Different team but the same old story
DIFFERENT competition - the FA Cup. Different opposition - the Championship. Different team - the reserves.
However, for all but the last six minutes of a depressing tie, it was the same old sad story.
Newcastle were hurtling towards their ninth defeat in 12 home matches.
In the end they were rescued by one of the few first-teamers allowed to start by Rafa Benitez, though admittedly only from the penalty spot.
This really is a demoralising, sapping season!
Now it is another fixture in a competition Benitez clearly does not want to interfere with his relentless struggle against relegation.
Yet for a surprisingly big crowd of 36,440 - or at least the Geordie contingent of it the draw averted yet another supposed giant-killing on Newcastle’s record.
Though quite how it would have been claimed giants were cut down like Goliath by David I don’t know with 10 senior players left out of United’s starting line-up.
There were no Dubravka, Rondon, Lascelles or Shelvey.
No Diame, Yedlin or Perez. No Atsu, Dummett or Fernandez.
This was the reserves and if the first team cannot win at home then what hope is there for them?
Those who were most experienced and needed good performances to lift sagging reputations - having become sidelined of late - simply did not rise to the occasion.
Jacob Murphy, who cost a club not known any more for splashing the cash a whopping £12m, was hooked after looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
Kenedy was handed the freedom of the No 10 role with no defensive responsibilities but was again massively ineffectual.
It is hard to believe he is a Brazilian on loan from a top club like Chelsea.
Then there is Joselu, who led the line with all the aggressive determination of a feather duster.
United had to go a goal down to a Bradley Dack header in the 57th minute before, staring at another home defeat, the cavalry was sent for - though why Jonjo Shelvey, who is badly in need of game time after a while sidelined, was not started is another matter.
Later he was joined by Christian Atsu and then Ayoze Perez as United desperately sought an escape from the hangman’s noose.
Interestingly, there was no call to arms for Salomon Rondon - just as at Liverpool.
If he is not even a safety valve why put him on the bench at all? Leave him out of it.
I know Rondon’s immense worth to the PL cause - mainly because there is no one else to score goals on the payroll - but some including No 9 legend SuperMac would argue you cannot totally protect players all of the time.
They can be injured in training never mind games.
When it comes to centre-forwards, United’s paucity under Mike Ashley was highlighted again over the weekend when a club like Bournemouth, confined to the Football League’s lowest division until the emergence of Eddie Howe, splashed £19m on teenage striker Dominic Solanke.
That is way above Newcastle’s club record fee shelled out donkey’s years ago yet Bournemouth have by far the smallest average gate in the Premiership while the Mags have one of the biggest.
Blackburn’s goal was another example of United’s vulnerability at set pieces, Dack punishing them with a bullet header when not picked up.
The equaliser on 84 minutes was a clear penalty when Perez was hauled down after at least showing determination to run directly at goal.
Luckily Matt Ritchie was on the pitch Joselu and Kenedy had both missed from the spot when he was not there - and so it was 1-1.
United’s seventh FA Cup third-round exit on Mike Ashley’s watch was at least temporarily averted - but by no means is it over.
To young Toon fans who readily accept under-strength cup sides as the norm nowadays I would pose one question: Do you want to see Newcastle win something in your lifetime?
If the answer is ‘yes,’ what do they believe the club will win if the domestic cups are virtually ignored?
The Premier League title? The Champions League? Even the Europa League?
If the biggest baubles are beyond our reach then under such current thinking I am afraid United will not win a trophy in the lifetime of their young supporters - and that is a truly sobering thought.