Newcastle United head into Christmas in pretty miserable fashion.
Beaten at Luton on an afternoon when Newcastle could well have conceded more, Eddie Howe’s side are on the ropes right now.
Indeed, their frankly pitiful away form has confused Howe all season.
No team in the Premier League have won more home games this season (8) but, strangely, they struggle on the road.
The only time they’ve tasted victory away from home in the Premier League this season was the 8-0 thumping of a Sheffield United side in freefall at the time way back in September.
Speaking after the defeat at Luton, Howe opened up on it.
Eddie Howe: Newcastle boss now shares what squad are talking about behind the scenes
Naturally, Howe was disappointed by the manner of the first-half performance.
Addressing the media, he explained the squad are talking about their away form.
“We’ve spoken about it internally, we know how important away form is,” he said (via The Independent).
“We have to be consistent in home and away form. It epitomised our away form today, we didn’t compete well in the first half. We were reactive instead of proactive.
“We have an incredible group but I was disappointed with the first half, I thought we needed more emotions and energy in our performance.”
Newcastle news: Sunderland fixture is season-defining
Out of Europe and the Carabao Cup with a huge battle on to finish in top four once more, the FA Cup is Newcastle’s last chance of glory.
It would be foolish to suggest Howe needs to win that competition to stave off pressure of course but failure to beat Sunderland in the third round early next month would be a major disappointment.
On paper, Newcastle should ease to victory but their away form and the fact derby day can throw form out the window mean that is far from a forgone conclusion.
Lose that and the pressure really would start to ramp up.
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