Magpies still have work to do at home

ON the one hand this could be the year when Newcastle United's long wait for silverware finally comes to an end. On the other it could end in complete disaster.

Newcastle should still have enough to stay out of the Premier League's bottom three and a defeat to the reigning champions was always going to be the most likely outcome when they faced Manchester City.

But all of a sudden Alan Pardew's claims in the immediate aftermath of the victory over Stoke City on March 10 – when he suggested Newcastle had banished the threat of relegation - are looking rather premature.

Newcastle are still very much in the relegation mix. Surrendering so cheaply at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday was not complete cause to start fearing the worst, but coupled with results from elsewhere the league table does not look good right now.

Newcastle might have been in the lower reaches for the majority of the campaign, but to be still just three points above the bottom three with seven matches remaining is reason enough to be concerned.

Call it confidence or blissful ignorance if you like, but Pardew is still not overly worried knowing Newcastle have back-to-back home dates with Fulham and Sunderland - either side of the two-legged Europa League quarter-final with Benfica – to come.

The Newcastle boss said: “After the Stoke game I said that was an important win for us and put us in a position where I felt 40 points was achievable and I have not changed my opinion. But I'm sure people will stir it up and suck us into it and whatever. We will just get on with it.

“I think relegation has been at arm's length for a long while. I don't think we've been that far away from safety. We were a little bit short for this fixture. Even with our best team we might have struggled against that Man City team. It's all ifs and buts. We are where we are.”

With seven matches remaining there is a strong chance Newcastle, on 33 points, can surpass that total. The additions made in the January transfer window should secure the points required to avoid another drop into the Championship.

But after Pardew's idea to deal with injuries to Massadio Haidara, Mathieu Debuchy and Davide Santon failed to have the desired effect, Newcastle remain in a spot of bother because of the inconsistency throughout the campaign.

If Newcastle go all the way in the Europa League, a reminder of a frustrating season domestically will be there for all to see in the league standings. Even if Pardew is proved right and they avoid relegation, they have never looked like repeating the heroics of last year when they finished fifth in the top-flight.

Pardew said: “Unless we win the Europa League, we won't be in it again next season. So that equation will go out of it. There are too many games in that competition, there are too many games in it.

“We've lost too many players through injury. We won't have that pressure and we will have a team - Hatem Ben Arfa will return - that can really compete next year, top ten, top eight, top five.”

If Newcastle are to reach the last four of the Europa League then they will need to turn in a much improved display to that which basically gifted Manchester City all the points.

With Gabriel Obertan failing to give the recalled Danny Simpson any protection down the right, Manchester City picked out holes at regular intervals before coasting in to a two-goal advantage before half-time.

Seconds after Gareth Barry had somehow side-footed over in front of an empty net after some neat wing play by Samir Nasri, Carlos Tevez was on hand to slide in at the back post to convert a clever cross from Gael Clichy's run and low ball across the six-yard box.

That arrived four minutes before the break and when Nasri danced around Obertan without fuss and played in to the feet of David Silva, the Spanish winger took a touch before firing low inside goalkeeper Robbie Elliot's far post.

Obertan's anaemic performance led to his half-time exit. James Perch's introduction to the middle of midfield freed up Vurnon Anita to move out wide and the changed sparked Newcastle to life. Had Yohan Cabaye's cushioned half volley soon after not gone narrowly wide then things might have been different.

But Silva's corner was half cleared ten minutes after the break to Barry. The England midfielder's drive back in to the area was flicked by Vincent Kompany beyond Elliot to put City three up.

And with 21 minutes remaining Yaya Toure's powerful run beyond three Newcastle shirts ended with his shot deflecting off the boot of Perch and being palmed high in to the Newcastle net by Elliot at his near post.

A heavy defeat was not ideal preparation for a quarter-final with the Portuguese league leaders. But Pardew said: “Did I expect to win here? I hoped we would, but I didn't expect to.”

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