3 bad, 1 good from Newcastle's 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace

Newcastle United slumped to a pathetic 2-1 defeat to a Crystal Palace side who barely looked interested on Sunday afternoon.

For all the talk of the international break being good for United, the only player I can think of who deserved any slight amount of credit was Will Osula, and perhaps Aaron Ramsdale for a tremendous double save in the first half.

And with Bournemouth and Arsenal up next, you do begin to wonder where our next point is coming from. That’s now TWENTY-FIVE points lost from winning positions which just goes to show how mentally weak this side is.

Here’s my one good and three bad from the game:

Good: Osula’s goal and Miley’s return

Despite the general dearth of quality throughout the display, Will Osula took his goal well, from what was by far and away the best move of the first half. He reacted well to the defenders block to readjust his body and flick the ball home, but there are still doubts about whether he is a long-term solution up top.

I personally would still like him to get a chance on the RW as Jacob Murphy was so, so poor giving the ball away 22 times from just 47 touches, and Elanga being spotty form-wise at best.

The other positive of the afternoon was the return of Lewis Miley from what must’ve been the deadest of dead legs, and whilst he didn’t tear up any trees, you can see the lad has the footballing world at his feet. Hopefully, the side can match his trajectory as the lad is a hell of a footballer. He’ll need time to return to full fitness for the remainder of this campaign, but I would expect Miley to be one of the first names on the team sheet next season.

Bad: Disjointed, abject, mentally weak (again)

The opening 20 minutes of the match were some of the worst served up this season, by both sides to be fair, but it was Newcastle who really needed a fast start after the abject Sunderland performance, and when the side just wasn’t able to produce it, you started to get the familiar sinking feeling that has accompanied much of this season.

Despite taking the lead, United never looked in control, were weak in the challenge, disjointed in possession, and the passing was wild and inaccurate most of the 90 minutes. I think we can kiss goodbye to qualification for any sort of European competition, despite the small number of points separating us from those places, as this side just looks shot of anything approaching good football or the required fight to try and dig out results.

Palace hadn’t come from behind to get a single point this season, but Newcastle roll into town and the records start to tumble. If we were mathematically safe from relegation I’d say call the season now, but until that avenue is completely closed off, with us 12 points above the relegation spots with 18 to play for, you just never know.

What is for sure is that with the side playing like it is, there is absolutely no point looking up the table, and we may as well try to get our house in order to stop any sort of catastrophe happening the other way.

Bad: Has Howe lost the plot?

You could call out the manager for his predictable subs, picking the wrong starting eleven, playing players out of position, being reactive rather than proactive, but what would be the point? Howe is making the same mistakes repeatedly, and you begin to wonder whether he has lost the plot.

The ultimate indicator of this train of thought was the frankly ridiculous substitution of Elanga and Wissa with just a minute to go in what must be one of the most pointless substitutions in football history. Honestly, what was he thinking?

It hurts to write this as I love Eddie Howe, but he just looks a defeated man, and it hurts that this situation has come to this. I don’t think Eddie will leave before the end of the season because if you were going to make a change the time to do it was over the last three weeks.

It all just feels sad and likely that the best manager in the club’s modern history will leave under a whimpering cloud of mediocrity and disappointment. The summer was a killer, I make no bones about it, and we can all surely admit that, but nobody could’ve predicted that Howe would lose the plot to this degree, and I’m just not sure he can turn this season around.

Perhaps he can do it in the summer with a huge reset as I’m still not convinced if he was to leave the club would bring someone better in to replace him, but writing in the immediate aftermath, I just can’t see it, and it makes me sad that it has come to this. It’s also important to say that the players have badly let down their manager (more on that in the next point) but as this season draws to a close, I don’t think anyone can deny that Howe’s tactics have gone stale.

Bad: Do the players even care anymore?

Where has the side gone that used to run through bricks walls for this club and manager? The side that was hard to play against, were experts in the dark arts, were defensively solid, and broke goalscoring records?

At times on Sunday, it just looked like the players didn’t care. Tino, Tonali, and Gordon especially looked like they’d rather be anywhere else, and I would expect that trio to be away in the summer, which at this point, I don’t actually mind if that’s what they’re going to serve up game after game.

I think they’ve probably been worn down by the repetition of the same mistakes being made by the coaching staff, and the relentless schedule, and they probably think the project they were sold has certainly shifted, but the minimum you expect is that they look like they give a damn, but it looks like they’re mentally done.

In our last ten league games we’ve won just three and lost the other seven and we’ve got Eddie’s bogey side up next…

Take a deep breath everyone because it could be a rough afternoon next Saturday.

Keep the faith. HWTL