Eddie Howe got 2 great opponents in the EPL opener. Man City and Liverpool, but Brighton's last game they also lost 1-3. I think since Newcastle are owned by PIF from Saudi Arabia they will be stronger. The reason is because they have a lot of abundant funds to buy new players. But I was wrong, they didn't buy many big players for this season. So if performance drops it's not surprising. But for UCL I agree with you, Howe hasn't had much experience in Europe.
Well, it crossed my mind when the transfer market opened, and I thought that Newcastle would be more ambitious in buying players, considering that their schedule in the UCL would require quality players and of course have experience as well as mentality in the UCL. If this opportunity is not utilized properly, I personally doubt that Newcastle will be able to play optimally in the UCL. Moreover, seeing a tough opponent will only make Newcastle easier to get rid of. That doesn't mean I underestimate their quality, but because the UCL competition is a different competition to the EPL, there will be many considerations that must be made in the transfer market if you don't want to be eliminated quickly.
After impressive last season many were feeling things could be impressive in this season as PIF will invest huge funds for the quality players, and they will be stable in Champions League, but we have really shocking start of this season with now their pool is also one of the toughest where they have no chance in presence of opponents like AC Milan, PSG and Dortmund even we can give them some favor against Dortmund because they are also struggling in Bundesliga, and they also can face problems in this event but still things are not easy for the Magpies.
Coach is also having not experienced to manage team in Champions League and mostly players are also needs good experience for this event with this all it's never been easy but as Eddie Howe done good in last season hopefully now he will change his strategy and have better performance in coming weeks specially in this big event.