A pathetic end to an awful season - Fulham 2-0 Newcastle

A result and performance that sums up a season of disappointment at Newcastle United, as we ended 2025/26 with a pitiful 2-0 defeat to Fulham.

As Sunderland were beating Chelsea to secure a spot in the Europa League, Newcastle looked uninterested in building on last week's win over West Ham or finishing in the top 10, showing absolutely nothing at either end of the pitch in a pitiful display.

A really poor performance at the end of a really poor season, featuring a few odd calls from Howe and plenty of abject displays from individuals who should be taking a long, hard look at themselves heading into the summer.

Unfortunately, we got exactly what we deserved in the end, both at Craven Cottage today and in our overall position this season. 12th on 49 points, closer to relegated West Ham (39 points) than 5th-place Liverpool (60 points).

‪Only relegated trio West Ham, Burnley and Wolves lost more Premier League games than Newcastle (17) this season. That’s alarming. As is the fact we’ve managed only seven points from our seven games since we went back to one game a week. ‬

Fulham 2-0 Newcastle: A fitting end to 2025/26

Howe made two changes initially - Burn and Murphy in for Trippier and Barnes - then a knock in the warm-up for Tonali saw Willock come into what seemed like a 3-5-1-1 formation. 

A back three of Thiaw, Botman and Burn, with Murphy and Hall at wing-back, Ramsey and Willock either side of Bruno and Woltemade just behind Osula, who was anonymous in the opening 45 minutes with just TWO touches all half.

Before that, however, we conceded a soft opener, handing Fulham an early lead. Kevin's free-kick was sensational and came back off the bar, but no one in Newcastle shirts reacted quick enough - Willock's attempt to hang out a leg summed up our display - as Diop headed into an empty net.

Our biggest moment of a drab and disjointed first half came from Woltemade, who did brilliantly to feed Willock with a lovely through ball, only for Leno to save his tame effort. Other than that, it was a tough watch, with our only other effort being Bruno's curling effort from 25 yards. 

Fulham hadn't been great themselves, and it had a very 'end of season' feel to it in the London sunshine, but we didn't offer nearly enough on or off the ball. After much-improved attacking displays in recent weeks during 3-1 wins over Brighton and West Ham, it really felt like two steps forward and one step back today.

The second half was equally abject. Howe moved to a back four, switching Thiaw to right-back after Barnes replaced Murphy, who had been playing at wing-back, but very little changed. We moved the ball too slowly, there was no fluidity to our play, and we barely created a thing.

Bruno and Osula then made way, seeing Elanga and Wissa come on before Sean Neave made his Premier League debut with 15 minutes to play, replacing Woltemade. Alex Murphy also came on with 83 on the clock, but it was already game over by then.

Tom Cairney's strike was superb, but he was given the freedom of Craven Cottage to line up the shot. Willock and Elanga got nowhere near the Fulham midfielder before he fired a 25-yard strike past Pope and into the top corner.

And that was that. No positives to take on the final day, no final appearance for Gordon, full-time boos from part of the away end and plenty of problems to sort heading into a huge summer.

Newcastle XI: Pope - Thiaw, Botman, Burn - Murphy, Ramsey, Bruno, Willock, Hall - Woltemade - Osula.

Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Wissa, Gordon, Barnes, Elanga, Willock, A. Murphy, Neave.

Fulham XI: Leno - Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson - Berge, Iwobi - Bobb, Smith Rowe, Kevin - Muniz

Trying to keep the faith! HWTL.