Eddie Howe admits Newcastle weren’t very good when ‘flair’ player came on vs Fulham

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Newcastle United’s luck ran out at Fulham on Saturday.

Amazingly, Newcastle could have actually gone top of the Premier League table with a win at Craven Cottage – which would have been a fairly remarkable feat given how poorly they’ve played for much of the season thus far.

Still, they had shown character to claim three wins and a draw in their opening four games while relying on some individual brilliance at times to take an unbeaten record to west London.

That, however, all came to an end in a 3-1 defeat and a performance so bad it was labelled as “awful” by Alan Shearer.

While it’s difficult to put Newcastle’s current collective malaise down to just one issue, the balance of the midfield is a problem.

Bruno Guimaraes was so badly at fault for Fulham’s third goal that he apologised to supporters, while Eddie Howe admitted that Joe Willock probably shouldn’t have started the game.

Still, it wasn’t as if the Newcastle United manager was overly impressed with Sandro Tonali’s 16-minute cameo either.

Despite having impressed at club level since his return from a betting ban all while being praised for Howe for his “flair” while away on international duty with Italy, Tonali could not impact the game very much.

Eddie Howe makes admission about Sandro Tonali’s performance for Newcastle against Fulham

Speaking to Newcastle World, Howe said of Tonali: “There is no doubting Sandro’s quality but as I’ve said I’ve got to introduce him at the right time for everyone.

“I’m Sandro’s biggest supporter as well but I can only judge what I see.

“Sandro came on the pitch today and I don’t think we were particularly good in that phase of the game.

“I wanted us to chase the game better towards the end but every player has the opportunity when they’re on the pitch to make a difference.”

Sandro Tonali cannot be expected to do it all for Newcastle

While it’s true that Newcastle’s second-half resurgence did not last, Tonali still produced a key pass and a shot on target (via WhoScored), which is hardly an anonymous display given the late stage in which he joined the game.

However, it’s just evidence that Tonali cannot be expected to do it all. He helped change the game against Tottenham before the international break but merely bringing him off the bench is not the remedy to Newcastle’s problems.

Perspective must be applied.