When Shay Given finally emerged from the away dressing room at Charlton Athletic on Sunday he quickly blurted out he had nothing to say to the Press. Disappointing, because I have newspaper pages to fill, but understandable, given the fact Newcastle’s goalkeeper would have struggled to say anything remotely complimentary about his team-mates after the 2-0 defeat at The Valley.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I admire Given’s stance. Newcastle’s vice-captain is normally one of the best, honest and most plain-speaking commentators on affairs at St James’s Park but, having already apologised to the fans for the defeat in Alkmaar a few days earlier, he simply couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to repeat more empty words about putting things right or mutter the same tired old phrases about letting the club down.
If Newcastle were supposed to be making up for their dreadful Uefa Cup exit at Charlton, they have got a lot to learn about apologies. This was a bit like trying to say sorry to your wife for having an affair at the same time as texting your girlfriend to set up another date. Rather than heal the rift, the performance in South London has only served to widen it.
The Magpies – in obvious contrast to what is happening at the Stadium of Light under Niall Quinn and Roy Keane – are stuck in a rut and there are serious doubts about whether they have the ability or the inclination to dig themselves out before the end of the season.
On paper, there are eight games left and plenty of points to play for. In reality, they are a side which look incapable of putting a run together to get them back into the reckoning for European qualification.
Glenn Roeder made changes from Alkmaar, but none of them could be called a success. Oguchi Onyewu is not better than Titus Bramble, while Craig Moore’s contract is almost finished and the Australian will be leaving in the summer, so what is the point of playing him?
Nolberto Solano had another poor game at right-back, although Damien Duff did do reasonably well defensively at left-back.
This raises a few issues. Why didn’t Duff play there in Alkmaar instead of the 19-year-old centre-back Paul Huntington which would have allowed James Milner to play on the left wing?
Why was Bramble dropped? Was he the only player to play badly in Holland? No. He was beaten to a header by a striker at a corner which he has to take responsibility for. He did that and he deserves to be criticised for it.
But does he deserve to be made the scapegoat for the one of the worst collective displays of Roeder’s reign? Did Steve Taylor or Solano do any better for the first goal?
No, but they aren’t convenient people to blame because they are two of the most popular players among supporters, so Bramble gets the bullet from a manager – whose constant referrals (but not excuses) to injuries is becoming increasingly farcical – desperate to divert attention away from himself in the blame game.
You can normally tell managers are under pressure when they start to look for tenuous positives in apparently overwhelming negatives. According to Roeder, Newcastle battered Charlton in the first half and only lost their way after Charlton scored the first goal.
Hmmm, surely to batter a team you need to have a shot on target and Newcastle didn’t manage one until second-half injury time. Newcastle did have lots of the ball, but they didn’t do much with it and that is not a dominant performance.
Yes Obafemi Martins missed a great chance but how many times this season have opposition sides missed a great chance and Newcastle have gone on to win the game? Tottenham away, Aston Villa at home, Reading at home, Palermo away, Manchester United at home . . .
Do I need to continue? That’s just football I’m afraid and the luck tends to even itself out eventually. As for Charlton, they had enough great chances to make it four or five in the end so . . .
For most supporters, the two-week international break has probably come as a relief; a chance to recharge the emotional batteries before the resumption of an increasingly meaningless Premiership campaign.
But for Roeder and his under-performing players the two weeks will be torture as they stew on their failures. Hopefully it will do them some good because the mood is in danger of turning ugly again.
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