Newcastle United 3, Burnley 3: Carver refuses to distinguish himself

Despite a lineup that was very Alan Pardew, John Carver's audition for Newcastle's open managerial position was going decently at halftime. Paul Dummett's own goal represented Burnley's only offensive output, and at the other end, Steven Taylor had scored from a corner (!) and Jack Colback added his own highlight reel goal. It wasn't the most dominant half from Newcastle this season, but considering their first-half woes up to this point, things were looking okay.

As it turns out, the "Pardew halftime talk" meme revealed itself to be just that, as Newcastle came out looking flat. By the end of the match, Burnley would hit the post four times on three separate occasions. It's worth noting at this point that Sean Dyche's side came into this match having started the previous five with the same starting eleven, a torrid pace that they paid the price for. Dyche made all three substitutions before the 35 minute mark, all of them necessitated by injury, and yet they looked the fresher side in the second half.

At the 70th minute, with the match tied 2-2 at St James' Park, John Carver brought on a left back. If he wanted to put his own stamp on the team, he failed. The spectre of Alan Pardew was everywhere today. Fortunately for Carver, this team still has Ayoze Perez and Moussa Sisssoko. Perhaps even more fortunately for him, his poor performance as manager will be overshadowed by an abysmal display in goalkeeping from Jak Alnwick, who has now conceded 18 goals over the last 6+ matches. Both of the goals scored by Burnley players were preventable, though allowances could perhaps be made for Ings' header.

It would be easy to pin this draw on Alnwick, and perhaps he's the most worthy scapegoat. Long-term, though, we know that barring a sale, Tim Krul is the man in net, and in fact he could be available for Newcastle's next match. It is entirely possible that Carver replaces Pardew, in which case we will have replaced bad tactics and charisma with bad tactics and pedigree. This was Carver's chance to distinguish himself, and he refused to do so.

Save us, Steve McClaren?