Saturday’s match ended Newcastle 2 Brentford 3.
Before each game, we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives after the game.
Plenty to talk about after this Brentford version!
A match that ebbed and flowed as both teams took the lead but each time saw the opposition draw level, but Newcastle United lost the match late on.
On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:
NEGATIVES
The knives are out
It’s fair to say some Newcastle United fans have taken the knives out for Eddie Howe.
The amount of toxicity within that section of the NUFC fanbase surrounding our manager is astonishing considering all he has achieved during his tenure.
The toxicity is distracting and in my opinion neither necessary nor justified. Negativity breeds negativity and all that.
No case for the defense?
We have just been reversed by Brentford, our third rebound defeat, scoring ten goals. Our defense is poor and that needs to be improved.
Trippier’s legs are gone and yet there is no reprieve for him.
Ditto Thiaw, which is a terrible shame considering the number of praise and MOTM awards he has received since joining AC.
Looking over our shoulders?
With teams struggling to find any rhythm earlier this season, two (likely) Champions League places were up for grabs, as well as other routes to Europe within our reach. Those three consecutive wins at the turn of the year (Burnley, Palace and Leeds) had indeed put us in the mix.
A month later, players like Man Utd and Chelsea seem to have their affairs in order. This also applies to Liverpool and even ‘little’ Brentford.
We are now as close to third from the bottom as we are fifth from the top.
POSITIVE
Top manager
Stubborn, clueless, ’65 minutes’, won’t change from 4-3-3, his signings are terrible, not elite, have taken us as far as he can…….
Some of the nonsense I hear week in week out from certain Newcastle United fans, about the most successful manager in my life (I’m not including Joe Harvey as he wasn’t in charge of first team affairs when I first went to SJP).
I was highly critical of Eddie Howe after we lost at Chelsea last season and wasn’t too keen when he first burst onto the scene in 2021.
After he won us the League Cup, I swore I would never be drawn into such pettiness again.
This is not blind faith.
Losing football matches is inevitable. Even the invincible team with which Arsène Wenger won the Premier League in 2004 lost the cup match that season.
Eddie Howe is paralyzed by PSR and that’s no cop; it defines everything a football club can do in the modern era and that he has achieved what he has achieved is quite remarkable all things considered.
Bigger picture
Our summer signings did not set the heath on fire. Even the optimist in me has to admit that.
Pre-season has been a joke, marred by disgraceful antics and an inability to attract first-choice targets due to financial constraints.
After the international break in September, which started with the match against Wolves on September 13, 2025, when Nick Woltemade’s header won the match, Newcastle United have played 36 games up to yesterday. That’s an average of one match every four days. And there is no postponement, we play seven times in the next 22 days.
Eddie Howe cannot work with the players with this type of schedule. He also cannot work with injured people.
This season may be coming to an end, we’ll find out in the next three weeks, but I can see new recruits in the next window and there will be time for Eddie to work his magic with those who arrived last summer.
I think we will emerge from the pitfalls next season with renewed purpose and strength.
All still to play for
Let’s not give up on the boys yet, we are still fighting on three fronts and although a place in the Champions League is certainly gone, we can still aim for a top eight finish.
Villa out in the cup seems like a beaten defeat, if you agree with all the doom and gloom, but you just never know. What trophy can we get past them and get a home draw against a lower division side in the fifth round?
Then there is the Champions League. I think we will have too much for Qarabag and who knows what will happen if we play Chelsea or Barcelona in the round of 16?
The injuries and the fatigue are real, so maybe I’m looking at things with rose colored specs here, but when it comes to Newcastle United I’ve spent my whole life wondering what it must be like to support a team that’s competing on multiple fronts and has to balance a demanding schedule with making progress.
This is Newcastle United, here and now, and I love it.
#positive #negative #points #Newcastle #Brentford