Newcastle face awkward questions over European hopes and overall direction Howe’s side are a work in progress – that is not where they want to be.
ST JAMES’ PARK – The best performance of the season yielded Newcastle United’s worst result as their confusing campaign ran into another cul-de-sac.
Defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion was as puzzling as it was confounding. For long periods Newcastle played with the urgency and incision which was missing from their early season displays but back then they were somehow edging games and finding a way.
Now composure and certainty has deserted them and they’re inviting some uncomfortable questions about whether they can meet their internal target of qualifying for Europe.
Eighth in the Premier League is nowhere near where they want to be this season. With no European distractions there was supposed to be a return of the buccaneering spirit that carried them into the Champions League in 2023.
Instead they remain a work in progress, performances on the field tracking upwards but results not following – and therefore 2024 has been a year of doubts about the club’s overall direction and losses like this don’t help.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is absolutely not the time for Newcastle to prod the panic button. They had an xG of 1.95 here, a reflection of the big chances they created and the control they had for long spells.
Eddie Howe was also right when he called the performance “really good” for 65 minutes and “the best we’ve looked, the most dominant we’ve been in a game” so far.
They had 21 opportunities, bossed possession and, for the first time this season, were able to thread Alexander Isak into the game. The Swede had four fantastic chances here – including a one on one teed up superbly by Bruno Guimaraes – but his poise deserted him.
Howe, though, was also right when he blamed himself for a set of late substitutions that made Newcastle look messy and ragged. There was a whiff of desperation about them by the end of this game that didn’t look at all pretty.
None of that would have mattered if Isak had taken one of the gilt-edged opportunities that came his way. Some of those he created with sharp movement – his arcing run to latch onto Guimaraes’ ball was excellent – but his finishing was nowhere near his best.
We are not used to the sort of hesitancy which clouded his contribution here.
Injuries have affected him. A fractured toe ruled him out of the last three games and reduced his training time in the run-up to this match and you could tell.
“Alex has a very strong belief in himself – the nature of any injury creates a break in his momentum and training,” Howe admitted afterwards.
He’d played well, Howe insisted, but “the last part was just slightly off”.
The problem is that underneath Isak Newcastle don’t have many match-winners right now. Anthony Gordon put £5,000 behind the bar at the Strawberry Pub before the game to thank fans for their support after he missed a penalty at Everton but there was little to raise a glass to here. He missed a presentable header in the second half to continue a curiously inconsistent start to the season.
A smart, compact Brighton exploited that wastefulness, scoring with their first incursion into Newcastle’s penalty area. The evergreen Danny Welbeck created and scored it, proving that in a Premier League obsessed with youth there is a place for experience and know-how.
After that the Seagulls performed admirably, riding their luck at times but largely holding Newcastle at arm’s length. Even when Welbeck was stretchered off with a back injury late in the game – gasping oxygen as he left – they retained their composure.
It leaves Newcastle’s season in a state of flux. They travel to Chelsea next before a home League Cup tie against the same opponents. Arsenal then travel to St James’ Park. It is an unforgiving run of fixtures that feels foreboding if things don’t pick up.
“I’m always a believer that if you continue to do the right things and perform as well as you can consistently, then long-term the results will come,” Howe said.
His upbeat take was not wrong, but it felt oddly jarring on a frustrating day for Newcastle.
