5 hours ago
9
As rain fell, incessantly, on Tyneside, Eddie Howe wandered around the pitch alone, his face taut and in an apparent daze.
The final whistle had just gone and Newcastle manager’s knew any lingering hopes of a top-six finish were surely blown with it.
His side look exhausted, mentally as much as physically, by a Champions League campaign that pits them against Barcelona in the last 16 and Everton thoroughly deserved a victory which boosts David Moyes’s hopes of European qualification.
Admittedly it took a stunning stoppage-time save from Jordan Pickford to deny Sandro Tonali a late equaliser but, much more pertinently for Howe, Newcastle’s players have forgotten how to defend, are far too careless in possession and seem stripped of the power of creative thought. Athleticism and physicality are all very well but they can only take a team so far.
Newcastle were slapdash from the start and swiftly paid the price at a set piece. Jarrad Branthwaite’s expertly flicked header from James Garner’s corner was dispatched from the tightest of angles, confounding everybody before going in off the far post.
Newcastle have not kept a clean sheet in11 games since they beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 here on 21 January.
Howe once again began with the England winger, Anthony Gordon at centre-forward and his £69m Germany striker Nick Woltemade in a deeper midfield role. Yet, with Gordon struggling to make an impact against his former club, Newcastle’s manager quickly shifted Woltemade to No 9 and Gordon to the left.
Shortly afterwards a slightly improved Newcastle equalised when Jacob Ramsey’s shot took a hefty deflection off Branthwaite, leaving Pickford wrongfooted.
As a former Sunderland goalkeeper, Pickford is well accustomed to being jeered at St James’ Park but, privately, most home fans would probably be delighted to swap Nick Pope for his fellow England international.
A bad error on Pope’s part enabled Everton to regain the lead after the Newcastle goalkeeper spilt a fairly routine shot from the impressive Dwight McNeil straight into Beto’s path. As Everton’s No 9 gleefully accepted the invitation to stroke the ball into the empty net, Newcastle supporters wondered why Pope, who seemed to have misjudged his dive, had not pushed Beto’s effort to the side.
Newcastle faced further disruption at the outset of the second half, when after emerging from the tunnel for the restart Ramsey vomited repeatedly on the pitch, prompting his replacement by Joe Willock.
It was not long before the ineffective Anthony Elanga and Woltemade made way for Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes, and Gordon reverted to centre-forward. Perhaps significantly Howe elected to leave Yoane Wissa on the bench.
Beto found himself clean through with only Pope to beat but hit the crossbar. Having had the goal at his mercy, Beto stood alone with his hands covering his face.
Beto was replaced by Thierno Barry and, on, finally, came Wissa.Murphy equalised with a splendid, if slightly deflected, volley which flew past Pickford but, within a minute, Barry restored Everton’s lead.
This time Gordon’s concession of possession prefaced Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall squaring for Barry to bundle the ball across the line.
Then, in stoppage time, Pickford reminded everyone precisely why he is England’s No 1. Tonali let fly on the volley and an equaliser seemed inevitable until, somehow, Pickford tipped the ball over the crossbar.
