Eddie Howe now says what he needs from his players after another poor display

Newcastle United's unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt end at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon as Fulham ran away 3-1 winners.

Craven Cottage used to be a happy hunting ground for the Magpies but today it was anything but. In the first half in particular Newcastle were absolutely woeful.

This season we've seen a pattern of play from Eddie Howe's men which is usually control the opening minutes, go to sleep for an hour and control the closing minutes of the game. Those two brief periods of control have been enough to win us points this season, but today our period of control was 30 minutes from the start of the second half at which point we were already 2-0 and chasing the game.

Granted we scored almost immediately after the second half kicked off, but despite all our possession and forward play, we failed to create any real chances other than the one that Bernd Leno and Emile Smith Rowe presented to Fabian Schar which the centre-back duly fluffed.

Eddie Howe is demanding his side are more front-footed and dominant

After the game Eddie Howe spoke to the media (via Football365) and he admitted that the performances this season have been nowhere near the levels they should be, and offered up what needs to happen in future.

“We won the ball back high, Fabian had the chance to score and unfortunately he didn’t take it.

“Games swing on big moments. The character and attitude was better in that second period but we have to learn our lessons from the first half.

“We have to start the game better and be more front-footed and more dominant in our performance.”

Whatever is going on behind the scenes needs sorting out right away

We are absolutely lost for words when looking at the difference between the energy, intensity and pressing of this team compared to the previous couple of seasons.

How much has James Bunce told Eddie Howe to calm down the training? They're not at Steve Bruce's levels of fitness by any means, but at the minute they look miles off a normal Eddie Howe side.

Anthony Gordon, who was been horrendous all season so far, used to chase down lost causes like a dog chasing a car, but now he can barely be arsed to run for a ball he's guaranteed to win.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes needs fixing pronto before the whole club becomes a toxic wasteland again.