Everton Defeat Was Awful, But Effects Could Be Longer Lasting

Newcastle United need to wake themselves out and take a good hard look at their perceptions about the rest of the Permier League season.  A match which should have been an opportunity to at least pick up a point on the road against a team that had played on Thursday (which means they had #tiredbodies, right?  RIGHT??!) became the exposition in the horror movie that is setting up to be the end of the season for the club.

In much the same way as the match became a comedy of errors compounding upon themselves, the 2014-15 season has been much the same, leading to a situation in which a seemingly comfortable double-digit lead over the drop with relatively few matches left in the season is in very real danger of melting away.  Lee Charnley's refusal to reinforce the squad's defensive depth (which has been an issue for 4 years at least) has put the club in a situation where John Carver will be forced to either play three players out of position if you subscribe to the Anita, Janmaat, Williamson, Ryan Taylor back line or to play an unproven youth player at CB for matches against Arsenal, Sunderland and Liverpool.

With 9 matches remaining and 5 points remaining to grab to hit the mythological 40-point safety mark influential players are scheduling their own vacations in the erroneous feeling that the season is already over.  If performances continue as they have done, the relegation fight is going to catch up with Newcastle and there is very little evidence that the squad has the nerve to deal with that pressure.  Home matches remaining v. Arsenal, Spurs, Swansea City, West Brom and West Ham don't exactly fill you with confidence that they will yield the remaining points needed while away matches against Sunderland (who will have the new-manager bump yet again as they have fired their manager yet again just before yet another Derby), Liverpool, Leicester City and QPR might yield a glint of hope... except they are on the road, and our recent road form – well... our recent form – suggests that maybe the 6-pointers with Sunderland, Leicester and QPR may not be as ready made as it might seem.

The truth of the matter is that this club better take a long, hard look at themselves and find SOMETHING inside themselves as professional athletes with some kind of pride.  Over their shoulder is the previously unthinkable specter of yet another relegation battle and the reflection in the mirror shows a club and coach with absolutely no idea of how to keep that from happening.  The last months of the season may not end up being as boring as we have previously felt that they may be.