"Everything we did wrong got a mention in our dressing room after the game.

"In the first half, we showed a good reaction to what happened to us in Europe but then paid for some bad misses and for letting only the Charlton goalscorer react to their free-kick hitting the bar.

"We had lots of possession but that's no good if you don't take your chances. Charlton are certainly capable of surviving in the Premiership because they have a fixture list they would want and they always give everyone a tough game at The Valley.

"This was a major result for Alan (Pardew) but if you are asking what our main problem is I would have to say an average of nine, 10 or 11 injuries every week.

"We are now down to six but we've had no fewer than nine major operations on players this season and perhaps people don't know how difficult that is."

Solano (along with Sibierski one of only two players to speak to the press post-match) said: 

"It has been a tough week for everybody, but it is only one week. We cannot make excuses.

"We have enough quality in the team to take points. We have a break now for the international week and we need a lift.

"We need to start to concentrate and play more like a team, not as individuals. We need to work hard together as a team.

"We know we have to sort out the problems. We need to be all together and we need to respond.

"The next game is at home against Manchester City and it is going to be a very important game. We need a big response."

A defeat that was in equal parts totally predictable and utterly unacceptable.

After conspiring to achieve the messiest retreat from Europe since Dunkirk, whatever fading hopes of engineering a return ticket there next season via the league surely went up in smoke after another failure to win against shambolic opposition.

West Ham, Fulham, Boro, Wigan and now Charlton - woefully uninspiring excuses for football teams all, but like Birmingham enough to knock our gutless wonders out of their stride.

Now that the Hampden diversion has ended, attention is focused back on our domestic form with a vengeance - and it's not pretty. 

Today we followed an increasingly familiar pattern this season - shading the opening exchanges but failing to score (or trouble the opposition defence) and promptly imploding once the opposition organised themselves enough to get upfield and stick one in.

In an attempt to shake things up we took to the field with four changes to the starting XI. But while the names, formation and composition of the defence had changed our attitude was no better - and the club's official scapegoat Titus couldn't be blamed for any of it..... 

Yes, Martins conspired to miss a chance from close range and yes Dyer didn't win a penalty for a handball that was as unintentional but illegal as the one Taylor conceded against AZ. But like a hungry tramp, there's no future in dining out on hard luck stories.

Shamefully, Carson's fist away of N'Zogbia's 92nd minute effort was the Charlton keeper's first meaningful contribution. Never mind Scott, Frank Carson could have kept a clean sheet.

By then a fair few of those clustered behind the goal who had made a 4am departure from Tyneside to get here had turned on their heel and exited in disgust.

They're not booing, or ranting for heads to roll though - slogans aren't been written on bedsheets yet and jumpy jacks haven't gathered to hockle and pogo at Milburn reception. At least not yet.

Instead there's just the realisation that a slow and steady decline back to being also-rans continues as another crack-papering but ultimately futile UEFA Cup campaign passes into history.

That regression is being manifested by an abundance of tickets becoming available - season tickets routinely going spare and away places routinely on public sale (a double whammy of steep pricing and consistently under-par showings on the road making it easier for people to avoid the latter).

Supporters are finding other things to do - even if it's watching the game via a dustbin lid on the alehouse roof. And each one that walks away is expressing a vote of no confidence in the current custodians of the club on and off the field. 

And we're talking real people here, who have drunk, fought and shouted for this club - not to be confused with harassed parents and numpty tosspots queuing for the new home shirt, who parade round Eldon Square but rarely grace SJP with their presence. Or maybe they're the sensible ones... 

We're talking people who know that Grimsby don't play in Grimsby and Port Vale isn't a place. People to whom a message board is something that gets written on with a felt pen. People who have seen this team fail before, but never at these prices - and with this sort of investment spunked away on deadbeats.

In other words the heart and soul of Newcastle United, just sick and fed up with another season of misplaced optimism, wasted effort and the widening gap between them and the players - it's been a long 11 months since we bade farewell to that bloke from Gosforth.

