Newcastle United’s poor run of form continued on Boxing Day.
Only a few days after the defeat to Luton which perhaps represented the nadir of the Eddie Howe era thus far, Newcastle threw away the game against Nottingham Forest.
Despite taking a lead through Alexander Isak’s first-half penalty, former Magpie Chris Wood bagged a hat-trick to give the away side a well-deserved win.
In truth, Forest could well have scored more. It was strange to see Newcastle look so weak at the back, particularly with the first-choice backline of last season in Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Dan Burn starting.
After the game, club legend Alan Shearer summed up the performance.
Newcastle 1-3 Nottingham Forest: Alan Shearer’s brutal verdict
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Shearer wrote: “Brilliant Forest. Shocking Newcastle.”
Newcastle news: A very worrying performance
That was a hard watch.
Newcastle were outfought and outplayed for most of the game by a team who had not won away from home since September.
While any team can lose a game in the Premier League, there are ways to be defeated.
That was not one of them. Almost every time Forest attacked, it felt as if they would score. Just 11 seconds into the second-half, Morgan Gibbs-White flashed a header wide, raising questions as to what exactly was said in the dressing room at the break.
It is hard to think of a worse performance at home since Howe replaced Steve Bruce in November 2021. With their away form being miserable all season, losing their proud home record would be a disaster.
Yes, this team have had to play an awful lot this season amid an injury crisis. It still does not explain just how bad their performance against Forest was.
Howe and his team deserve the chance to turn things around but more games like that surely cannot be accepted.
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