Something is seriously wrong with Newcastle on the road. It is all well and good raising their game for the biggest Champions League occasions at St James’ Park, but if they continue to play like they did against Brentford – just as they did in defeat at West Ham a week earlier, and countless times over a concerning number of months – those European nights may well become a distant memory.
That they ended this game with a numerical disadvantage after Dan Burn’s sending off was of little relevance to a defeat that they fully deserved. Harvey Barnes’s goal aside they were utterly impotent, offering only that solitary shot on target all match.
Their winless run away from home now stretches to nine Premier League matches, dating back to April. Most worryingly, there was no sign of it ending here. What is this travel malady that so afflicts them when leaving the north-east?
To Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa, Brentford can now add Newcastle to the list of notable clubs they have defeated at home this season. In a game only pockmarked by moments of quality, it was a victory their dominance merited.
Keith Andrews must have wondered how his team even managed to fall behind in the first place. They dictated the flow of an often pedestrian game for the vast majority of proceedings, largely looking at ease at the back and gently threatening going forward.
