As rain fell, incessantly, Eddie Howe wandered around the pitch alone. The final whistle had just gone and, with Everton celebrating a deserved win, Newcastle’s lingering hopes of a top-six finish were also blown.
Newcastle look shattered, mentally as much as physically, by a Champions League campaign that will soon pit them against Barcelona and their Premier League form is suffering accordingly.
Admittedly it took a stunning stoppage-time save from Jordan Pickford to deny Sandro Tonali a late equaliser, but Newcastle’s players have forgotten how to defend, are far too careless in possession and seem alarmingly low on creativity.
“It’s really hard to explain,” said Howe, whose team have lost three consecutive home games for the first time since February 2021 and have kept only two clean sheets in 21 league games. “It’s hugely frustrating, desperately disappointing.
“We think we’re a good team, but we’re wildly inconsistent, even within games. I don’t see players not trying, I sometimes see them over-trying, but they’re not playing smart enough. Chasing the game took a lot out of us. It’s not a good look for us.”
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, brushing the unguarded far post en route into the back of the net.
Branthwaite excelled in central defence, not something that can be said of his Newcastle counterparts. They have not kept a clean sheet in the 11 games since they beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 here on 21 January, conceding 23 goals along the way.
Howe once again began with the England winger Anthony Gordon at centre-forward and his ineffective £69m Germany striker, Nick Woltemade, in an attacking midfield role. With Gordon struggling to make an impact, Howe quickly shifted Woltemade to No 9 and Gordon to the left.
A slightly improved Newcastle equalised when Jacob Ramsey’s shot took a hefty deflection off Branthwaite, wrong-footing Pickford.
A bad error on Nick Pope’s part enabled Everton to regain the lead after the keeper spilt a fairly routine shot from the impressive Dwight McNeil straight into Beto’s path. Everton’s No 9 gleefully accepted the invitation to stroke the ball into the empty net. Beto is often criticised for a perceived litany of shortcomings and would later miss a glorious chance, but he reacted with alacrity, moving far more rapidly than any of the defenders.
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 Anthony Elanga and Woltemade made way for Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes as Gordon reverted to centre-forward.
Beto, making his first start since December, left Malick Thiaw for dust and found himself clean through with only Pope to beat. A third Everton goal beckoned, but his shot hit the crossbar and left Beto standing in isolation, his hands covering his face.
Soon he was replaced by Thierno Barry and on, too, came Yoane Wissa, the hitherto overlooked £55m former Brentford centre-forward.
Home spirits revived, albeit briefly, when Murphy’s slightly deflected volley from Joelinton’s cross flew past Pickford, but, within a minute, Everton recaptured the lead. Gordon’s concession of possession prefaced Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall squaring for Barry to bundle the ball across the line.
In stoppage time, Pickford reminded everyone why he is England’s goalkeeper. Tonali let fly on the volley and an equaliser seemed inevitable but Pickford tipped the ball over the crossbar.
“Tonali’s technique was textbook,” said a delighted Moyes, whose side’s away Premier League record is bettered only by Arsenal’s. “Jordan’s save was out of this world.”
