Shambolic and embarrassing, Newcastle stuffed at Everton

SO what does £80m buy you then? On this evidence, it doesn’t guarantee a striker capable of scoring or a defence with the ability to keep the ball out.

A night that was supposed to be the start of a great new era for Newcastle United turned out to be more of the same. Actually, that’s not quite correct. It was even more shambolic than usual.

Newcastle’s night was summed up in stoppage time as Jamaal Lascelles was shown a straight red card for bundling over Ross Barkley in the penalty area. Lascelles trotted off the field, Barkley converted his second spot-kick in the space of four minutes with an impudent chip down the middle of the goal and referee Craig Pawson blew his whistle to leave the Magpies stranded two points from safety. Embarrassing doesn’t even come close to describing what was going on.

Newcastle were ramshackle in each and every area of the field, save the goalkeeping position, where Rob Elliot performed a series of second-half heroics to turn three separate efforts against the woodwork and prevent a miserable evening from becoming an even greater disaster.

The folly of spending a fortune on midfielders but completely ignoring the need for a new left-back was exposed by the sight of Rolando Aarons, more usually a winger, replacing Paul Dummett for the second half and clumsily conceding the first of Everton’s two penalties.

The need to reinforce the heart of the back four, so apparent to anyone who has watched Newcastle on a regular basis this season, but seemingly impossible to discern for the club’s much-vaunted ‘recruitment team’, was apparent from the moment Chancel Mbemba hobbled off to be replaced by Lascelles, a player who still does not appear to be of Premier League standard more than 18 months after he was signed.

And the lack of a proven goalscorer, albeit with the caveat that deadline-day signing Seydou Doumbia was an unused substitute, was glaringly apparent once again as Aleksandar Mitrovic spurned the one gilt-edged chance to come Newcastle’s way when a modicum of composure on the edge of the six-yard box might have brought the scores level.

On this evidence, and admittedly it would be unfair to draw too many firm conclusions from just one game, the Magpies’ spending spree has not solved any of the problems that have left the club floundering in the relegation zone. It is only to be hoped that with time and training comes a greater degree of understanding and organisation.

Neither was in evidence last night, with Newcastle starting poorly, dropping off slightly in the middle period of the game, and then finishing in a state of complete disarray.

They would have been behind as early as the fifth minute had Elliot not saved from Cleverley – the goalkeeper’s brilliance would be the one and only high point for the rest of the night – but there was to be no escape when Newcastle’s defence was prised apart with alarming ease midway through the first half.

Cleverley was involved again, playing the ball infield to Aaron Lennon, and the winger was able to allow the ball to run across his body before drilling home a low finish from the edge of the penalty area. Georginio Wijnaldum was stood within a couple of yards of Lennon throughout the move, but never once did the Dutchman even consider making a tackle.

Things might have got worse for Newcastle before the interval, but Barkley wasted a glorious opportunity, lofting over an open goal after Elliot’s headed clearance from a routine long ball fell invitingly into his path.

With Mbemba also blocking a goalbound effort from Lennon – the centre-half departed after injuring his ankle shortly after – it was something of a surprise that the visitors only conceded one goal before the break.

Their failure to trouble Joel Robles, however, was grimly predictable. For all the much-trumpeted attacking arrivals, Newcastle continue to look like a toothless proposition.

Ayoze Perez was initially preferred to Mitrovic in the lone-striker role, but while the Spaniard boasts more mobility than the player he replaced, his lack of physical strength meant he was all too easily out-muscled.

Wijnaldum could not get involved in an attacking capacity, while it was hard to discern whether Moussa Sissoko even wanted to find himself in the final third. Of all the under-performing players in the Newcastle line-up, the difference between what Sissoko promises and actually delivers is the starkest.

With Andros Townsend marking his debut by charging headlong down a series of blind alleys, the Magpies’ attacking was a ragged mess. Their defending was even worse.

Arouna Kone, who replaced the injured Romelu Lukaku at the interval, should have scored within six minutes of his introduction, but scuffed a shot wide after Elliot clawed Lennon’s low effort into his path.

Not for the first time this season, Elliot was Newcastle’s best player by a distance, and the pick of his contributions came shortly before the hour mark as he tipped Barkley’s excellent 25-yard effort onto the crossbar. With the ball arcing towards the top corner, it was quite a save.

It also marked the start of a remarkable six-minute spell that saw Elliot produce three separate saves that involved the woodwork.

Three minutes later, and he clawed the ball against the bar after Jonjo Shelvey glanced a free-kick towards his own goal, and another three minutes after that, he palmed Cleverley’s whipped free-kick against the base of the upright. Goodness knows where Newcastle would be had the Irishman not stepped up so impressively in the absence of Tim Krul.

The Magpies had introduced Mitrovic by that stage, and while it would be stretching it to suggest the Serbian transformed his side’s attacking fortunes, he at least provided a focal point to the visitors’ attack.

His lack of composure has been apparent all season though, and it proved Newcastle’s undoing when they carved out their best chance of the game midway through the second half.

Mitrovic’s movement enabled him to beat the offside trap as he met Sissoko’s cross, but he stabbed the ball wide from eight yards out.

Newcastle’s one and only chance had gone, and the game ended in chaotic fashion as Newcastle conceded two penalties in the final three minutes.

Aarons conceded the first, clattering into Lennon to enable Barkley to convert, and Lascelles was dismissed when he gave away the second, bundling over Barkley to enable the England international to complete Everton’s win.