I was really afraid of this result, and there isn't much that could have been done about it. When your top 3 central defenders are out, you're going to have a rough defensive time of it, especially when playing really big and physical forwards. I know he's been out of favor, but I very much think we should have played Kadar in central defense instead of moving Simpson there. He's a 6'3 physical defender, and we sorely missed having someone strong inside. Pardew was smart enough to know we'd need goals, though, and played us aggressive and unafraid on offense. In fact, we almost leveled at 3 after having gone down to 10 men.
And to make it worse on defense? One of the top defensive midfielders in the Premiership, Tiote, was out again for us. On top of that, his replacement, the solid defensive midfielder Guthrie, was out too. Damn, our top 3 central defenders and our best 2 defensive midfielders were out. OMFG!
Gosling, you had damned well better stop your whinging about not getting a chance, because you appear not to have deserved a chance. Terrible form and a sending off. So much for your Newcastle career!
So, well, we're back down to earth. We probably can't make it to a European spot now, but we can still have a good campaign. Remember, we were marked for a relegation fight before the season.