10 mins Massadio Haidara lost the ball down deep into United territory down Watford's right and some swift (and unchallenged) passing fed Odion Ighalo on the left of the box. He took a touch before firing past Tim Krul with Daryl Janmaat's half-hearted block proving ineffective. 0-1

28 mins Troy Deeney's through-ball split a static home defence and Ighalo ran through to round the stranded Krul and finish, Fabricio Coloccini in particular looking totally nonplussed. 0-2

Half time: Magpies 0 Hornets 2

62 mins Daryl Janmaat ran on to Florian Thauvin's ball and exchanged passes with Moussa Sissoko before rifling the ball inside the far post at the Gallowgate End 1-2

Full time: Magpies 1 Hornets 2

Having compared his new side's season thus far to a car crash, Steve McClaren looked on in horror as his side caused another pile up at Gallowgate on Saturday.

A Newcastle side lacking confidence, ideas, belief and energy started where they'd left off at West Ham by offering only token resistance to their opponents. The bloke behind me summed it up aptly, as "total sh*t".

Breaking their own seasonal duck by beating Swansea last week, the Hornets team seized the gifts on offer to seal their first win on Tyneside in fourteen attempts stretching back to 1981.   

The outcome was well on the way to being decided before the half hour mark, as Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo twice shot beyond Tim Krul in the Gallowgate End goal - aided by some ponderous defending.

Dropping Vurnon Anita to the bench in favour of Ayoze Perez brought no discernible improvement to a United side without a goal in their previous four league games.

Aside from a Moussa Sissoko volley that flew into the Leazes Lower though, Newcastle were unable to make any headway and looked in vain for inspiration from either Florian Thauvin or Georginio Wijnaldum.

And anyone looking for evidence of a return to form for Papiss Cisse will have had to be content with one shot wide of the goal from a good position - plus various examples of his inability to understand what offside is. 

Almost twelve months to the day, our number 9 had struck twice to deny Hull City victory here after taking a two goal lead, sadly though that looks an age ago.

The introduction of Siem De Jong for Cisse at half time brought slightly more poise to our midfield and the ball started to stick at the feet of Wijnaldum as United belatedly spent some time in the opposition third. 

That also coincided with a welcome surge of effort from Sissoko, who combined with Daryl Janmaat down the United right to good effect. The grass was allowed to grow unmolested on the opposite flank....  

That French/Dutch combination saw Janmaat net on 62 minutes, but that goal failing to provide the springboard needed to salvage a point despite the late (make that overly late) introduction of Rolando Aarons, who came on in a virtual left wing back role.

Watford themselves soaked up that pressure before looking to poach a third in final stages, before saluting their exultant away support at full time - deserved winners after showing far greater levels of guts, organisation, character and imagination.

The displays of Janmaat, Chancel Mbemba and Jack Colback showed no lack of effort, but the whole left flank was a disaster zone in defence and attack - a casual observer in Level Seven concluding that Remy Cabella was still here rather than back in France. And when your full backs are a major source of attacks, it's a given that others have to fill the gaps they leave - surely?

This latest failure apparently came after a week of specialised training in the art of attacking. You wouldn't have known it from the mind-numbingly awful start to the game - lacking any sort of urgency or intensity. It's almost a waste of a sentence to report that our set pieces were pathetic - people take that for granted.

If the coaching had concentrated on forward play, then it certainly explained the inept defending that allowed Ighalo his brace - poor marking and gifting possession enabling the spirited visitors to quickly improve on a record of just one goal in their previous four outings. 

Ahead of games against Chelsea and then Manchester City this latest defeat leaves us in danger of being cast adrift at the bottom of the league with any pre-season optimism firmly extinguished.

The only small consolation was that a 0-2 loss for the mackems at Bournemouth took them below us on goal difference. As a neutral observer said recently though, Newcastle and sunderland fans laugh at each other, while the rest of the league laughs at them both...

Nothing has changed, nothing has been learned, the lack of leadership remains glaringly evident, the absence of enthusiasm and interest mystifying. Losing is one thing, being beaten with barely a whimper quite another. 

Don't leave this all at McClaren's door though - the rot that had set in before he arrived is still evident. Blame those 'gutless foreigners', but also blame the Geordie super scout / Director of Football and blame the Geordie motivational guru (is Colback's improvement due to Steve Black, because he's the only active squad member who listens or understands him?)

The pundits of course (Garth Crooks the latest) claim that it's all due to the unrealistic expectations of Newcastle fans, who dare to express discontent when presented yet again with a rabble laughingly called a team who lack basic skills and a shred of integrity. 

This isn't a bad start, it's a continuation of the dross that passed for football previously - and that's what is getting people wound up before the clocks go back. 

Such is the level of disunity in the dressing room that we've even been denied the short term uplift in results that the arrival of a new coach routinely brings.

If the club do one thing this week, let it be working with Aleksandar Mitrovic on and off the field ahead of his return to the squad for Saturday's game - learn how to provide him with service and get it into his head how to stay on the pitch. He may be our only hope.

"Judge my side after 10 games" said our head coach - meaning that a verdict is due after this lot:

Sat 25th September Chelsea (h) 
Sat 3rd October Manchester City (a)
Sun 18th October Norwich City (h)
Sun 25th October mackems (a)

In fairness though, it doesn't really who we play and where we play them; every other team in the league will relish facing us in our current pitiful state.

Biffa