Chris Waugh, The Athletic: Howe's 'positive' selection issue for Brentford trip | OneFootball

Eddie Howe will continue to manage a 'positive' selection issue when his Newcastle United side travel to Brentford this weekend, explains Chris Waugh, Newcastle correspondent for The Athletic.

Finding the right balance with a plethora of attacking options has been a challenge for the Magpies boss so far this term.

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Newcastle are 12th in the Premier League, though the top half of the table is very congested. What have you made of their season to date?

It has been very up and down and inconsistent. They had, points-wise, their best start in 20-odd years after the first four games but were not playing particularly well and could easily have drawn or lost those first four matches.

Then they got turned over at Fulham and that felt like it was comeuppance for a difficult start and they got what they deserved, to a certain degree.

After that, performances began to improve but, perversely, results dipped, and they could not marry the two.

They drew at home to Man City and that was the start of a more positive run of performances; the win over Chelsea at home in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup was huge and they followed that up by beating Arsenal at home, then going to Nottingham Forest and delivering the best all-round performance of the season, so they went into the November international break looking as though they had turned a corner and found balance and a successful formula.

But after the defeat against West Ham, it was almost as though that momentum has been completely checked by the two-week break.

It just feels like one step forward, one step back at the moment and, until they can find any sort of consistency – even though, points-wise, they are not far off the top four – it will be a while until they are there.

Newcastle have one of the best defensive records in the division but, prior to Wednesday night's 3-3 draw against Liverpool, were struggling to find the back of the net. Is that causing frustration, that they are doing so well at one end of the pitch and not the other?

Yes, it is very strange because, last season, I dubbed Newcastle the ‘accidental entertainers’ because, if you took their cumulative goals for and against, only Liverpool in one season under Brendan Rodgers had a higher average goals-per-game in the entire history of the Premier League.

They were a side who scored a lot and conceded a lot last season and it has completely flipped now. Two seasons ago, when they got into the Champions League, the defensive record was excellent – the joint-best in the Premier League – and that was one of the main reasons they got there.

So, to see that solidity returning is a positive and Nick Pope being fit is part of the reason behind that, given his prowess as a shot-stopper, but also how he swoops in behind. The defence has been more settled, if not quite as settled as they would like, given a few injury problems. Defensively, they are more positive, though they have conceded a couple of sloppy set-piece goals recently, and this is something they have looked to address.

At the other end, goals had never been an issue under Eddie Howe; certainly in his first two full seasons in charge, they were free-scoring. This season, that has not been the case. They have been wasteful, decision-making in the final third has been questionable at times and what is concerning is not just that they are missing chances at a higher rate than they have done over the last two seasons, they are also doing so from a lower base in terms of chances and quality of chances.

They have struggled to function a little bit in attack and there has been a lot of tweaking within the side from Howe to try to find the correct formula and, as of yet in attack, he has not really done so.

The more possession Newcastle have, the less threat they have in attack. They like to play in the transition, they like to play on the counter and so that is a key frustration. I do not think it will continue long term because they have got too much quality in attacking areas but, at the moment, that really is holding them back.

Having narrowly missed out on Conference League qualification last season, how high on the priority list is getting back into European competition?

It is a real priority. The CEO Darren Eales and the sporting director Paul Mitchell both said during the summer that Newcastle’s goal had to be returning to Europe and that they believed they had the quality of squad to be doing that - and Eddie Howe has accepted that.

The problem is that they have not strengthened the squad in the last 18 months to two years as much as they would ideally have liked to. I still think they are capable of getting into Europe, but if you ask a lot of supporters if they would rather get into Europe or win a cup competition this season, a lot would go for the latter, given the club have not won anything since 1969 and have not won a domestic trophy since 1955.

For Howe and Newcastle, there is the realisation that European football brings higher revenue and, given PSR constraints, they need to be trying to get back there. Howe has to balance those two challenges for now and Newcastle should be in and around the European picture, but they are going to have to find greater consistency if they are going to get themselves in that position.

Which player should Brentford fans keep an eye on?

The best player this season, in his breakthrough campaign, has been Lewis Hall. He made his England debut during the most recent international break. Having had a really difficult first year at Newcastle, where, even during an injury crisis, he could not really get any minutes on the pitch, he has become a consistent performer.

He is very good on the ball as he is a converted midfielder and while other players – including key players like Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimarães – have flitted in and out of form, he has been the one consistent where you can say, just about every game, he has played well.

He is becoming more involved in Newcastle’s attack as well. So, I would go for Hall, even though he is not the most exciting player Newcastle have.

What should Brentford expect from Newcastle in terms of shape and style?

Throughout his time at Newcastle, Howe has primarily gone for a 4-3-3 and that is likely to be the case, though he did tinker a lot during the second half against West Ham, mainly to no benefit.

Joelinton has been operating as a wide forward, having been moved forward again from midfield, but I think he will drop back into midfield over the next few weeks because Newcastle have a couple of fitness problems in midfield and Howe is trying to find a way to get Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon into the same side.

It will be Nick Pope in goal, Kieran Trippier or Tino Livramento at right-back, Fabian Schär and Dan Burn at centre-back, with Hall at left-back.

The midfield depends on Bruno Guimarães and Joe Willock’s fitness, but it is likely to be Guimarães, Joelinton, Sean Longstaff, with Harvey Barnes on the left, Gordon on the right and [Alexander] Isak through the middle.

The big issue Howe has had this season - which is a positive issue but, at the same time, is that he has not found the right balance – is that he has got players of Barnes and Sandro Tonali’s quality on the bench.

Brentford's search for a first league win over Newcastle since 1948 has been fruitless over the last six meetings. What's your score prediction?

Newcastle have got a pretty good recent record at Brentford, but I also know Brentford have been very good at home this season. I am going to go for a 2-2 draw.