Ian Wright fires shot at Newcastle United fans during FA Cup defeat to Brighton

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Newcastle United’s season is now on a knife edge.

While there have been some brilliant results this season, Newcastle United appear to have hit a wall recently.

Eddie Howe’s side are now out of the FA Cup after an underwhelming Newcastle lost 2-1 to Brighton on Sunday, while they are also in pretty poor form in the Premier League.

Though qualification for the Champions League remains a possibility, little about what Howe’s side are doing would suggest they can pull a run together to finish in the Premier League’s top five.

Everything about Sunday’s display was disappointing. Despite Alexander Isak giving Newcastle the lead, Howe’s team never looked in control and allowed the away side to dominate, even if the scoreline did not reflect that.

Indeed, it all felt rather flat and pundit Ian Wright was not impressed with the fans inside St James’ Park.

Ian Wright levels criticism of Newcastle United atmosphere during FA Cup loss to Brighton

The pundit was working on ITV for their coverage of the game, alongside Roy Keane.

Keane was critical of the Newcastle players, while Wright was not overly impressed by the support.

Newcastle fans are often regarded as some of the most passionate around and there are games in which the noise is deafening at St James’.

Still, Wright was surprised by the lack of atmosphere in the ground.

“And the crowd, I’ve been disappointed, I thought the crowd would really be into this,” he said.

Newcastle United fans left with nothing to cheer by underperforming team

In an ideal world, the atmosphere would always be pumping. However, when the team is performing so poorly and operating in such a flat manner, it’s easier said than done to create the kind of atmosphere we’ve seen before.

Newcastle players certainly respond to the crowd but it’s a two-way street. Playing badly is one thing but the lack of energy from Howe’s team really is disheartening to see.

Indeed, managers have been blown away by the atmosphere at Newcastle. But the team play their part in that, fans can only do so much.