Newcastle v Union Saint-Gilloise: Eddie Howe’s side belong in Champions League

The tone was set long before kick-off.

Howe has rotated his team while fighting on multiple fronts in the opening weeks of the season.

But it was rather telling that the Newcastle head coach only made two changes for this game – and one was enforced after Tino Livramento suffered a knee injury.

The Premier League’s joint-lowest goalscorers needed to catch fire.

“There has been a lack of good football in general,” Gordon told TNT Sports. “We have defended really well, been organised, but have lacked that spark and creativity. We really wanted to put emphasis on getting that back tonight.”

There was certainly no chance of Newcastle underestimating Union as the visitors looked to bounce back from the weekend’s painful defeat against Arsenal.

The Belgian champions may be newcomers in this competition, but they beat PSV in their first ever Champions League game last month and had not lost any of their opening nine top-flight fixtures.

Such has been Union’s progress in European competitions in recent years, they actually have a significantly higher coefficient than Newcastle.

It was hardly a surprise, then, that the visitors left no stone unturned before facing a side who had an extra day to recover and prepare.

As well as personally reviewing his opponent, as always, Howe familiarised his side with their new surroundings by training at Lotto Park on the eve of the game.

That did not go unnoticed by Union manager Sebastien Pocognoli.

“Maybe the opponent sometimes can be condescending, to look down on you,” he said. “They didn’t. They paid us full respect. They played a big match with their skills and qualities.

“They played top level, all the Newcastle players played top level, so it shows that they had great respect for us.”