Newcastle United lost to Brentford on Saturday.
In the match at St James’ Park, Eddie Howe’s side took the lead through Sven Botman’s header from a corner.
Only then did Brentford hit back and lead 2-1 at half time.
Bruno Guimaraes won both and scored a penalty to make it 2-2.
Only for Brentford to hit a late winner.
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of discussion after the match as to why United lost this match.
However, an important underlying reason has emerged that helps explain Newcastle United’s defeat to Brentford.
In none of Newcastle’s most recent Premier League games had the opposing team collectively progressed further than the United players.
Yet that happened on Saturday, Brentford defeated Newcastle United.
In the last 21 Premier League games, the opposition has only scored four times more than Newcastle United. Actually, two of the four played against Brentford, although the away defeat left United playing with ten men for a long time after Dan Burn received a red card, which would obviously have affected those statistics.
However, there were no red cards on Saturday.
If you look at Saturday’s match, the total distances were: Newcastle United players 119.02 km and Brentford players 119.79 km. This is the highest of all 21 NUFC matches, apart from the 4-3 draw at Leeds.
So there was no shortage of running and effort from the Newcastle United players, just a case of the Brentford players running even further.
Obviously, many other factors can be pointed out in any game. However, you also have to accept that it is an advantage for the opposition to have a full week of rest, recovery and preparation, while Newcastle’s players play every midweek. Especially the tough recent schedule, which saw three brutal away games in the space of a week at PSG, Liverpool and Man City.
The reasons why Newcastle United lost to Brentford were certainly not a lack of effort.
Here are Newcastle United’s last twenty-one matches in the Premier League and the distances covered by each team in total (all stats via BBC Sports):
Newcastle United players 119.02 km and Brentford players 119.79 km
Newcastle United players 113.42 km and Liverpool players 107.68 km
Newcastle United players 118.85 km and Aston Villa players 118.49 km
Newcastle United players 113.66 km and Wolves players 111.57 km
Newcastle United players 123.99 km and Leeds players 123.99 km
Newcastle United players 112.70 km and Palace players 111.78 km
Newcastle United players 111.14 km and Burnley players 109.81 km
Newcastle United players 116.83 km and Man U players 113.10 km
Newcastle United players 116.91 km and Chelsea players 108.91 km
Newcastle United players 109.91 km and Sunderland players 106.52 km
Newcastle United players 114.04 km and Burnley players 108.91 km
Newcastle United players 112.30 km and Spurs players 110.05 km
Newcastle United players 116.39 km and Everton players 111.74 km
Newcastle United players 112.40 km and Manchester City players 113.64 km
Newcastle United players 111.01 km and Brentford players 114.13 km
Newcastle United players 116.85 km and West Ham players 114.08 km
Newcastle United players 114.50 km and Fulham players 110.21 km
Newcastle United players 115.16 km and Brighton players 113.59 km
Newcastle United players 109.45 km and Forest players 106.43 km
Newcastle United players 112.94 km and Arsenal players 115.08 km
Newcastle United players 113.23 km and Bournemouth players 109.03 km
Newcastle United’s players must now pick up the thread and prepare for Tottenham on Tuesday evening.
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