Newcastle United’s unbeaten start to the season has come to an end after a 3-1 defeat to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Newcastle United’s poor performances finally caught up to them this season.
After a slow start last week against Wolves, Eddie Howe was able to inspire a comeback at Molineux after making three changes at half-time. Newcastle again started slowly against Fulham but this time it proved costly.
Raul Jiminez opened the scoring after just five minutes and summer signing Emile Smith Rowe doubled their lead in the first half.
Howe admitted he’s questioning his decision to start Joe Willock, and the 25-year-old was one of two changes made at the break as he tried to kickstart another comeback.
Things looked promising when Harvey Barnes halved the deficit just one minute into the second half, but Newcastle were unable to find an equaliser and a late mistake from Bruno Guimaraes handed Fulham a third.
Eddie Howe told he has a ‘huge problem’
Newcastle’s league position is not alarming – after all they are still sixth with 10 points from five games. But performances certainly have been alarming, and it is down to Howe to get the team ticking again.
| Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
| 4 |  ChelseaChelsea | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| 5 |  ArsenalArsenal | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 7 |  BrightonBrighton | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
A poor summer transfer window has certainly not helped, with Newcastle looking short of options at the back after missing out on several centre-back targets.
Pundit Craig Burley is seriously worried about Newcastle’s defence, which was the “backbone” to the Champions League push two seasons ago.
Speaking on ESPN, Burley said: “Their backbone was their back line. That was the foundation. Trippier, Botman, Schar, Burn – it’s just not happening anymore.
“Botman is injured, Trippier they want out – they want to get rid of Trippier. Dan Burn is playing centre-half, Livramento played full-back but then Trippier played.
“The back line was solid for them, and it gave them a base. That has been obliterated.
“Last year it was obliterated by injuries. Pope, the centre-halves, Trippier lost form. Now you can’t guess what the Newcastle back four will be next week and that is a huge problem.”
Eddie Howe is still finding his best Newcastle XI
Every single Newcastle supporter could have named Howe’s first-choice XI during the push for Champions League qualification.
Last season was slightly different due to injuries – Howe eventually had such little option that he was forced to play whoever was available.
But now with more options, Howe is facing a few selection headaches and it seems so far that there have been some mistakes in his lineups.
There are selection dilemmas in every area of the pitch. Up front, both Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes want to play off the left. Sandro Tonali and Joe Willock are fighting it out for a spot in midfield and at the back it’s anyone’s guess as to who will play where.
Having options and being able to rotate is fantastic, but the balance hasn’t quite been right and there have been far too many poor starts.
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