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If ever a four-day period summed up Newcastle United's curious season.
On Sunday, Eddie Howe's team suffered a bruising 3-1 defeat against struggling West Ham at London Stadium.
It was a result that left travel-sick Newcastle languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
To think this side went on to leapfrog 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.
It was their fifth consecutive home victory, but that was not cause for celebration for Howe.
Sunday's trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle look to finally address their away-day woes after failing to win on the road in the league since April.
"It's hugely frustrating because I think we have a style of play and a method of play that works, that's really effective," the Newcastle head coach said.
"For whatever reason we have not been winning the games away from home that we should 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."
Newcastle's players were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.
There was no place for the squad 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.
"We saw how far off we were from what we expect from ourselves," Burn said. "But that's the best way to learn.
"You have got to have some uncomfortable conversations sometimes and the manager is quite good at doing that. He is always very honest with what he says."
Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a bullet header, always knew that Newcastle would respond against Athletic.
The hosts hardly needed any added motivation to contest a Champions League fixture 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 defeated Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an aggregate scoreline of 11-1 on home soil in the last month alone.
They have a 70% win rate at St James' this season. That record should be even better - late concessions proved costly against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these respective title challengers and Barcelona are the only teams to have beaten Howe's side on Tyneside.
Each by a single goal.
Yet it has been a very different story away from home.
Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.
Howe's side have scored a quarter as many goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (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 highlights the difficulties they have faced breaking teams down.
Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following shutouts against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.
But the visitors 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 possession back on eight fewer occasions (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.
Burn has spoken of the need to "be a bit more ugly", referencing how his side were "well-known a few years ago for something-housery".
Howe recognised his side "possibly need 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, most importantly, the mindset".
"It's about playing a game of football and delivering a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.
"The only way we can answer those questions is to perform and actually do the business."
