Furious Eddie Howe now appears to question the attitude of his Newcastle players

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Newcastle United endured a rather miserable time of things on Saturday.

Indeed, Newcastle were unable to follow up a hugely promising 3-3 draw with Liverpool on Wednesday.

Not only that, the fact they utterly capitulated defensively in the 4-2 Premier League defeat at Brentford was hugely concerning.

Eddie Howe admits his side will “cringe” when looking back at the goals they conceded, while Bruno Guimaraes admitted their structure had become a “mess.”

Alan Shearer, meanwhile, labelled Howe’s team as “hopeless”.

• READ MORE: All of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United signings, ranked

Certainly, it was not a good day at the office. In isolation, these things can happen and it should be noted the Bees boast the best home record in the division.

Still, so little about Newcastle this season has convinced. In truth, they’ve been on the slide (some big results aside) since halfway through last season.

Concerningly, the Newcastle United manager appeared to question some of his players after the game.

Eddie Howe now actually questions his Newcastle United players

Asked about their attitude after the game, Howe made a revealing comment.

He told the Shields Gazette: “Oh dear, I don’t know.

“The attitude from the players was that there was a willingness to win and a willingness to fight but I don’t think it was strong enough. I’ve got to be careful because goals always change emotions for people on the outside but also for the players who are playing.

“If you’re making those individual mistakes, you could go through each goal and look at a catalogue of errors really. That erodes confidence, it erodes the feeling but the fightback was really good to get it to 2-2 but we were never able to get our noses in front and the third goal we didn’t respond well to the third goal.”

Newcastle’s top players have been unsettled this season

It would be foolish to read too much into those comments straight off the back of a defeat. Emotions can run high, after all.

Still, surely few would doubt some of the performances this season have been concerning.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
7	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	14	6	4	4	16	16	0	22
8	Aston VillaAston Villa	14	6	4	4	22	23	-1	22
9	B’mouthBournemouth	14	6	3	5	21	19	2	21
10	TottenhamTottenham	14	6	2	6	28	15	13	20
11	BrentfordBrentford	14	6	2	6	27	26	1	20
12	NewcastleNewcastle	14	5	5	4	17	17	0	20
13	Man UtdManchester United	14	5	4	5	17	15	2	19
14	West HamWest Ham	14	4	3	7	18	27	-9	15
15	EvertonEverton	14	3	5	6	14	21	-7	14
16	LeicesterLeicester	14	3	4	7	19	28	-9	13

Placed into the context that some of the club’s top players have reportedly been unsettled this season amid the knowledge they could be getting paid more elsewhere, it would be hard to conclusively say Newcastle is a totally happy camp right now.

That’s not to say there’s nothing left to play for this season but the mood music isn’t sounding all too positive.

Hopefully, Howe’s comments offer something of a reaction. If they don’t, things could get ugly.