An away friendly against Holy Island is probably they closest we'll get to European football.
Theres a decent piece by Craig Hope recently, although the DM website is awful.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ing-earth.html?ico=authors_pagination_desktop
He seems to be pointing the blame directly at player recruitment and it is hard to argue against it. The 4 big signings Newcastle made in the summer have made a total of 17 starts between them for an outlay of 150m.
Tonali - not ready for the league and needed time to settle, just like Howe did with Bruno to good effect
Barnes - replacement / competition for Gordon who has quite comfortably been this seasons top performer
Hall - Clearly not rated by Howe
Tino - Good signing but competition for Trippier who was comfortably last seasons best performer.
Meanwhile leaving the team short of centre forward who can play more than three games in row without breaking down, a right sided midfielder to upgrade on Almiron, a left back to play ahead of both Target and Dummet who it is clear Howe doesn't like and a centre mid who can win the ball.