2025-11-10 10:24:50

Eddie Howe rued his Newcastle team becoming “weaker” after taking the lead against Brentford.

The Magpies fell to another away defeat after losing 3-1 to the Bees on Sunday (09.11.25), and the manager is frustrated that his players weren’t able to build on their first-half advantage.

Howe said: “We got in a good position again and weren’t able to capitalise on it. You’d expect us to establish ourselves as the stronger team in the game. I don’t think we did.

“We became weaker in the game for the goal, which was the same at West Ham, so that’s a big frustration for me. I want my teams to attack and to be continually looking to score. We don’t look like that team currently.

“We then switched off and there were a couple of mistakes (for Brentford’s first goal) and we paid the price. We needed a big reaction to that goal and didn’t get it. There was a lot of technical mistakes, which is really unlike us, especially in the middle of the pitch, where we’re usually really fluent.

“That put us under pressure. We were clearly lacking in confidence today. So, we have issues to fix, there’s no doubt about that, and the process for that starts now.”

Newcastle are stuck in the bottom half of the table after a challenging start to the season but Howe is determined to protect his players from criticism as he knew that the opening months of the season would be “choppy” after a frustrating summer transfer window that saw striker Alexander Isak leave for Liverpool and the club miss out on a host of targets.

The coach said: “We knew that potentially the start of the season would be slightly choppy for us, as we entered a transitional period with the team, but there’s no excuses for us.

“We take full accountability for what we’re delivering, and only we can change it.

“But I feel it’s really important I support the players today. We know we have good players. We need to stay unified and grouped together during this period. We know it’s not good enough and I take full responsibility for that.”

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