Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has reportedly been infuriated by some refereeing decisions that have gone against his side in recent games.
The Telegraph report that Howe is particularly angered with what he saw from the officials in the defeats against Leicester City, Manchester City and Liverpool.
Howe is now instructing his staff to compile video footage of the main incidents that he feels went against Newcastle in those matches.
The report suggests other members of the Newcastle backroom team share Howe’s frustration and surprise at the poor standard of officiating.
One major issue highlighted was James Maddison appearing to dive for the penalty awarded to Leicester in their 4-0 victory, while Diogo Jota’s goal for Liverpool was also allowed to stand despite Isaac Hayden being down holding his head as play was for some reason allowed to go on.
There was also a highly questionable call when referee Martin Atkinson appeared to ignore a foul by Ederson of Manchester City that could’ve given Howe’s side a penalty.
Newcastle certainly aren’t finding things easy at the moment, but one imagines their poor results can’t be explained by refereeing alone.
The Magpies need to improve when the transfer window opens this January, though it remains to be seen how many big names they’ll be able to attract when they’re in a relegation battle, even if they do have significant money to spend.