Cardiff 0-0 Newcastle: A woeful display on so many levels
On a day where we should've been targeting a comfortable three points, we've ended up crawling over the line against a newly promoted Cardiff - in a game that has to go down as one of the most frustrating watches as a Newcastle United fan.
Quite incredibly, our 10 men could and should have won it late one, only for Kenedy to see his tame 96th minute penalty saved. How he was allowed to take it after such a dreadful display is beyond me.
We deserved nothing from that. Us taking a point will be bad enough if you're a Cardiff fan, so the fact we very nearly took all three is quite unbelievable really.
It was an absolutely shocking first half. So many cheap free kicks and corners (which was infuriating given this would've clearly been identified as their best route to a goal) so little options on the ball, a lack of intensity and a total lack of quality.
Manquillo was dreadful (and was hauled off by Rafa at the break), Diame wasn't nearly as influential as we've seen recently, Perez was woeful and an isolated Joselu frustrated. That being said, it's unfair to pick out too many individuals when the collective performance was WAY below what we showed against Spurs last Saturday.
Our first half was perhaps summed up by the fact Kenedy had failed to complete a single pass in 45 minutes of action (the first Premier League player to do this since 2010) - and he should've seen red after kicking out at Victor Camarasa!
It could only get better in the second half - but it got worse.
We showed no urgency, lacked intensity and our discipline was non existent - which was summed up by Isaac Hayden's reckless challenge that saw him sent off with 25 minutes left on the clock. He may be frustrated that a move hasn't materialised, but it was idiotic. Both he, Kenedy and Manquillo could've seen red.
With City, Chelsea and Arsenal up next, it's fair to say our performance level will have to be upped considerably if we want to avoid an absolute towelling or two.
A woeful and worrying display, but at least it's a point!
