around half time and that swung the game.
“(Letting a lead slip) It’s been a recurring theme for us this year. We’ve chucked away so many points from winning positions, it’s a really strange and difficult one for us to work out because scoring that early in the game plan is to continue and to play the same way and to not change anything.
“But psychologically I think there was a difference. There was a change from us, and that induced the two goals we conceded. And it’s a head scratcher for us, it’s happened too many times for it to be a one off. It’s something we’ve got to work on.”
The hard-fought draw against PSG in Paris is looking more and more like an outlier of a performance, but for all the wrong reasons.
The losses against Aston Villa, Liverpool, Man City and now Brentford have seen us produce some of the most torrid football in the entire Eddie Howe tenure, and the results have clearly had an impact on the players.
“It’s damaging. I think it’s damaging from our psychology, I don’t think there’s any getting away from that.
“There’s only one way to solve it, and that’s to dig out a win from somewhere. And then you can totally flip the feeling in one match, I think that’s what we’ve got to try and do. Away from home, the bigger challenge, we’ve got to rise to it.”
“Yeah, it’s obviously not what we want. It is hard, but I don’t blame the supporters for expressing their feelings.
“I think we’ve created that ourselves to a point with a run of games where we haven’t played as well as we can. We’ve defended poorly and we’ve got punished and there’s no other thing to do than accept responsibility for it.”
“I think if we perform, the crowd will back us and they’ll be with us every step of the way. And I’ve got no issue with their reaction today.
“They’re reacting to what we deliver. So I don’t see that being a problem. Of course, we have to turn that around with our performances.”