The winger came off the bench against Benfica to bag a brace at St James’ Park but admits it has not been plain sailing
Harvey Barnes is hoping that Newcastle United have fixed the biggest issue that has been hounding them this season.
It was the flying forward who came off the bench to put the lid on the fantastic 3-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League. But one of the problems on the pitch this term has been an inability to see off opponents or net a positive result.
Indeed, Newcastle surrendered points against Liverpool, Arsenal, and Brighton in the Premier League this term, hence why they sit in a disappointing 14th place in the top-flight. Despite Champions League success this week it is imperative that United beat Fulham at St James’ Park if they are head into the next international break in the top half of the table.
A win over the Cottagers would give the Magpies the platform to do so ahead of next weekend’s trip to crisis club West Ham.
Barnes, who bagged a brace against Benfica, admitted: “We’ve sort of been guilty a little bit this year of not going and getting the second and third goal and killing games off. So, against Benfica, it was really pleasing to go and do that.
“You obviously have your responsibilities to help the team defensively, but as an attacking player coming on, it’s important to go and help the team push on, go and get the next goals.”
Newcastle’s performance against the Liga Portugal side was arguably the best display of the campaign so far on home soil. It put them in the Champions League’s automatic qualification places for the last 16. But ex-Leicester star Barnes feels Newcastle have not served up the level of performance from last season when the Magpies would score three and four in games on a regular basis on Tyneside.
Barnes said candidly: “We’ve probably not quite hit our heights this season of that free-flowing football, scoring, creating chances. That’s what we do at our best, that’s what we did last season. It’s something that we know we’re not quite there this season, but we’re working on it.
“You see, against Benfica, when it does work, it really does, and we score goals, we create a lot of chances. So it’s just about taking that into the next few games.”
Howe has challenged his stars to transfer their European form – with two wins on the board in the Champions League – to the Premier League stage this weekend. When asked why Newcastle have struggled to do that on a regular basis this season, Barnes said: “It’s hard to say, but the difference in competition. I’m not sure that should really reflect the performances.
“It’s just not quite clicked. We’ve had a lot of games where we haven’t scored enough goals, we haven’t created enough chances, we haven’t played the football that we know we can.
“It seems like in the Champions League games it has just clicked. No reason why, I don’t think it’s any different style or anything. It’s just finding that consistency that we’re going to need week in, week out.
“We’ve got a lot of of games this year with a lot of competition, so we need to make sure we’re consistent across the board.”