Dreadful Toon do it again - Crystal Palace 2-1 Newcastle

An absolute mess of a performance, more points dropped from a winning position, and no less than we deserved as Newcastle United let a lead slip before capitulating in added time to lose 2-1 at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Newcastle had three weeks to rest up, rethink our approach and respond to that derby day disaster, yet it was more of the same in many ways. Poor in possession, a lack of ideas, few chances created and desperate defending late on to throw away three points we desperately needed in our bid to get back into those European spots.

Will Osula's first half strike put us ahead in an otherwise drab 45 minutes. Did we build on it? Not at all. We stood still while Palace made positive changes and the rest was painfully predictable, as two late goals from Jean-Phillipe Mateta turned what could've been a season-saving victory into a painful defeat.

Palace had won three at home all season before today. They'd played on Thursday in a European quarter-final and they rested a few key players as a result, yet we still found a way to lose from a position of strength. There was no hiding place today, no excuses and every reason for us to deliver a big response, yet we failed to deliver in so many departments once again.

The result sees Palace move above us as we drop down to a miserable 14th, five points behind Brentford in 7th and in totally disarray heading into next Saturday's home clash with Bournemouth.

Palace 2-1 Newcastle: How it happened

Howe made SIX changes from the Sunderland defeat, bringing in Osula, Murphy, Miley, Tonali, Livramento and Thiaw in place of Woltemade, Barnes, Elanga, Ramsey, Trippier and Burn.

Newcastle XI: Ramsdale – Livramento, Thiaw, Botman, Hall – Miley, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Osula, Gordon. 

Substitutes: Pope, Trippier, Wissa, Barnes, Elanga, Woltemade, Willock, Burn, Ramsey

Palace XI: Henderson – Richards, Lacroix, Canvot – Munoz, Lerma, Hughes, Mitchell – Johsnon, Pino – Strand-Larsen.

Pre-match questions asked why our £124m strike pairing were not selected up top once again, but it was great to see Miley back for the first time since late January, with us also returning to our best defence (on paper at least) and Gordon on the left wing as Osula lead the line.

Being frank, the vast majority of the first half was poor. Our passing was all over the place, there was no real tempo to the game, patters of attacking play were non-existent and we had Ramsdale to thank after his superb double save to deny Pino and Munoz kept us level on the half hour mark.

Then, with our first shot on target, we took the lead. Three Howe brought back into the side combined well, as Tonali fed Miley, who delivered a wicked cross that was eventually poked home by Osula. It wasn't pretty, much like most of the first 45 minutes, but it was a massive goal in a game of few chances.

We HAD to build on that in the second 45, not sit back and lose more points from winning positions. We did come out from the break briefly looking the better side, as Osula's low strike was blocked by Henderson on 51 minutes, but it didn't last long.

Palace brought on key trio Mateta, Sarr and Wharton, Thiaw was booked for pulling back the former and the resulting free kick was inches away from a goal, as Lerma headed a golden opportunity off the crossbar from just a few yards out. A huge let off, which was followed by our first change as Barnes replaced Gordon with 20 minutes to play.

Then came a customary Joelinton booking, although this one was particularly costly. His 10th yellow of the season in the final game before the cut-off, meaning the Brazilian will now miss upcoming games against Bournemouth (H) and Arsenal (A) through a two-match suspension.

And then came that inevitable equaliser, seeing us drop yet more points from a winning position. We were all at sea defensively, Tino missed the flight of the ball with an awful attempted header, Ramsdale came flying out and Mateta forced home Mitchell's cut back to make it 1-1.

All too predictable, and it got even worse. Botman's braindead tug on Lerma handed Palace a stoppage time penalty that Mateta buried. 2-1 Palace and that was that. Another gutless collapse, seeing this soft and weak version of Newcastle make it 25 points dropped from winning positions.

Next up, a Bournemouth side at St James' Park next Saturday, fresh from their 2-1 win at Arsenal. I'd say 'keep the faith', but it's becoming pretty difficult.