Luton 1-0 Newcastle: The nightmare before Christmas as away woes continue

A grim end to an awful week for Newcastle United, as a first-half header from ex-Mag Andros Townsend handed Luton Town a 1-0 win and our SIXTH defeat in our last seven away games.

With Man Utd losing to West Ham in the early kick-off and Aston Villa dropping points to Sheffield United on Friday night, this was a huge chance to boost our top-four hopes and respond to recent defeats in the cup and Europe.

Sadly, we were off it in all departments and continue to come up well short on the road, managing just two shots on target all afternoon. Luton had been competitive in every home game this season, running Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal close at Kenilworth Road, but it's quite damning that this was their first home game of the season.

Our away form simply has to improve, even if fatigue, injuries and the hectic schedule have been contributing factors in recent months. We are a completely different side at St James' Park, even when the above issues continue to be a factor. We weren't just off it technically today, we lacked intensity, physicality and were slower to second balls than a hungry Luton side who seemed to want it more.

The result sees us slip to 7th in the table after West Ham's victory earlier in the day, falling seven points behind Spurs; who moved above Man City and into fourth with a 2-1 win over Everton.

Howe made three changes from Tuesday's cup defeat at Chelsea, where Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar and Dan Burn replace Emil Krafth, Sven Botman and Tino Livramento.

We made a really poor start and were second best in every before we finally settled around the 15-minute mark. Miley had a big chance blocked from Longstaff's cut-back and Wilson saw his point-blank header stopped from six-yards out after Gordon whipped in a brilliant ball from the left. It was a superb save, but he had to score.

Then, just as we were starting to settle, a Luton corner was flicked on at the front post and headed home at the back post by former Mag Andros Townsend. Really poor defending to be beaten to the first and second ball and it almost got worse, as Barkley smashed the bar and Dubravka made a big save with his feet to deny Adebayo.

To add to our injury woes, Lascelles went off holding his hip just before the break and that sparked a double change from Howe, who took off the skipper and Miley for Sven Botman and Alexander Isak. Our lack of cutting edge in the final third was summed up by Almiron, who found a rare bit of space in the box and curled well over ahead of three minutes of added time.

Isak added some class to our play, drifting into that number 10 role after we moved to more of a 4-2-3-1, but it was a really poor first 45 minutes. We looked slow and sluggish, both on and off the ball, and were probably lucky to go in just one nil down. Aside from a decent five-minute spell after Luton's bright start, we were second best in all departments. Wilson looked like a man starting his fourth game in 10 days, Longstaff was off the pace and Almiron wasn't offering nearly enough.

We had to break down Luton's low block in the second half; something we often struggle to do. That said, the first chance of the second half fell to the home side, where Brown smashed the bar before Bruno missed a big opportunity to equalise after a smart move from the right. He had to do better.

With 30 minutes left, we thought we'd found an equaliser after Almiron slipped in Isak and the Swede finished expertly. The linesman flagged for offside and a VAR check followed. It looked so, so tight and it went against us, with Isak ruled to be a few inches ahead of the last Luton defender.

Another 10 minutes passed and we finally managed our first shot on target, as Longstaff's threaded pass found Bruno, whose shot was blocked away for a corner. The Brazilian geed up the travelling Toon Army, desperately trying to get something going as bid to avoid another awful defeat on the road.

Another 10 minutes passed and Howe made his third change, bringing Tino Livramento on for the frustrating Almiron with 80 on the clock. Luton had just about everyone back behind the ball as they gave everything to protect their one goal lead. We had to find a moment of quality from somewhere but looked short on ideas as Howe replaced Burn with Hall in one last throw of the dice. Unfortunately, we couldn't break them down and fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Next up, a Boxing Day clash with Nottingham Forest at St James' Park in our final game of 2023. After a stunning first half to the year, let's hope we can end it on a high after a damaging few weeks for the club.

STARTING 11: Dubravka – Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Burn – Miley, Guimaraes, Longstaff – Almrion, Wilson, Gordon.

SUBS: Karius, Dummett, Botman, Ritchie, Isak, Krafth, Hall, Livramento, A Murphy.