Brentford and beyond! | OneFootball

I’ve been thinking about the Newcastle United performance against Brentford on Sunday and the aftermath in terms of fan reaction.

I’ve also been wondering about a couple of incidents that seem to have been completely missed out in the furore around the two penalty appeals.

First of all, the match.

After the debacle at West Ham, I really expected a reaction when we ran out against Brentford. I wasn’t expecting an easy game. Brentford are a decent and hard working side and seem to have replaced an excellent manager with someone very competent indeed.

After taking the lead (again) I thought to myself, “Here we go – get into them.” Unfortunately, the lads (and Eddie Howe) weren’t listening and the whole shebang went pear shaped.

First of all, though, the first of my under the radar incidents. What about that assist by Big Nick Woltemade to set up Harvey Barnes’s lovely goal. Harvey had plenty to do to finish things off but he wouldn’t have had the chance without yet another deft and fully intentional flick by Lord Voldemorte.

With the ball knocked out to Jacob Murphy on the right, Murph did what he often does – crossed straight away into the danger zone. Exactly where Big Nick was pointing, to be precise. Nick must have the peripheral vision of a barn owl because he instantly flicked the ball backwards as it arrived, directly into the path of Barnes who finished off sublimely. Leaving a brace of defenders flat on their backsides.. The commentators didn’t even mention it (the Herr flick). Much to no one’s surprise.

It’s difficult to pinpoint where it all went wrong after that but the focus of attention ended up fully honed in on our other “Big” boy – Big Dan Burn. Which brings me nicely to my other under the radar incident.

In the second minute, Joelinton took a nasty knock on the leg in a challenge with Dango Ouatarra – who was definitely unchained on Sunday afternoon. It was a 50-50 challenge and I don’t know whether Ouatarra went in with any real intention. However, I watched Brennan Johnson get sent off for a much more innocuous challenge midweek against a Copenhagen player and wondered, having watched the replay, whether VAR would intervene.

Of course, they couldn’t, because Winifred Attwell hadn’t actually made a decision about the challenge and a throw in was the result. I suppose if I couldn’t decide if there was intent then neither could the ref, to be fair. It begs the question as to what might have happened if he had. Not just at that point (with VAR being able to intervene) but later in the game.

Ouatarra, who was at the centre of that incident, then went on to torment Big Dan more and more as the game went on. Never one to shy away from a physical challenge with legs or hands, Dan pushed his luck as far as he could – and then some.

The first penalty incident looked stonewall at full speed but Mr Attwell (he’s only Winifred when he makes bad decisions) made a stand for honesty in the box and not only declined the pen but carded Dango for his rather theatrical dive. VAR then came into play and, amazingly, exercised common sense and refused to reward the play actor. Contact happens all over the pitch but doesn’t necessarily mean a foul – just ask Joey.

Even before this point I was screaming at the screen for Eddie to take Big Dan out of the firing line. He was already on a yellow and Ouatarra had him on toast. Surely Nice Guy Eddie could see what the rest of us could. Sadly, I t wasn’t to be. Either there’s more wrong with Lewis Hall than we think, or Eddie just imagined Dan was going to weather the storm as he has done sometimes before, to be fair.

The second pen looked, to me, to be even less of a genuine claim than the first one. A bit of a despairing swing by Burn missed its mark and Ouatarra went down as you just knew he would. Was there contact? On the angles that I’ve seen, you can’t tell, but if the first one was classified as having insufficient force to be relevant then I don’t see how this one wasn’t. The one thing in VAR’s favour, I suppose, was Big Dan’s meek acceptance of the verdict.

So we lose on the road again. The worrying thing, though, isn’t so much the losing as the manner of it. We were largely toothless. We had a lot of the ball but did nothing of substance with it other than the goal in the first quarter of the game.

There are a lot of factors to consider and a lot of questions to asked. In the aftermath though. a few comments have caught my eye.

One was the suggestion that some of the players are unhappy at how Isak was treated and have started to withdraw their effort. Something which probably stems from the poor recent form of Anthony Gordon and Sven Botman who both wrote encouraging posts for the Rat on social media. Not only do I find this suggestion totally guano-crazy but I also object to the notion that someone is to be criticised for standing by a friend. I was brought up to believe that was a virtue.

The whole Isak business certainly has had an effect on the pitch. Not only has it deprived us of a top centre forward but – because the stirrers-in-chief tried to harass us into letting him desert on the cheap – it also prevented us from making any sort of quick deal to secure a replacement. We’re still suffering due to the lack of a big, quick, powerful striker.

I think another major factor holding us back is the continued absence of the two young lads who, for me, are the best full back pairing in the Premier League. Those boys will be back but who will be handing out the bibs when they trot out for the warm-up?

Not by any stretch of the imagination am I advocating replacing Eddie Howe, or even saying he OUGHT to be under pressure. But if the current trend of poor away performances continue then the professional football reality may well overtake even Nice Guy Eddie.

Why does it always have to be 4 3 3 when we’re getting overrun in midfield and we don’t seem capable of playing through? Why the Hell wasn’t Dan Burn subbed – or better still moved to left centre-back and Botman taken off? Why do we keep seeming to play injured players? Why are so many players looking so jaded so soon into the season?

These are valid questions and Eddie Howe and his players need to come up with the answers, not in words and Instagram posts, but in action on the pitch.

One last thought.

I read an article on The Mag today (Monday) with a title reporting that Jamie Carragher thought Eddie Howe couldn’t take the club any further. Clearly, a lot of people commented on that, without actually reading what he said (on The Mag comments section – Surely not!).

What Spit the Dog was actually saying was basically my defence of Eddie. He has been virtually running the playing side of the club on his own for some time now with a distinct lack of visible support by the Board and the owners. Changing personnel at Board level, the ransoming of our goal scoring Crown Jewel, protracted negotiations for player replacements, upgraded training and stadium plans – everything veiled in secrecy and moving at glacial pace with only Eddie at the sharp end dealing with the media and the public.