It’d be fair to say Newcastle United needed the international break.
Eddie Howe’s side have finished the first portion of the season with one win and three defeats in a disappointing start, albeit after a very difficult run of games against Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton.
Of the three losses, the defeat on the south coast was the most disappointing.
City are treble winners of course and generally lose few games during any given season, while the Liverpool result was something of a freak in that Newcastle had more than enough chances to kill the game at 1-0 up.
Still, and while Brighton are undoubtedly a good team, losing to them in such resounding fashion was slightly more alarming.
As you can imagine, however, Howe was straight to work.
What Eddie Howe did immediately after Newcastle lost to Brighton
According to The Athletic, Howe wasted little time in dwelling.
They claim the Newcastle manager immediately watched the game back after the loss on the south coast to analyse what he and his team could have done differently.
Known as a workaholic, Howe was eager to see what went wrong, particularly with another difficult game against Brentford up after the break.
Plenty to ponder for Howe
While Howe is not thought to be under any internal pressure as things stand, he certainly has plenty to ponder.
Those behind the scenes are believed to be confident the midfield trio of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton will come good, although none of them have yet covered themselves in glory.
Given there are reportedly little plans to change that system, it is certainly a risk for Howe.
Brentford are one of the most upwardly mobile teams in the Premier League and have proven capable of taking points off of the club top clubs.
Another defeat and an ill-functioning midfield and it will be interesting to see the mood…
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