No Justification For Humiliating Defeat Against Liverpool

Rob Elliot; Mathieu Debuchy, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara; James Perch, Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye (c); Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse, Jonas GutierrezVurnon Anita, Hatem Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran spent 90 minutes this evening humiliating the club who pay their wages, whilst manager Alan Pardew looked like he would rather be anywhere but St James Park.

Booed by the fans who stayed to see out the entirety of their biggest loss at St James’ Park since 1925 (and there were several thousand less than there should have been) Newcastle United failed miserably this afternoon in a 6-0 defeat against Liverpool, who ranked their highest win at St James’ Park ever.

Goals from Daniel Agger, Jordan Henderson (2), Daniel Sturridge (2) and Fabio Borini embarrassed Newcastle United infront of a sold out stadium, with fans leaving at 60 minutes.

Prior to the match Newcastle had been consistently inconsistent but performances were  justified by Alan Pardew who claimed the team were “tired” and that the criticism levelled at him and his players after a Tyne-Wear defeat was unfair.

Not only did Newcastle concede 6 goals, but they collected 5 yellow cards throughout the match, 2 for Mathieu Debuchy who was then sent off in the 75th minute. Now to add to the injuries they harbour, they have lost another defender for the next game. Not even the return of Fabricio Coloccini against West Ham next week (where Andy Carroll will surely make his presence known) will install confidence in the fans.

The performance was so bad that ESPN who were showing the game live, felt the need to pan out to scenes of Newcastle rather than broadcast the players lining up their free kicks.

Pundits are now asking whether Pardew has lost his dressing room? Last season they had international players, playing like internationals. This season they have international players playing like they forgot that they are indeed professional footballers.

Should Pardew be sacked? If so who should replace him and is that really the answer when we have many, many players who do not seem capable of playing good football week in and week out (or any week at all in some cases).

Mike Ashley failed to attend today’s game, let’s hope he Sky +d it so that he can take a long hard look at his team and start making some decisions, because scraping the barrel just above the relegation zone is not where a team like Newcastle United, who has such loyal fans, should be at this stage in the season.

Should Aston Villa or Wigan Athletic perform miracles and get out of the fight of 18^th place in the League, Newcastle could well see themselves there. A Championship comeback like that carried out a few seasons would almost be impossible with the lack of confidence the team of today has.