Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe described his side s first half at Fulham as difficult after suffering their first defeat of the season.
Fulham took the lead through Raul Jimenez before summer signing Emile Smith Rowe doubled their advantage before the break.
Howe brought on Jacob Murphy and Lewis Hall for the second half and quickly pulled a goal back when the former assisted Harvey Barnes for his third Premier League goal of the season.
The Magpies were miles off the pace in the first half and were made to pay.
I think we did, it was a slow start and the first goal was a killer blow for us, Howe said when asked if his side lost the game in the first half. It was a poor goal for us to concede, we need to do much better.
The first half was difficult, we looked stretched in our defending. Second half we were much better, we scored a great goal and thought we could turn the game around.
We had our chances and ultimately the third goal killed the game.
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Newcastle should have equalised when Fabian Schar dispossessed Smith Rowe in his own box but the defender showed he is just that with a rash finish.
We won the ball back high, Fabian had the chance to score and unfortunately he didn t take it, Howe said.
Games swing on big moments. The character and attitude was better in that second period but we have to learn our lessons from the first half.
We have to start the game better and be more front-footed and more dominant in our performance.
Marco Silva was in better spirits after his Fulham side ended Newcastle s unbeaten start to the campaign.
It was very good performance from us, he said. Looking at all over the pitch and the whole game, I think we were the team who deserved to win the game, clearly.
It was a very good first half in our image I like us to play, creating problems in different ways for the opposition and really enjoying to embrace the challenge in front of us.
We built from the back and every time we arrived in central areas, we should have scored more goals from the moments we created.
We were dominant, the best team on the pitch in the first half and left nothing for a side with top, top players. It showed the capacity we have as a team.
We conceded a late goal against West Ham [last weekend] and it took a bit of time to organise. But we had more chances for 3-1 than they did for 2-2.
Silva added It was a great, great first half and we created many problems for them.
It was the same against West Ham [last weekend], we scored just one when should have scored three or four. This was the same.
