Joe Buck reacts as Newcastle United taste defeat for the first time this season after a disappointing 3-1 loss against Fulham in the Premier League. Raul Jimenez and Emile Smith Rowe put Fulham 2-0 up before half-time before Harvey Barnes restored some hope with a strike just after the break. However, a mistake by Bruno Guimaraes at the end allowed Reiss Nelson to slam home a third and seal all three points.
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00:00So, Niggas United's unbeaten start to the season is over after a 3-1 defeat here against
00:05Fulham at Craven Cottage. On a very disappointing afternoon for Eddie Howeside, nothing really
00:10went right for them at all. They were soundly beaten by their opponents. It was one where
00:15Fulham really could have been outside at half-time, went into the break 2-0 ahead. It could have
00:20been a lot more, but for a couple of saves from Nick Pope, they got a bit of hope in
00:24the second half, straight after half-time. A lot of the crowd hadn't even taken their
00:28seat when Harvey Barnes equalised, but that was it really. They tried to share a really
00:33good chance, but other than that, there was nothing really to write home and shout about.
00:39Beginning of the game, Eddie Howe had multiple decisions to make. One of them was, of course,
00:43Alexander Isak. How fit was he? After a toe injury, he was deemed fit enough to play,
00:47so that was a good boost for Niggas to see him up front. And the other one was in midfield
00:52three and whether Sandro Tonali would play. Tonali didn't. It was Joe Willock, Bruno
00:56Guimaraes and Joe Linton who were chosen in midfield. The team split opinion, let's say.
01:05I think a lot of people wanted to see Tonali and a lot of people were really happy to see
01:07Isak there, but of course, people wanted to see Tonali start. It didn't pay dividends.
01:13I think it wasn't really a risk for Eddie Howe because it's never a risk. Especially
01:18in that midfield three, no matter what combination of the five that got fit, it's not a risk.
01:23But it was a disappointing first-half performance. They went behind early on. Joe Linton scored,
01:28but it was offside. Willock was offside in the build-up, so there's no worries about
01:31that, no questions about that. But yeah, they went behind straight after that. Raul Jimenez
01:35chessed it across from Adama Traore. Cher just gives him too much space and he swivels
01:39and hits it. It's a brilliant finish to be fair pass Nick Pope, but it's really, you
01:43know, it wasn't really disappointing from Cher, but it's sort of a sloppy moment and
01:46one that, you know, put the horse ahead. And then it was 2-0. Not too long after that,
01:51Emile Smithrow, who had the freedom of Craven Cottage's hands in the first half, he got
01:54picked up so much space in between the midfield and defence, particularly on the full-on left
01:59side of Newcastle's right. And yeah, he got free, got a nice one-two, poked a ball towards
02:05Nick Pope and it was a saveable shot really. Nick Pope won't look back on that with too
02:09much fondness. He really should have saved it. He got a hand to it and it just trickled
02:12in and that sort of summed up Newcastle's afternoon. They were really holding on, I
02:16think Pope made a good save to start with being three, him and Ezra second. Fulham really
02:22could have gone in ahead 3-0 or 4-0 at the break and probably should have. When Newcastle
02:26came out in the second half, Eddie Howe again changed it like he did at Wolves last week,
02:29although this time it was only a double change. Sandro Tsonoi did come on, he came on in midfield.
02:34Sorry, no, he didn't come on at that point, minus me. Jacob Murphy came on and Lewis Hall
02:38came on for Lloyd Kelly and Joe Willock. So they've changed to sort of a 4-4-2, I think,
02:44or a 4-2-3-1, if you want, Anthony Goldman strike. It really matched Fulham and it worked
02:49straight away. Harvey Barnes got the ball cut inside and put a delicate shot and left
02:53far corner. We've seen Harvey Barnes do that numerous times and that's what Newcastle really
02:58want from Harvey Barnes this year and that's what they need. They didn't get it last year
03:00but they really got it this year. But then they couldn't make a count. They couldn't
03:03make that go back count and yeah, they were really disappointed not to test Leno too much
03:09and go, there's one glaring error of Fabian Scheer. They do really well, press a goal
03:13kick, Leno gives a straight to Scheer and Scheer just takes a shot straight away, hits
03:17a side net and half the fans behind the goal, Newcastle fans thought it was in, it wasn't
03:20of course. It does hit the side net and that got a big cheer from the Fulham fans and replay
03:25show that A. Scheer probably shouldn't have scored on B. If he takes the second goal,
03:28Isak's edge just knocks the ball through and Isak's got an empty net. So yeah, that was
03:34the moment. It wasn't the moment to turn because Newcastle didn't really deserve anything from
03:37it but that's the moment where you think if they can get there, get their noses level
03:40and get in the 2-2, anything can happen but they didn't and they were made to pay for
03:43that right in stoppage time when Bruno's ball from the corner, from his own corner was blocked
03:49and it fell straight to Reece Nelson who smashed home past Pope for 3-1. Pope made a couple
03:54other good saves in the half to keep it at 2-1 but yeah, disappointing day in the story
03:57really that I could have said this after Wolves game, could have been after the Tottenham
04:01game, although I think they were a little bit better in that game. I think a lot of
04:03people underestimate their performance in the Tottenham game. I thought they were really
04:07good but yes, it was a result that's probably been coming performance-wise more than that
04:11now. We have to head to Wimbledon on Tuesday and really win that game. Obviously, they
04:14had to win anyway against League 2 opposition in the Cup. That's a massive game now and
04:18it's going to be one that, yeah, there's a lot of pressure on that, especially with
04:21Man City next week. It's going to be a pressured week and Newcastle right now is sort of on
04:27a fine balance. You think the results, they were getting away with their shortcomings
04:31because they were still getting results. Now they're not getting results. What happens?
04:35Unfortunately, Newcastle is unbeaten right now against 3-1. As I said, it's now a massive
04:38week for Eddie Howe and his side to really bounce back from that because they have to
04:41bounce back from that similar to that and they have to start picking up results again
04:44and their performance levels have to improve because as we've seen, if you're below par
04:48performance in the Premier League, they will get punished and they haven't been punished
04:51so far this season but they were today at Craven Cottage and Fulham, yeah, deserved
04:553-1 win. As I said, it really should have been and probably could have been more.
04:59Wimbledon's now, if it wasn't already, it's now a huge game and a huge opportunity to
05:03get one step further on in their Carabao Cup journey.