A game at home against Brighton is a fixture most fans will be demanding a positive result from, but for Newcastle, even this proved too tough a task.
A stalemate in front of the lowest St. James’ Park attendance in eight years as reported by The Chronicle Live summed up the mood of the game perfectly, as Steve Bruce’s uninspiring side slumped to a dull affair against the Seagulls, who they themselves were kicking themselves for not taking advantage of the Magpies.
Fabian Schar’s audacious yet priceless goal-line clearance was essentially what saved the Toon from an embarrassing defeat to Graham Potter’s south coast team, and failing to win against a club that loiters around the same area of the Premier League table as Newcastle is seemingly a sign of the slope the Tyneside team find themselves sliding down.
Indeed, before the start of the Premier League season it was largely seen that Newcastle could be one of the surprise sides in the bottom half of the table to be relegated following the departure of Rafa Benitez and subsequent appointment of Steve Bruce in the summer, and six games into the 2019/20 campaign, it’s hard to see a positive ending for the Magpies come next May.
A win away to Tottenham remains both Newcastle’s only win of the season as well as their most surprising result, and seeing Bruce’s side not only fail to build upon the victory against last year’s Champions League finalists but stumble to a team like Brighton at home is a grave sign of what things can lead to on the northeast.
The fans who bleed the black and white of Newcastle deserve better than this, yet is it a surprise the situation has come to this so early in the season?