The familiar lines have been trotted out by the usual suspects: We've let the fans down, we owe them, what we need is a game to get this out of our system, blah bloody blah.

But the reality is that the non-verbal communication of this bunch remains a colossal two-fingered salute directed to their followers.

Players who turn out when they feel like it and then dictate their own on-field positions and level of aggression. The C word - contempt.

At least they've got one thing right, in not even bothering anymore with the pretence of applauding the supporters after another non-performance before swanning off without a second thought to what they've just been part of - pausing only to share a joke and swap a shirt with an opponent.

Luque, Babayaro, Duff, Carr, Dyer, - that's our top five but you have your own - we know, we read the emails.

And as for Martins, did someone tell him that the season is over - or does he just think his 16 goal haul is enough to catch the eye of a bigger club?

There are a couple of imperfect exceptions, with the tenth anniversary of Given's arrival here provoking simultaneous thoughts of admiration and wonderment at what point he will really admit defeat and pack his bags for somewhere where he can win some medals.

Similarly Milner, not always on the good foot and culpable in the set piece stakes but visibly trying when he puts that shirt on. 

There was a perfect example of this in the first half as a ball span away towards the corner flag deep in Charlton territory. Other players gave it up as a lost cause, but not the number 16 - who successfully chased and retrieved it.

One could go on pointing fingers at poor performers, such as the powder puff Onyewu, or ask why Parker got more involved today when playing in front of his former fans - but seems unable to inspire himself or his players when appearing in front of our supporters.

And there's always time for some back-handed compliments, such as Duff's improved display when moved to left back - a position that removes any expectation of him trying to beat a man and forces his opponent into a diversion to dribble around the big fecking lump....

(by the way, nobody has yet taken up our claim that it's actually Freddy Flintoff in our number 11 shirt and Duff is really falling out of pedallos in Montego Bay or wherever - it would certainly explain a few things....)

Today we suffered the ignominy of losing to a side featuring Amdy Faye. What else can one say?

It's ultimately the players that bring a boss down, but the responsibility for recruiting, training, preparing, motivating, controlling and organising them ultimately lies at the Manager's door. When things go wrong, it's either due to him making the wrong decisions - or making none at all.

Too many players at this club get an easy ride and like his predecessors, Roeder seems to be unable to alter that and we still don't see quite what difference a fit Owen and Shola will make. 

If anything, their return ups the ante further and requires further decisions to be made - and the more choices we have in the squad, the more problems we now seem to have. Was it any coincidence we showed a little more gumption when the team picked itself due to reduced numbers?  

Never mind injuries, never mind that Roeder didn't buy the players - what's gone on this season with the likes of Rossi, Milner, Edgar and Bernard is enough to raise questions of the "what the f**k?" variety". And it's still debatable whether those in charge realise the pickle that we are in.

This now goes two ways: we either pick ourselves up by our bootstraps as we did exactly a year ago after defeat in SE7. Six wins and a draw in our final seven fixtures owed nothing to the returning Michael Owen and everything to some unity, tenacity and spirit.

Or, we regress to 2005, when the twin disappointments of FA and UEFA Cup exits were followed by three draws (two of them unbearable nil nils) three losses and a solitary victory. 

Perhaps United will follow Charlton's example and sign up turns for on-pitch entertainment.

Before this game we were treated to some dreadful Blues Brothers tribute nonsense - although given the identity of the scorer and penalty winner, ZZ Top or China Crisis might have been more appropriate....

If we're to see this at Gallowgate, how about getting David Byrne and his mob for a spirited rendition of "Roed to Nowhere" as the ground empties within seconds of the final whistle against Blackburn on May 5th - with Aztec Camera reforming for an encore of "Oblivious".

Much more of this and the club will need to recall those free scarves on safety grounds - to stop people choking themselves. Thank the Almighty we've got just enough points on the board. 

Biffa

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