Something is seriously wrong with Newcastle on the road. It is all well and good raising their game for the biggest Champions League fixtures at St James’ Park, but if they continue to play as meekly as they did against Brentford – just as in defeat at West Ham a week earlier and on a concerning number of previous occasions over recent months – those European nights will rapidly become a thing of the past.
Two points above the relegation zone is no place for a club of their ambition. “It’s the wrong end of the table for us, but it’s the reality,” Eddie Howe said. That they ended this match with a numerical disadvantage after Dan Burn’s sending off was of little relevance to a defeat that they fully deserved. Harvey Barnes’s goal aside, they were utterly impotent, offering only his solitary shot on target all match.
