‘I’m not doing my job well enough’ – but is Howe now under pressure?

The St James’ Park crowd roared in belief.

Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes had just drawn his side level at 2-2 against Brentford with a confident penalty.

But the Magpies were not content with a late equaliser. Sandro Tonali picked the ball out of the net so the game could quickly restart as Guimaraes led the rest of his buoyant team-mates back into their own half.

Was it going to be one of those nights on Tyneside?

Not even close.

It said it all that this fragile side were only level for a few short minutes before Dango Ouattara fired Brentford back in front after capitalising on poor defending.

The team’s body blow was one which left home supporters stunned as Newcastle fell to a damaging 3-2 defeat.

One irate supporter even made his way towards the back of the dugout in the closing stages to urge head coach Eddie Howe to “sort it out” before loud boos rang out at full-time.

Newcastle are now languishing in 12th place in the Premier League – and Howe cut a visibly downbeat figure after the match.

Is he under pressure?

“I always feel under pressure,” the Newcastle head coach said.

One win in eight games in all competitions is the current form.

“The type of pressure is irrelevant to me,” Howe said.

“When you’re in this job, you’re always in that moment, whether it’s pressure to win and keep winning or pressure to turn around results. We’re very much in that feeling.

Howe has endured sticky spells before, of course.

This is a man who took charge of a side in deep relegation trouble in 2021 and only won one of his opening 10 games in all competitions.

There was a humiliating FA Cup exit to Cambridge United along the way on an afternoon when Kieran Trippier made his debut for the club.

Now, more than four years on, Trippier stressed he took “full responsibility” after being caught out in the build-up to all of Brentford’s goals.

“It is nothing about the manager,” Trippier told Sky Sports. “We take responsibility for the performances.

“The manager puts the plan out and we try and execute it. I am not going down that route about the manager. I would never do that.”

Newcastle operated without a sporting director and missed out on a number of first-choice targets, including Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro and James Trafford, in a window when top scorer Alexander Isak went on strike in order to push through a move to Liverpool.

Howe had a huge say on recruitment, but Newcastle ended up spending over £250m on Jacob Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw, Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade, as well as bringing in goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale on loan.

It was rather telling that only two recruits – Thiaw and Wissa – started against Brentford.

Wissa had a poked effort cleared off the line, when his side were 1-0 up, but this was another goalless outing for the former Brentford forward.

He left the field to a humiliating chorus of “what a waste of money” from the away end after being substituted.

Wissa has scored just three goals since making his debut in December, while Woltemade has only found the back of the net on one occasion in that same period.

One man who certainly knew where the goal was Alan Shearer, the club’s leading scorer.

Shearer recognised that things are not good enough, but stressed Howe was “not under pressure”.

“The signings in the summer – apart from Malick Thiaw – have not been good enough and hit anything like top form,” said Shearer, who is a pundit on Saturday’s Match of the Day.

“They simply haven’t justified the money that was spent on them as yet and that has hindered Howe.

Such esteem should not come as a surprise.

This is a manager who ended Newcastle’s seven-decade wait for a major domestic trophy less than a year ago, and who led his side to Champions League qualification in 2025 and 2023.

It is why Howe commanded instant respect from chief executive David Hopkinson and sporting director Ross Wilson when they were finally appointed earlier this season.

The pair have quickly struck up a relationship with Howe, and have repeatedly talked about the importance of alignment behind the scenes at a time when there have been very public ructions at clubs elsewhere.

There has been a degree of an understanding that this side are in transition following a turbulent summer.

There is also a recognition behind the scenes that the incredibly hands-on Howe has not had much training time with his players, and has had to contend with fatigue and injuries during a relentless schedule this season, which is a relatively new phenomenon for Newcastle.

Newcastle have a strong chance of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, and have an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Aston Villa to come next week, but this season is unravelling. Fast.

No teams have dropped more points from winning positions in the league than Newcastle (19).

Howe’s team have only won three away games in all competitions this season, and have lost three of their last four matches at St James’ Park.

They are as close to the relegation zone as they are the top five.

Such statistics are all the more damning in a week during which Hopkinson doubled down on his assertion that Newcastle would be competing for the biggest prizes by 2030.

Howe certainly needs no reminding that he needs to spark a turnaround sooner rather than later.

“I’ve got to work better, do more and take full responsibility for everything you see on the pitch,” he said.

“I’ve got to work out solutions. That’s for me to do and it’s the same for the players.

“I have to ask them to be really honest with themselves and look at their best level and judge how we are playing against that now in this current moment.