Newcastle United, after remaining unbeaten for the first 5 games, has faced the first loss, which could have come much earlier. As has been the club's performance, not only have they failed to be convincing this season, but what has been disappointing is that they didn't improvise even after sensing this result much before. Right from the beginning, the hosts looked much above Howe's side, be it creating crucial chances, capitalizing on them, or handling the defensive duties. In the end, Fulham deservedly got the complete 3 points, with the loss pushing the Magpies club much behind their dream position.
Clearly, the match has presented that the club still needs to work on some crucial aspects to prove itself as a serious contender for a top-4 PL finish. Analyzing the fixture closely, let's look at the three major reasons that influenced the fixture's result in favor of Fulham:
Overreliability on a few players
One of the major reasons why the result that Newcastle endured against Fulham was expected much before is that they have been overdependent on a few names. Until this far, only two names have been consistent for the Magpies side, and the rest of the team has felt significantly mediocre.
Even in the fixture against Fulham, Harvey Barnes, who pulled up a goal with an amazing finish past Leno, was the only player felt by the opposition backline. Although Barnes moved to his 3rd goal of the PL campaign, in his 5th appearance, lack of support from the other flank and the front heavily influenced the result against Fulham.
Alike has been the case of Nick Pope in the club's backline. Even though he committed a huge blunder that resulted in him conceding the second goal of the fixture, the 32-year-old had a brilliant game overall, managing eight saves. Once again, the lack of communication and support had Newcastle penalized despite Pope trying his best to save them.