I said before the game that I’d take any sort of victory and that Derby wouldn’t roll over and die like many people expected them to, but little did I expect to see us being outclassed and outpassed on our own patch by one of the poorest teams to play in the top division of English football. Whether we were bad or whether they were good is up for debate, but that certainly doesn’t tell the whole story.

Obafemi Martins isn’t a right winger, he barely passes for a striker when he’s not on his game, I don’t know what Emre needs to do to get a game ahead of the currently woeful Barton and uninspiring Captain Smith and Mark Viduka proved, once again, that he’s our main man when he’s fit. When both fit, Smith should never be selected up front ahead of him again. Wow, this faux-managerial business is easy!

Of course, if we’d had scored a goal in that frenetic last ten minutes then a lot of this negativity we see today wouldn’t exist. We’d have snuck it 3-2 in what would have been labelled a “thrilling comeback” and people would have had a far more merry Christmas on Tyneside. Football is a game of “ifs” and “buts” though, and we drew 2-2-2 in the end, which left a sour taste in many mouths.

Man of the Match: Mark Viduka

After the festivities are over we face another turgid away trip, this time to the most soulless club in the Premier League: Wigan Athletic. All I can say is that I hope Heskey isn’t fit enough to play and that Titus Bramble has one of his many “off days”, because otherwise we’re going to struggle to get a result. Sam’s latest comments suggest that one or both of Rozehnal and Cacapa are going to lose their place – and probably rightly so – with Taylor and Faye both fit, but anyone hoping for a change in the left-back slot will undoubtedly be left disappointed.

I have a feeling we’ll be back to the Martins, Milner, Viduka triumvirate up front with the desperately pedestrian trio of Butt, Smith and Barton holding rank in midfield, while Emre sits and warms the bench again. He’ll surely be off in January, which is a shame. At least Damien Duff looked bright on his return to action – he could be a massive player for us if he stays fit. If we’d beaten Derby on Sunday then I’d have taken a draw against Wigan, but as it stands we need to atone for dropping two points, so I’m gunning for an away victory… come on, someone has to be optimistic!

This was an absolutely shocking performance at home to a very poor side. Credit to Derby, they battled hard, as they need to given their position, but with the players available, playing in a well-balanced side we should have easily disposed of Derby. They showed nothing that we shouldn’t have been able to deal with comfortably.

After allowing Derby to take an early lead, we rallied, pressed Derby and the equaliser felt like it was coming. The problem was than when it did, we didn’t keep the momentum up, and took it easy. Derby came back into the game and took the league once more.

Viduka’s second equaliser barely saved our blushes, with our woeful performace laid bare for all to see on Sky. Perhaps it illustrates to those outside the world of NUFC the problem that some of us have with Allardyce. Yet again we endured a formation, which was ‘odd’ (if I’m being diplomatic). N’Zogbia was frustrated at left back and wanted to burst forward, Martins couldn’t play to his strengths as he was banished out on the wing, while Barton and Smith were ineffective in the middle. The system we played was just a mess, and not for the first time I wondered if the players actually knew what they were meant to be doing.

I can’t see how anybody can justify this performance.

After the scores were levelled at 2-2, someone said pretty much what I was thinking at that precise moment: “If we win this, it doesn’t change my opinion of him (Allardyce)”. I thought that was bang on. It was a dreadful showing. The draw doesn’t change that and a winning goal right at the death wouldn’t have either.

It’s put me in a pesimistic mood looking ahead to Wigan on Boxing Day. Our trips to the JJB haven’t exactly been the best as it is. If I’d written this preview last night, or this morning (I’m writing this on Sunday night) the chances are I’d have been more upbeat. But having taken in this afternoon’s ‘nightmare before Christmas’ I’m not so sure. Will we come out fighting and turn in a good performance? It’s possible. It’s also possible that we’ll repeat this dross again, we’re Newcastle United afterall, it all depends on which Newcastle turns up. I’ll predict the worst and hope for the best.

For the third game in a row, we had to rely on a late goal to save the blushes for Sam Allardyce and co; the only difference this week being that it only gave us one point, instead of all three.

Without Mark Viduka, lord knows what the score would have been on Sunday afternoon. Yes, Newcastle played some decent stuff and yes we didn’t lose, but considering Derby are rock bottom, the performance was woeful and completely unacceptable.

Derby County have collected 7 points all season, 4 of them coming from Newcastle United; that is a pathetic statistic. We should have walked all over them - yes you talk about complacency and showing the opposition respect but Derby are quite possible one of the worst Premier League sides of all time, yet we fell behind to them twice.

It’s the same old story and it’s not acceptable. It’s not kneejerk, it’s not pessimism; it’s the RAW TRUTH - something ‘Big Sam’ has to face sooner or later. We aren’t good enough, and there’s no point in trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we are. Yes, we’ve improved recently, played some decent stuff, haven’t lost in five, have big players coming back, are defending better etc etc blah blah blah - to be frank, I’ve heard it all before. Newcastle managers and fans are like broken records - we need to face up to reality, and fast.

We need improvement and it doesn’t seem to be happening under Allardyce. This is why some want him out - they aren’t being ‘kneejerk’, because of course a manager deserves time. But in that time they need to show some sign that things are going to get better, that the team is going somewhere, and under Allardyce that does not seem to be the case.

When you have to rely upon penalties and late goals to pick up points against teams that are in the relegation zone (Fulham, Derby) or on the brink of it (Birmingham), you know something is not right. Wins are wins and points are points but you can’t rely on luck forever. We’re riding our luck at the moment, but as we experienced with Souness and Roeder, it runs out very fast.

Joey Barton should never be able to walk out there in a black and white shirt again. He has been quite frankly terrible since he came back from injury and has showed no signs of improvment; so much for our ’saviour’. Emre should walk into the team ahead of him every single week - that says alot! Big Sam is wasting Martins as well. He is NOT a winger, he is NOT a winger-forward, he is NOT an attacking midfielder, he is a STRIKER, and needs to play centre forward.

We need a 4-4-2 system, we need two wingers on the pitch, we need Oba Martins up front, and Barton as far away from the team as possible - if Big Sam can’t see that, he’s not the man for the job. He’s out of his depth, and should change things fast to save face.

Wigan? Late Christmas present for them. Bet they can’t wait. They’ll walk all over us, as everyone usually does away from home….as everyone seems to be doing at St James’ at the minute as well. If Derby can outclass us at times, Wigan Athletic should have no problems.