Magpies looked close to burnout at The Bees

NEWCASTLE United looked dead on their knees in the second half against Brentford, and the worrying thing was this felt worse than West Ham just seven days earlier.

- By LEE RYDER Chief Newcastle writer [e-mail] @lee_ryder

Newcastle players and staff after the defeat at Brentford

They looked like they were close to some kind of mental burnout as they struggled to cope with even the most straightforward decisions.

Even if Dan Burn should have been taken off by Eddie Howe when sitting on a yellow card, surely the player's own intuition should be to not dive in a second time and just moments after avoiding a red card and previous penalty award?

Burn has been a black and white giant but that looked like the thought process of a tired guy. Although he wasn’t alone, there were plenty of tired performances on the day.

Having had just one recovery session and two full training sessions at best to prepare for the Bees’ throw-

in bombardment, the game plan crumbled after an opening 45 minutes in which Newcastle rode their luck. As Michael Kayode gently tossed his first few throws back to his defence, you got the feeling that the home side were luring United into a false sense of security.