Newcastle squad depth costs Eddie Howe's tired side amid fixture pile-up – reporter's notebook | Football news

Newcastle are learning the hard way what it takes to succeed on multiple fronts domestically while competing in the Champions League.

Their form is not good: one win in seven. They are in the middle of the Premier League table, which is clearly not where they want to be, and falling away from the top five, seven points behind.

It will become increasingly difficult too as the fixture schedule is relentless with six matches in the next 17 days.

After Brentford at home this weekend, they travel to Tottenham, Aston Villa in the FA Cup, then embark on a 5,000-mile round trip to Baku to face Qarabag, with Manchester City in the Premier League sandwiched in between.

They are in the middle of a 45-day stretch with 14 games and fatigue is setting in because of the schedule.

Eddie Howe tries not to talk about it too much because it can get into the players' heads and it's a really difficult situation because one leads to the other.

It was interesting what Howe said after the Carabao Cup second leg defeat to Man City, that he was annoyed by the performance and that they prided themselves on being organized defensively.

He is not used to criticizing his players like this, but he must have been unhappy with what he saw: the draw was effectively over after 10 minutes.

I understand why he made his team press high, they had to give it a go as it was a cup tie. Perhaps he did not have adequate personnel and was not physically fit to execute the plan.

But he also talked about what they need to do moving forward, which is to protect the players' confidence – and they must do it.

They don't have a team as strong as Liverpool, Manchester City or Arsenal, and that costs them dearly.

Most of the Newcastle squad are also not used to the relentlessness of the schedule. It's something the players are getting used to and Newcastle are still learning.

Watching the Man City game, when they had those chances early on through Joe Willock and Anthony Gordon, I felt there was a lack of confidence when they were clean on goal. It was quite the opposite for Manchester City in the way Omar Marmoush scored his two goals.

The goal opened up for Newcastle and they didn't take their chance. I think part of it is a trust issue, which makes Howe's assertion that they need to protect players' trust interesting.

However, if they get a win against Brentford on Saturday it will help, but the matches are coming at a rapid pace.

What hasn't helped is the relative failure of last summer's new signings to hit the ground running. Only Malick Thiaw can be considered a success.

The other four signings, Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Elanga, totaled £220 million. That's a lot of money considering the results so far.

Perhaps Elanga's goal on Wednesday, his first since his £55million arrival from Nottingham Forest, can give Howe and his team some much-needed hope that better times are coming.

Howe says if they want to play in Europe and play top-level football every year, they need to qualify for the Champions League regularly – and they're going to have to get used to that.

Newcastle February Calendars

Saturday: Newcastle vs Brentford – Premier League, kick-off 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports

February 10: Tottenham vs Newcastle – Premier League, kick-off 7:30 p.m.

February 14: Aston Villa vs Newcastle – FA Cup Fourth Round, Kick-off 5:45 p.m.

February 18: Qarabag vs Newcastle – Champions League play-off first leg, kick-off 5:45 p.m.

February 21: Man City vs Newcastle – Premier League, kick-off 8 p.m.

February 24: Newcastle vs Qarabag – Champions League play-off second leg, kick-off 8 p.m.

February 28: Newcastle vs Everton – Premier League, kick-off 3 p.m.