Fulham 3-1 Newcastle: Awful display punished as Toon suffer first defeat

A missed chance to move to the top of the Premier League for Eddie Howe's Mags as Newcastle fell to their first defeat of the 2024/25 season at Fulham.

After picking up 10 points from a possible 12 in our opening four, first-half goals from Raul Jimenez and Emile Smith-Rowe gave the hosts an early lead in what can only be described as an abysmal 45 minutes from our point of view.

Our midfield looked all at sea, our front three were spectators and our back four did little to protect Nick Pope; who wasn't blameless himself after a weak hand failed to stop Smith-Rowe from making it 2-0.

We needed a big second half and it started superbly as Harvey Barnes scored just a minute into the restart. Another away-day comeback was suddenly on the cards and we were far more competitive after the break, but it wasn't to be as Fulham made sure of the win after a Bruno Guimaraes howler gifted Reiss Nelson a 92nd minute goal to end all hopes of a late equaliser.

Defeats were coming if our performance levels didn't go up a gear and so it proved today, with our awful first half display punished by a Fulham side that were good value for their 3-1 win.

Alexander Isak passed a late fitness, much to the relief of Newcastle fans and Howe made plenty of changes, although there was no room for Sandro Tonali in his starting 11. Still, we saw four changes as Harvey Barns Joe Willock, Lloyd Kelly and Kieran Trippier replaced Jacob Murphy, Sean Longstaff, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento.

Starting XI: Pope – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Kelly – Willock, Bruno, Joelinton – Gordon, Isak, Barnes.

Subs: Dubravka, Krafth, Hall*, Livramento*, Tonali*, Longstaff, Murphy*, Almiron, Osula*.

Moments after Joelinton's disallowed goal for a Willock offside, Fulham went down the other end and struck first via Jimenez to hand the hosts a 1-0 lead within five minutes. The Mexican was found from Adama Traore's cross, was allowed to turn by Fabian Schar and fired past Nick Pope - and it almost got worse a minute later as Smith-Rowe smashed the corner of the crossbar from their next attack.

Dan Burn then lost the flight of a ball in behind to allow Jimenez in behind, but we had Pope to thank as he made himself big to keep it at one. Fulham's tails were up and we were chasing shadows all over the pitch, looking nothing like the side that started quickly in our last away game at Wolves and struggling to get Bruno Guimaraes into the game at all.

1-0 then became 2-0 and it had been coming. We lost possession too easily in midfield, Fulham broke down our left and Smith-Rowe caught Pope off guard by taking his effort early. Poor defending, poor goalkeeping - Pope should've done better - and pretty disastrous start for Newcastle United.

Four Fulham players went into the book but we continued to be wasteful on the ball and slow to react when we gave it away, showing a lack of urgency or quality in and out of possession. No fluency to our attacking play and a real lack of organisation all over the pitch as Fulham players constantly picked up pockets of space. The half-time whistle went and the scoreline flattered us, giving us a mountain to climb in the final 45 minutes.

Howe made two changes at the break - Lewis Hall and Jacob Murphy replaced Lloyd Kelly and Joe Willock - and there was an instant response. Murphy broke free after bursting onto Isak's lay-off and fed Harvey Barnes, who finished superb once again after cutting in from the left and firing a low effort past Leno and into the far corner to make it four goals and one assist in his last six Premier League outings. 2-1!

Pope then kept us in it five minutes later as he got himself in the way of a huge chance for Iwobi at the back post. The game was on a knife-edge and suddenly an end-to-end affair, with the next goal feeling massive as we looked to complete yet another comeback on the road.

There was a greater intensity and urgency to our play as we fought to find that equaliser, although that bit of quality to unlock the door was often lacking as we huffed and puffed our way to the 70-minute mark still 2-1 down.

Gordon almost changed that after his bursting run ended in a low effort blocked by Leno, then Murphy fired just over seconds later after cutting in from the right. The biggest chance, however, came from the resultant goal kick, as Leno gifted Schar with a huge opening, but our usually composed Swiss star took it early - ignoring a tap-in for Isak - and shot wide.

Howe then made two more changes with 15 minutes remaining, seeing Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento replace Joelinton and Trippier. A tired Gordon also made way for Will Osula, with the big Dane on for his Newcastle debut as he joined Isak up top in Howe's last throw of the dice to try and salvage a point.

Six minutes of added time were signalled but it was Fulham who found a late goal, with Bruno's awful pass out from the back gifting Reiss Nelson a 92nd minute goal to make it 3-1, c

Next up for Newcastle, a Carabao Cup trip to Wimbledon on Tuesday night before we welcome Manchester City to St James' Park next Saturday.