Should there be a four-day period that summed up Newcastle United's curious season.
This past weekend, Eddie Howe's team suffered a heavy 3-1 loss against lowly West Ham at London Stadium.
That outcome that left travel-sick Newcastle languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table.
Consider this side went on to overtake Real Madrid into sixth place in the Champions League standings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James' Park a few days later.
That marked their fifth straight home victory, but that was not reason to rejoice for Howe.
Sunday's trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle aim to at last tackle their road struggles after not securing a victory on the road in the league since April.
"It's very disappointing because I think we have a playing style and a method of play that works, that's highly successful," the Newcastle head coach said.
"For whatever reason we have not been securing victories away from home that we ought to have.
"Now we're sort of caught in that trap where it's becoming a topic of conversation and we're probably becoming more aware of it."
Home Strengths at 'Safe' St James'
Newcastle's players were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.
There was no place for the team to hide as they were subjected to what defender Dan Burn described as a "very painful" analysis session in the days after the West Ham defeat.
"It was clear how far off we were from what we expect from ourselves," Burn said. "But that's the best way to learn.
"Sometimes you must have some tough talks and the coach is quite good at doing that. He is always straightforward with what he says."
Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a powerful header, always knew that Newcastle would bounce back against Athletic.
The home side hardly needed any extra incentive to play in a Champions League match under the lights at St James'.
In his programme notes, ahead of the game, captain Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a "safe place for us where we know we play our best football."
And results certainly back those words up.
Newcastle have beaten Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an combined score of 11-1 on their own turf in the last month alone.
They have a 70% victory rate at St James' this season. That statistic should be even better - last-minute goals proved damaging against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these top contenders and Barcelona are the only teams to have beaten Howe's side on Tyneside.
Each by a solitary strike.
Travel Troubles
However it has been a very different story away from home.
Newcastle have only won four matches on their away trips in 2025 and they have looked lacking sharpness of late.
Howe's side have scored a mere fraction of the goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have scored less (one) on the road.
Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.
Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 fewer touches in the opposition box (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which underscores the challenges they have faced breaking teams down.
Newcastle could at least fall back on their defensive strength as a foundation earlier in the campaign following clean sheets against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.
But the away side have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.
That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won the ball on eight fewer occasions (16) away than at home (24), while highly-praised midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been often circumvented on the road in recent weeks.
Burn has spoken of the need to "be a bit more ugly", referencing how his side were "renowned a few years ago for physical play."
Howe recognised his side "might require a bit of that" ahead of Sunday's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the "quality, delivery and, above all, the attitude".
"It's about playing a game of football and producing a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.
"Our sole method we can address those doubts is to perform and get the job done."
