{"id":465467,"date":"2026-02-08T01:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T01:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465467\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T01:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T01:33:12","slug":"eddie-howe-facing-harsh-reality-after-newcastles-home-loss-to-brentford-newcastle-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465467\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Howe facing \u2018harsh reality\u2019 after Newcastle\u2019s home loss to Brentford | Newcastle United"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Howe said he was facing a \u201charsh reality\u201d and felt \u201cangry\u201d with himself after watching his Newcastle team lose 3-2 at home to Brentford<\/a> on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

It was their fourth defeat in five games in all competitions and left the Saudi Arabian-owned club 12th in the Premier League. A soundtrack of boos greeted the final whistle but Newcastle\u2019s manager did not complain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame the supporters for expressing their feelings but it\u2019s hard to hear,\u201d said Howe, who conducted a lengthy dressing room inquest. \u201cI\u2019ve got no issue with their reaction. We\u2019ve had a run of games where we haven\u2019t played as well as we can and got punished. There\u2019s nothing else to do but accept responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not good enough and it\u2019s been out of character. There were certain moments tonight when we didn\u2019t defend anywhere near well enough, either individually or collectively. We only have ourselves to blame. Accepting that is the only way to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe appeared to blame himself as much as his players. \u201cThere\u2019s a harsh reality for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to think long and hard, not about my effort because I can\u2019t question that about myself, but I think I\u2019ve got to work better, I\u2019ve got to do more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said the pressure I put on myself couldn\u2019t be more extreme because I demand really high standards and I\u2019m obviously not doing my job well enough at the moment. I\u2019m annoyed with myself, angry with myself and blaming myself. I\u2019ve got to take full responsibility for everything you see on the pitch and I\u2019ve got to work out solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen of course I have to ask the same from the players. I have to ask them to be really honest with themselves and look at their best level, and judge how they\u2019re playing against that now. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s too many that can say they\u2019re playing towards their best. It\u2019s a difficult moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe refused to blame the exhaustion of attempting to compete on four fronts \u2013 Newcastle\u2019s Carabao Cup defence ended with semi final defeat by Manchester City<\/a> last Wednesday and they remain in the Champions League and the FA Cup \u2013 for adverse league results.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, some of our players are having to play fatigued and we\u2019ve a lot of injuries,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to do better. We\u2019ve got to take full accountability. It\u2019s a mentality issue, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an ability issue. So we have to look at ourselves and show real character and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe was particularly concerned that, not for the first time, Newcastle deteriorated after taking an early lead. \u201cWe\u2019ve been worse for scoring and I don\u2019t understand it,\u201d he said. \u201cIts a very, very difficult thing to work out because I think it\u2019s all in the brain of maybe two or three players who sway the performance negatively.\u201d<\/p>\n

He agreed Newcastle\u2019s trademark physical aggression was absent. \u201cUltimately our preferred way of playing is to go for the throat and try to control the game even sometimes off the ball with relentless pressing, with really good physical performances. But that hasn\u2019t been there regularly enough. It only takes one or two players to be off physically for that to break down. We\u2019re not functioning like we have done historically as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brentford\u2019s manager, Keith Andrews, was considerably happier after a fourth win in six Premier League games. \u201cI\u2019m pleased, really pleased,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a feeling around the group that whoever we go up against we can win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Howe said he was facing a \u201charsh reality\u201d and felt \u201cangry\u201d with himself after watching his Newcastle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-465467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}