Here are your latest Newcastle United evening headlines for Sunday, April 9.
Thomas Frank's 'dark arts' plea as he reacts to Newcastle No2 Jason Tindall 'always speaking'
Thomas Frank has revealed that Brentford were 'a little bit more active' towards the fourth official during his side's 2-1 defeat in response to Newcastle United assistant Jason Tindall always being in his 'ear'.
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It falls to Tindall, who stands on the touchline, to communicate with the fourth official on Newcastle's behalf so that Magpies boss Eddie Howe can focus purely on the game. Remarkably, in recognition of that, Brentford's coaching staff changed their usual approach on Saturday to ensure they got their points across to fourth official Stephen Martin at the Gtech Community Stadium.
It was an afternoon where Brentford were awarded two penalties. Referee Chris Kavanagh did not require any assistance for the first after Sven Botman wiped out Kevin Schade inside the box only for Toney to uncharacteristically miss the penalty in the 29th minute. VAR intervened for the second just before half-time when Alexander Isak was harshly adjudged to have fouled Rico Henry with a high boot when clearing a corner and, this time, Toney made no mistake to send his side 1-0 up at the break.
Ivan Toney transfer quip as Newcastle United leave Brentford in triumphant mood
Ivan Toney may have missed a penalty against Newcastle United but he showed why the Magpies have previously been interested in righting another wrong from the Mike Ashley era.
Toney was allowed to leave for Peterborough for just £650,000 and has since plundered over 100 goals since his stint at St James' Park as a youngster. And he caused Newcastle no end of problems at the Gtech Community Stadium yesterday afternoon despite his penalty blunder up against Nick Pope.
Newcastle looked at Toney as a possibility last summer before they signed Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad and he remains a striker Eddie Howe has a lot of respect for. As he stepped off the Brentford team bus yesterday a Newcastle fan quipped: "See you next season, Ivan!"
VAR shambles allows Tottenham to keep pressure on Newcastle after controversial Alexander Isak call
VAR was once again in the headlines on Saturday after controversial decisions in a number of Premier League games. Newcastle United certainly felt aggrieved when a lengthy VAR check resulted in Chris Kavanagh being called over to the pitchside monitor before awarding the second of two penalties to Brentford in the first half.
Alexander Isak was adjudged to have fouled Bees full-back Rico Henry with a high foot when trying to clear a Brentford corner. The soft decision led Newcastle fans to both the decision and ask why a similar, if not worse, foul wasn't given on Fabian Schar against Manchester United. Alan Shearer also blasted the decision as 'bull****'.
On the penalty, Isak admitted: "It felt like a 50-50 situation where I tried to kick the ball and he dives into me. It all went pretty quick. I didn't see him coming."
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