58mins A Mikel Arteta corner at the Gwladys Street end was headed on by Johnson for Victor Anichebe to hit the bar with a header then smuggle the rebound in from close range. 0-2

62mins A Mikel Arteta corner at the Gwladys Street End fell to Phil Neville, whose slightly miscued shot could have gone anywhere, but arced perfectly over the retreating Given and into the net for his first goal since leaving Old Trafford. 0-3

Full time: Everton 3 Newcastle 0

Glenn Roeder said:

"There's 3-0 drubbings and 3-0s that don't tell a full story. 

"I've got four centre backs at the club and three are now injured, (Steven) Taylor is the only one left standing.

"We're having to put young players in, perhaps before they're ready, and it's a baptism of fire.

"I can understand David Moyes being very happy with every single goal that his side has scored, but I'm sure he would understand that if the boot was on the other foot he wouldn't be happy with the type of goals that were conceded.

"Defensively, we need to bring players in and we are looking at targets who we can hopefully sign them sooner rather than later."

On Nicky Butt:

David Moyes commented:

"They were terrific poachers goals from Victor but he got a rollicking at half-time. I didn't think he had done enough in the first half but he soon shut me up and that is what I want players to do.

"He has to work as hard even when things are not going his way. Sometimes you need people who can get goals in the six yard box and good on him. He is an 18-year-old who has got two goals in the Premier League there so good on him.

"Victor has got the strength and the power and he's shown me recently that he's very keen to improve and he's asked to see some other players as well.

"He wants to see how Drogba plays and some of the top centre forwards play in terms of us picking out the best bits of how these guys work.

"Obviously he's trying to look at his own stuff and see what he can do better and also what he is doing well, which he can take encouragement from.

"He did very well and I said the other week that if they're good enough then we will put them in, regardless of their age.

"I am really satisfied. The players did terrifically well in a good open game. Both sides went out to attack and I am happy we got the goals.

"We have ended up with a clean sheet again and we had good performances throughout.

"I thought the difference was that we got about Newcastle and didn't let them settle. They are a good improving side and I thought we tried to get at their young back four and put them under pressure."

Newcastle's final fixture of 2006 saw cracks appearing at an alarming rate on a day when simply nothing went right for them and Glenn Roeder suffered the worst reverse of his regime.

Behind to a goal which exposed Shay Given's lack of mobility due to groin problems, United were further weakened before half time when Peter Ramage was limped off with a hamstring pull.

Although substitute defender David Edgar was stripped off and ready for action, oeder opted to bring on Antoine Sibierski - pushing Nicky Butt back into an unfamiliar central defensive slot.

Despite all that the visitors should still have gone in at half time on level terms, after Kieron Dyer was checked by Osman and referee Dermot Gallagher pointed to the penalty spot.

Whether the delay in taking the kick due to some extended pushing and shoving involving Emre and half of the Everton side affected Obafemi Martins is open to question.

What is indisputable though is that his left- footed penalty effort was launched high enough over Tim Howard's crossbar to disrupt air traffic control at John Lennon Airport...

The second half again saw some neat passing interplay from United, but little end product.

Confusion between Martins and Steven Taylor saw both players try to head a loose ball home, before the home side made the points safe soon after.

18 year-old striker Victor Anichebe struck from close range again - like Martins also from Lagos, Nigeria, but built like an outhouse and with a physical presence to worry our back line.

And the misery was complete when Phil Neville's shot looped over Given, although the home side failed to drive the point home against our demoralised side - neither McFadden nor Beattie enhancing their prospects of either a return to the starting XI or a transfer.

It's easy to pinpoint our interminable defensive woes for this demoralising defeat - three goals either directly or indirectly from corners tell their own story. However other factors contributed to our own demise aside from that, and Oba's bid to put Nigeria into the Space Race...

At times we looked as if we had the ability to worry Everton our slick inter-passing on the deck.

However, Emre seemed once again to be in devil-may-care mode and as interested in working himself with the opposition as torturing them with the ball at his feet. 

While the home side caused consternation and scored three goals from their seven corners, our dozen flag kicks were wasted.  

Butt showed as much appetite in defence as attack and was certainly more convincing that Milner and Duff had been when pressed into emergency defensive service earlier in this campaign.  

However Parker's limp display handed the initiative to the Toffees to such an extent that even fat Andy Van der Meyde found some time and space. He still looks as if he would be more at home with his compatriot Raymond van Barneveld at the Circus Tavern though....

Despite the former Chelsea man's international stock rising, he still doesn't set our paces racing when on the field and seems to exhibit little of what could be called captain-like behaviour. 

Were we to be using a similar "lead by example" rationale to that which gave Alan Shearer the armband, Nicky Butt would currently be the natural choice - proof of the complete turnaround in his career since July. 

And despite Pav's heart-in-mouth display in the previous game, it was stretching things rather for Given to claim that he was fit to start in this game, a lack of general movement being as evident as his desire to protect his groin by avoiding kicking in the early stages.

Up front our amended attacking formation once again brought some head-scratching, with substitute Antoine Sibierski arriving and maintaining his distance from Martins - quite how one is meant to work off the other in terms of knock downs etc. continues to be a mystery to us.

There's no doubt though that we desperately require new recruits in defence and attack and the transfer window cannot open soon enough.

One result shouldn't take too much gloss off our recent upturn, but coming after the Reebok reverse and ahead of a daunting New Years Day fixture, we need to act urgently if we're not going to see all of the good work of recent months undone. 

None of that will help us in our next game though. We worry about New Years Day, we really do.

Biffa

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