Fabian Schar and Bruno Guimaraes conspire to end Newcastle United's unbeaten start to season

Newcastle United got their first taste of defeat this season down at Craven Cottage as the hosts came away with a deserved 3-1 victory.

You'd have to be pretty crazy to think that Newcastle deserved anything out of this game after that first-half display. Fulham should have been out of sight by the time the half time whistle blew, and while they were 2-0 up, it could, and should have been more.

Newcastle came out firing in the second half after more half time substitutions from Eddie Howe - which suggests that he really doesn't know what his best XI is which is very worrying.

It took just 28 seconds for Harvey Barnes to claw a goal back for the Magpies after a lovely through ball from substitute Jacob Murphy and it looked to be game on again.

Getty Images

If Schar had scored his golden chance we believe Newcastle win it

he early goal rocked Fulham and there was a feeling that if Newcastle had drawn level then the game was there to win, and level it they should have done when Bernd Leno played a lazy short ball out from the back which was pounced on by Fabian Schar who had almost an empty goal to aim at, or an easy square ball for Alexander Isak who was directly in the middle of said empty net.

Instead, Schar took on the shot and somehow put it wide, and if that didn't sum up the afternoon entirely, then what Bruno Guimaraes did in the dying embers absolutely did.

A terrible short throw in by Lewis Hall deep in Newcastle's own half saw some bad passes played under pressure with Bruno Guimaraes trying to play out from the back instead of just hoofing the ball clear. He managed to ride a couple of challenges but went to play a cross-field ball that had no power or direction on it and it went straight to Reiss Nelson who gratefully received the gift and blasted it home to make it 3-1.

This result has to be a wake-up call for the Magpies

I'm sure Wor Rich is having fun writing his Good, Bad and Average piece right now because there are some players who need to be called out after today's game, and I don't think Eddie Howe is going to come off too well this week either.

Anthony Gordon is a shadow of his former self. He's a shadow of the self he was when he first arrived at Newcastle. God knows what's going on inside his head but it's not focused on playing for Newcastle that's for sure.

Eddie Howe also needs to pull his head out of his rectum. His team selections clearly aren't working and the fact that two weeks in a row he's had to make changes at half time is a testament to that fact. Is it time to retire the 4-3-3 formation or is it something else? Whatever it is, this game has to be a wake-up call.