Newcastle United suffered their first defeat of the season away to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
The poor performances finally caught up to Newcastle United and Eddie Howe‘s side suffered a 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
The display was summed up well by Alan Shearer’s “awful” verdict with Newcastle well beaten by Fulham on the day.
Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the hosts after just five minutes and Emile Smith Rowe doubled their lead heading into half-time.
Howe again called upon changes at the break and Harvey Barnes gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope when he scored just a minute into the second half.
But Newcastle were unable to replicate the comeback against Wolves the week prior, and Bruno Guimaraes made a costly mistake which allowed Fulham to add to their lead in injury time.
Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon were ‘poor’
Aside from Barnes continuing his strong form in front of goal, there were not many good performances to pick from against Fulham.
Barnes himself admitted Newcastle lacked aggression, and even with Newcastle sitting up in sixth in the table, pressure is starting to build on Howe to find a solution to the poor performances.
| Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
| 5 |  ChelseaChelsea | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| 6 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 7 |  BrightonBrighton | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
In the wake of Newcastle’s first defeat of the season, talkSPORT pundits Gabby Agbonlahor and Jeff Stelling gave their verdict and picked out Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon as underperformers.
“They were flat, and that’s a worry at this stage of the season,” Stelling said [September 23, 7:21am].
“They were flat. Guimaraes was poor, Gordon wasn’t at his best in the first half.”
Stelling is right. Results have papered over the poor performances, but it is a concern that Newcastle continue to look poor this early into the season.
Newcastle’s key players aren’t stepping up
There is plenty to be said about Howe’s tactics and team selections so far this season, but ultimately Newcastle’s biggest stars have all had poor starts to the season.
Alexander Isak scored 25 goals last season but has struggled in front of goal this season. The same can be said about Gordon, who has shown glimpses of promise in the first five games but put in an “infuriating” performance against Fulham.
READ MORE: Eddie Howe admits Newcastle weren’t very good when ‘flair’ player came on vs Fulham
Guimaraes looked set for a big season after being handed the captaincy by Howe, but he too has looked poor and leggy just five games in. Howe is prepared to continue playing Guimaraes despite his poor form.
Newcastle have shown plenty of fighting spirit early this season to come from behind and pinch results, but they are yet to look in control of a match and that is a big concern.
After the Carabao Cup clash against AFC Wimbledon was postponed, Newcastle have an extended rest before facing Manchester City. Hopefully, Howe can use that time to turn things around.
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