'We can be better': Eddie Howe names three players who must improve for Newcastle United

It was another bad day at the office for Newcastle United on Sunday as Chelsea picked up all three points at Stamford Bridge.

Newcastle were up and down through the entire match having spells of absolute sewage and moments of genuine quality as consistency continues to evade the Magpies.

It's not just consistency that's a problem either, Newcastle are still shocking in front of goal. Alexander Isak scored the first goal in open play for over five games but only really because it would have been harder to miss.

He later squandered a golden opportunity by not passing to Joelinton in the box when the goal was gaping, or even just having a shot himself, instead opting to try and beat the group of defenders closing in.

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Eddie Howe says the midfield trio must improve

It's not just the forwards who are coming in for criticism either as the defence, especially the two centre-backs had a poor game and Nick Pope really should have done better for Cole Palmer's winner.

However, it was the midfield that Eddie Howe drew attention to in his post-match press conference (via Newcastle World) as he admitted the starting trio must do better.

“I thought the starting trio [Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton] were OK and I say OK because we can be better. But I thought they physically did well for us, they had to as they had a lot of work to get through. Technically was OK, again it can be better.

“I thought we started the second-half poor with the ball. We made changes to try and get back into the game, I’m limited sometimes with my selections on that as in who I can bring off.

“I wanted to bring the three players on that I feel could make a difference. We’ve got three games coming up this week so always difficult positions.”

Eddie Howe can point fingers but he's not blameless

It's not often that Eddie Howe actually names players when he's speaking with any kind of negative tone, so that gives us a good indication of the levels of frustration.

Eddie himself is not immune to criticism either, and he continues to play the same system despite Stevie Wonder being able to see that it's no longer working.

We get that he's limited by a squad that still has a lot of player not suited to the task but again ... whose fault is that?