Dubravka keeps Howe in a job as Newcastle dodge nadir with lucky FA Cup escape at Blackburn

Newcastle United’s season was on the line going into their FA Cup tie at Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday. They didn’t play like it after what Alan Shearer described as their “worst performance of the season” at Arsenal at the weekend. Although they ultimately won the tie on penalties, that performance and their current situation have to be criticised.

Before we get into how rubbish Newcastle are looking and the deadweight Amanda Staveley and co. need to move on at the end of the season, which could potentially include Eddie Howe, there must be praise for Blackburn Rovers and appreciation of how f**king brilliant that game of football was.

The first half was decent and the atmosphere was bubbling away nicely. You could see what Blackburn were trying to do with their danger man and Championship top scorer, Sammie Szmodics, going directly to him whenever feasible and trying to expose the gap between Jamaal Lascelles and Kieran Trippier. He had the first big chance of the game and was eventually on the scoresheet to grab his sixth in the FA Cup this season.

The second half was better than decent. Blackburn were the superior side for the majority of it and the atmosphere only improved thanks to the incredible effort put in by every single player in blue and white. Martin Dubravka was the only goalkeeper being worked and every time Rovers attacked, you felt like something was going to happen. You did not get the same feeling whenever Newcastle were on the ball.

The feeling of expecting nothing when the Magpies had the ball became a collective feeling of angst when the match went to extra time. It was what the cool kids call A Proper FA Cup Tie. There were tackles flying. Blackburn were going hell for leather. Both teams were trading chances in front of goal, all while the home supporters replicated the energy their players were putting on display, which did not solely come due to the occasion, but the work new manager John Eustace has done in his short time at the club.

As Danny Murphy said on commentary, it was “impossible” to single out a man of the match for the Championship side, who fought all the way to penalties. Newcastle’s man of the match, though, was Dubravka, and by some distance. That says all you need to know.

The Slovakian goalkeeper saved two spot-kicks to help Newcastle edge past their Championship opponents. There might not have been a reaction to their mauling at Arsenal, but the result could be the shot in the arm this group of players need.

But what the bloody hell has gotten into them? They were always going to drop off after exceeding expectations last season, but nobody expected them to be this bad, especially defensively. They were always horribly stingy in 2022/23 and the only missing piece at this moment in time is Nick Pope, whose absence is hardly responsible for the shambles we are seeing from Sven Botman, who didn’t play against Blackburn, Dan Burn, and others.

Against Arsenal on Saturday they were outclassed and put in what club legend  Shearer described as their “worst performance of the season”. They haven’t shown up in plenty of games this season but not a single player could hold their head up after the 4-1 mauling at the Emirates.

There needed to be a reaction against Blackburn and there unequivocally was not. Although Newcastle have European qualification to fight for in the Premier League, it will surely not be the Champions League, which makes the FA Cup the top priority for a club without a trophy since the 1950s.

Ultimately, they got over the line with a shoot-out victory, but the performance will be of great concern to the Newcastle supporters, players and staff.

You have got to feel like the FA Cup could be huge for the board when it comes to assessing Howe’s future at the end of the season. While Newcastle are in the competition, though, we will postpone the sack talk, and instead criticise those who need to be moved on. You’ll be surprised to learn that those are the players who played under the previous ownership. Oh, and Dan Burn.

Club captain Lascelles found his level at Blackburn and was at fault for their equaliser, letting a throw-in run by him, which left the Newcastle defence exposed. He has to move on this summer. He is the player who will come in if Fabian Schar or Sven Botman get injured and that simply must be addressed.

Burn and his fellow Geordie Sean Longstaff are another two players who are simply not good enough, but Howe persists and persists with them both, so it’s on the manager that they often look out of their depth.

There are plenty of other players who are clearly not good enough as well and we are not talking about Lascelles’ fellow back-ups like Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth, but Miguel Almiron and Jacob Murphy, for example.

We will see Almiron, Longstaff and Burn consistently between now and the end of the season, while Murphy and Lascelles might be limited to FA Cup appearances, although that depends on the fitness of Schar and Botman.

Now we are most certainly at the business end of the season, it will not be surprising to see Howe opt for his strongest XI in the FA Cup, which as we have said, must be his number-one priority. A major trophy will mean a lot more to everyone associated with the club than playing in the Europa Conference League.

If they are going to win the competition, Newcastle will need to get their sh*t together. The penalty shoot-out win over Blackburn has to be the shot in the arm they need after the schooling at Arsenal, which clearly did not kick them up the backside like it should have done.

Dubravka might have kept Howe in a job with his Blackburn heroics, but the former Bournemouth boss needs to buck up his ideas if he is going to stay at St James’ Park. And if he gets next season at the helm, he needs to get rid of a few players.

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