Newcastle 4-1 Wolves

Pre-match, there was nothing but optimism. Despite a poor away record, we'd won at Villa two weeks ago, and with Newcastle missing arguably their two best players in Cheik Tiote and Jose Enrique, surely they were there for the taking. Sadly, no-one told the players.

It would be easy to say that this was a poor performance. In fact, it's very easy. This was a poor performance. The players were asleep until going 3-0 down kicked them into life.

We started with our usual 4-5-1, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake replacing the injured Kevin Doyle. This change didn't work particularly well. Ebanks-Blake didn't play well by himself, he failed the hold the ball up and frequently lost possession. In addition, the reduced workrate upfront allowed Fabricio Coloccini the time to bring the ball out of defence and start attacks.

The opening goal was a very poor goal to concede. Even though we had the extra man in midfield, Kevin Nolan was allowed to run onto Shola Ameobi's flick on and finish calmly. I wrote two weeks ago that Christophe Berra and Richard Stearman have a tendency to play too far apart from each other, and this was highlighted here.

Newcastle's midfield had better balance, with Joey Barton tucking in on the right and he, Nolan and Guthrie kept possession well. In contrast, we frequently gave the ball away, and it was no real surprise when Nenad Milijas was withdrawn early on to be replaced by Steven Fletcher as we moved to 4-4-2.

Fletcher's performance was one of the few positives. He won his fair share of headers, and was tidy on ball, holding it up well and bringing the midfielders into the game.

Did Matt Jarvis play in the first half? He hardly touched the ball, but when he did he looked dangerous and it was he who supplied Ebanks-Blake's goal. On the other flank, Adam Hammill shone in flashes, and was very unlucky to be brought down by Nolan when apparently clear on goal. The angle and distance saving the Newcastle skipper from seeing red.

Newcastle's second and third goals were very similar - a runner is sent beyond the defence before crossing for a tap in. Wayne Hennessey was left exposed for all three goals, but maybe should have done better with the second. Saying that, he made one good save from Michael Williamson to keep the score down

With the third goal came the charge. Michael Kightly was introduced for his first appearance in 16 months, although he was still lacking in match sharpness. Fletcher hit the post with a header, James Perch cleared one off the line and Berra blocked a goalbound O'Hara effort.

The lone-striker connumdrum continued. Fletcher had far and away the better performance, but Ebanks-Blake got the goal. I don't think we can go into the Everton match with just Ebanks-Blake upfront. Given David Moyes' preference for a 5-man midfield, I'd like to see Fletcher start on his own upfront.

In the final minute, a quick counter attack saw Jonas Gutierrez score the type of goal you'd expect from an Argentinian World Cup midfielder to wrap up the points from Newcastle.

This result won't send us down; I'd have taken two points from the trips to Villa Park and St James' Park. But, Mick McCarthy needs to pick the players up for the visit of the Premier League's form team, and definitely needs to work on the defence. I don't think anyone particularly came out of this match with their heads held high.