Serious problems as Toon fall apart at both ends - Coventry 4-1 Newcastle
Newcastle United arrived knowing a win would take us 4th in the table, but we couldn't make it count as our awful record on a Monday night continued at the CBS Arena.
Poor Coventry goals at the beginning of both halves and a late collapse saw the home side cruise to victory, with Sven Botman's second-half screamer one of our only moments of quality in the final third.
We looked soft defensively, sorely lacking at the top end of the pitch and like a side who'd learned nothing from the three-week break or that 4-1 defeat at Leeds in our last away game. For that, Matthias Jaissle deserves criticism, with serious questions to answer heading into Saturday night's clash with Aston Villa.
The German made just one change from our 2-1 win over Hull three weeks ago, seeing Nico Gonzalez replace Sean Steur in midfield, but the squad looked much stronger as Joelinton, Dan Burn, Will Osula and Amar Dedic all returned to the bench after injuries.
Starting XI: Hornicek - Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall - Nico, Willock - Murphy, Wissa, Barnes - Fernandez-Pardo.
Subs: Pope, Schar, Joelinton, Bamba, Osula, Steur, Toure, Burn, Dedic.
Awful start and failing to score when on top
Coventry came out of the blocks far quicker and won a penalty within five minutes. Lukas Hornicek made a total mess of things, spilling the ball before taking down Cherif, and Rudoni stepped up to send him the wrong way from the spot.
A nightmare start and shades of Leeds away early on, with us totally outworked out of possession and doing little but lump it long to Fernandez-Pardo when we did have the ball in the opening 10 minutes.
We finally settled and had three opening through Harvey Barnes, who had one shot blocked and another flash straight at Rushworth after being prematurely flagged offside following Hall's clever through ball. Fernandez-Pardo had a great chance to play in Barnes moments later, but he bizarrely opted to cut inside and misplaced his pass, allowing a promising breakaway to fizzle out.
We'd finally settled into the game and were well on top midway through the first half, having 86% possession since Coventry's early goal. However, that moment of quality or cohesion in the final third was eluding us, with Fernandez-Pardo struggling in the No.9 role, Wissa quiet at No.10 and Murphy offering little down the right, aside from one low cross MFP completely missed.
Despite having little to do, Botman looked shaky and was lucky not to be punished, then came another moment from a fellow former Lille star. Fernandez-Pardo burst through on goal, rounded the keeper and looked set to slot into an empty net, only for Bobby Thomas to block his goal-bound shot, not for the first time in a frustrating first 45.
Botman screamer followed by late collapse
Jaissle would've been demanding a fast start to the second half, yet we got the exact opposite. Willock may have been off the pitch, which felt harsh after he was clearly fouled, but we didn't do enough defensively once again.
A wall of lilac Newcastle shirts didn't do nearly enough to block Cherif's shot, which flashed past Hornicek and into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. Three shots to our 11, but it was Newcastle who were now on the brink of another pitiful away defeat.
And we were lucky it didn't become 3-0 minutes later. Botman made a mess of it once again, slicing a simple 'clearance' straight to Cherif, who thankfully skewed his big chance wide at the back post.
Jaissle had seen enough and made three changes just before the hour mark, as Bazoumana Toure, Joelinton and Amar Dedic replaced Murphy, Willock and Miley with just over 30 minutes left.
Joelinton made his presence felt and Toure was offering a burst of pace down the right, but it was a bolt out of the blue from Botman that pulled a goal back. The big man was given space to line up his shot and it was an absolute thunderbolt from 20 yards, flying high into the near post to make it 2-1 with 20 minutes to play. He'd had a stinker, but that was some strike.
More chances came, as Toure and Wissa couldn't convert in the box, but we had Coventry on the back foot and looked better for the changes, with Osula joining the action on 78 minutes for a below-par Wissa, making his first return to action since our opening day draw with Liverpool.
Then, just as hope of a late comeback was increasing, Coventry made it three. Hall wanted a foul after pressure from Sakamoto and Joelinton flew in following a poor touch, but the referee played on twice as Simms' deflected effort flew in past Hornicek to seal all three points for Frank Lampard's side.
A miserable Monday night then got worse as Coventry made it four. A superb strike, but more non-existent closing down saw Mfuni ghost into the box and fire into the far corner. And to make matters worse, Toure was force off late on with a concerning ankle injury, seeing Burn come on.
Considering how beatable Coventry looked for so much of the night, the three-week break and the players we had back from injury, that was really, really poor.
Next up, we welcome an out-of-form Aston Villa side to St James' Park for Saturday's 5.30pm kick-off.
Keep the faith. Howay the lads.
