Cup of woes
SORRY CUP DEFEAT SHOWS SQUAD’S LACK OF QUALITY
A SHAMBOLIC League Cup night at St James’ Park well and truly exposed the big problems Rafa Benitez has flagged up all summer.
As manager, Benitez must take this embarrassing result firmly on the chin - but his squad’s lack of quality was laid bare on a night which was supposed to provide a morale-boosting win and some early progress in a tournament the club should be trying to win.
Instead, United fielded an XI containing lots of players who were clearly in the shop window as they struggle to cobble together a team capable of staying in the Premier League.
Unfortunately, that plan backfired in spectacular fashion as a team full of Championship-standard players failed to beat a patched-up Nottingham Forest side. My word, this was painful - and didn’t the United faithful know it as Grant Hanley and Jesus Gamez and co struggled to string passes together and Newcastle’s misfiring attack failed to see off Forest.
In short, Newcastle will be hurtling back towards the Championship again soon unless Mike Ashley can conjure up some cash from somewhere.
After opening the season with two Premier League defeats, Benitez shuffled his pack against Forest with Chancel Mbemba the only starter from the weekend’s 1-0 loss to Huddersfield Town.
However, many of the players in action were in the shop window with United frantically trying to raise funds to bring in new faces before deadline day.
There might not be many takers on this evidence as Newcastle struggled at St James’ Park.
The majority of them were awful.
Newcastle got off to a great start after Rolando Aarons made a probing run down the lefthand side before slipping the ball to Aleksandar Mitrovic on three minutes. The Serbian international then made space inside the box before firing home an angled finish to open the scores and net his first competitive goal of the season. Another Aarons cross from the left found Mitrovic a few minutes later but he could not get his shot away. In a lively start to the game, Ben Brereton found a way through at the other end but Karl Darlow rushed out to block. On nine minutes Forest lost possession on the halfway line, Mo Diame intercepting the ball before trying an ambitious shot from just outside the centre circle which
ended up going over the bar. Diame had a chance to score again on 26 minutes after Aarons’ cross fell to his feet right in front of goal but he was unable to get the ball under control and eventually followed up with a tame effort.
It would be a chance Newcastle would regret.
Just before the half-hour mark, Zach Clough’s cross found Jason Cummings, who steered home unmarked.
Just two minutes later Forest grabbed the lead after Newcastle failed to deal with a basic long ball.
The ball dropped for Cummings who hooked it over Darlow to make it 2-1.
Forest almost extended their lead five minutes before the break but Clough’s shot was saved by Darlow.
In first-half stoppage time, though, United had a slice of luck when the ball hit referee Darren England.
It then fell for Diame who slipped a pass to Aarons before he rounded a defender and lashed it into the top corner to level the game up.
Newcastle started the second half in positive fashion and forced a couple of corners.
On 52 minutes Forest goalkeeper Jordan Smith was called into action when Jacob Murphy’s curling effort needed to be palmed away with the ball heading for the top left-hand corner.
On the hour Murphy’s right-wing cross picked out Saivet but his effort was blocked before sub Achraf Lazaar’s follow-up was blazed over.
Three minutes later Murphy clipped a fine ball over the top for Mitrovic but his shot was deflected wide.
Murphy tried and failed with two efforts as the game edged into the final 10 minutes and by that time Benitez had turned to Matt Ritchie from the bench.
In the final minute of normal time, Ritchie curled an effort just over.
Newcastle then survived a late free-kick after a foul right on the edge of the box.
However, Cummings’ effort cracked the bar to deny the visitors a win at the death.
So the game went into extra time but seven minutes into the first period, United switched off again and after Ben Osborn’s corner was unchallenged Forest’s Tyler Walker rose to head home and make it 3-2.
During the extra-time interval, Benitez had one final throw of the dice when he introduced Joselu and took advantage of revamped cup rules to bring on a fourth sub for the first time in United’s history.
The second period of extra time saw Lazaar try an effort from distance but it was easy for Smith.
A late corner from Ritchie fell for Murphy but his effort almost hit the top of the stand.
Ritchie struck another effort on the turn but Smith gathered again.
The tame shots summed up Newcastle’s performance.