Newcastle United fell to another defeat as Luton Town negotiated a 1-0 win at Kenilworth Road. This defeat leaves the Magpies with just one win in their last six matches, the rest being losses.
Luton’s Andros Townsend scored the only goal of the game coming in the first half, heading in at the back post after Ross Barkley flicked on a corner from Alfie Doughty. Newcastle applied pressure in search of an equaliser, but it was Rob Edwards’ team that came closest to adding to their lead.
First, Barkley hit the underside of the bar with a powerful 30-yard drive, and later, Jacob Brown did the same in the second half after a setup by Elijah Adebayo. Although Alexander Isak thought he had equalised, VAR ruled him offside. Edwards mentioned that his team aimed to win the game for their absent captain, who had been discharged from the hospital on Thursday.
PIF (Public Investment Fund), the owners of Newcastle United, are reportedly unhappy with manager Eddie Howe. The team’s recent loss to Luton, marking their fourth consecutive away defeat from St James’ Park, is expected to fuel speculation about Howe’s potential dismissal.
Howe also revealed in his post-game reaction: “We’ve spoken about it internally, we know how important away form is. We have to be consistent in home and away form. It epitomised our away form today, we didn’t compete well in the first half. We were reactive instead of proactive.”
The pressure on Howe has intensified as the team faces challenges in their away performances, and PIF’s dissatisfaction adds to the talk of a possible managerial change at Newcastle United.