Come the morning papers, the return of Michael Owen will hopefully extinguish any lingering thoughts about the dismal performance that Newcastle United displayed on Monday evening. In what was a dire display from the playing staff, and an equally pitiful showing from the manager, the Magpies inexplicably went down by 1 goal to nil against a distinctly average Reading side at the Madejski Stadium.

Infact, the return of world-class striker Owen was the only plus point to come from this showing. However, having had zilch support from a lacklustre midfield, coupled with a bizarre shunting out to the left-wing by his manager, the England international might just be craving the opening of the transfer window.

Whether that hope revolves around better players coming through the door, or him exiting it, I cannot be sure. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions on that one.

Nevertheless, it was only Owen, coupled with sprightly winger James Milner, who appeared to have any zest about themselves. There was a real sense of desire whenever they had the ball, they really wanted to do something. Milner was sustaining his promising left-wing escapades, while Owen twice came perilously close to opening the scoring early on. But the rest of the side was tediously unimpressive - with the defense referring to its old self and the midfield utterly shapeless.

Thought, to be fair to the midfield players, they can’t possible have had a clue what on earth they were meant to be doing - such was the oddness of Roeder’s tactics. Barbarically forgetting Emre’s superb performance last week at the spearhead of the centre of midfield, Roeder reverted him into a defensive position, with Antoine Sibierski supporting the attackers.

Yeah, I know.

And Roeder’s obscure fetish of accommodating several central players into one midfield continued, as he forced Dyer into the line-up aswell as Emre and Sibierski, creating a crushed, narrow game without a right-wing. The unwillingness to play two wingers, and more importantly - the refusal of playing N’Zogbia properly - is becoming silly, and I really fear for the Frenchman’s future at the club.

Surprisingly though, the side started fairly brightly - seemingly buzzed by the return of Owen, and were unfortunate not to grab the lead in the early stages. As early as the 55th second, a sweeping ball from the left-wing by Emre only just evaded the outstretched leg of Michael Owen, as the ball floated harmlessly out of play. Nevertheless, the movement of Owen in an attempt to latch onto the ball, when not one of the other attackers or defenders seemingly intelligent enough to go for it, merely gave us a glimpse of Owen’s world class potential. His movement is second to none and one hopes, that come the new season, he’ll be sticking his boot on the end of such passes.

And come the seventh minute, Owen’s readiness and motivation proved undeniable, when his movement across the defense prevailed once more - as he converted a chance provided by Obafemi Martins. As the ball was slipped through by Martins, who subsequently misfired all evening, Owen latched onto the end of the pass and finished with ease. Unfortunately, the England international was marginally offside.

However, in spite of the early pressure from Newcastle, the spark soon fizzled out - as we hopelessly reverted to playing long-balls from defense. Sibierski was in the side to do a job - win headers and supply the strikers. He did neither. We’ve seen this before.

Still, the long ball tactics fail to cease from appearing in Roeder’s notebook.

The defense itself was less than impressive all night, but for the sturdy performance from Steven Taylor. Although fairly uninspiring, the promising defender put in a strong shift. Unlike, however, his counterpart - Titus Bramble. Bramble, whose preferred style of clearance was to hoof the ball hundreds of yards into the air, without it gaining any distance up the field, did nothing to convince his manager he is worthy of a new contract. A blatant foul in the penalty area, yards away from the ball, and two very dodgy pass-backs had the Newcastle supporters holding their breaths.

Reading acquired a lot more possession come the end of the first half, and although failing to carve out any clear-cut chances, the incentive was there, as Newcastle merely delayed the inevitable. A driving run and shot from Milner and a well worked free-kick involving Dyer were the final productive moments of the half - and of Newcastle’s match.

With the scores deadlocked at half time, one side was destined to fall apart come the second period. Go on - guess which side it was!

The superb Geordie following suspected the worst, and the down right inevitable, when Kieron Dyer despicably surrendered possession deep inside his own half. The ball was sprayed out wide, and then whipped back into the Newcastle penalty area by Seol. The ball dropped kindly for the unmarked Kitson, who lashed home with ease.

1-0… and that was that. The manager’s woeful inability to master a comeback continued, as the tactics went from bad to bizarre.

Injuries to Sibierski and then Emre had Dyer - who offered an absolutely shocking shift as Captain - shifted into the defensive midfield position, while Shola Ameobi made his comeback.

By this point, Michael Owen had played an hour - and disappeared completely from the play. One of he or Martins, whose evening was getting progressively worse in every respect, surely had to be withdrawn - but the manager decided against it and proceeded with three strikers, Owen being nudged ludicrously towards the left-wing.

As we huffed and puffed, trying desperately to win a stroke of luck, the television cameras flicked to Roeder and assistant Nigel Pearson for a second or two. The body language and sheer unprofessional look of the two bosses simply epitomised our downfall. Roeder was perched on the edge of his seat, chin resting casually on fist. While Pearson slumped horizontally on his chair, seemingly without a care in the world. I kid you not - he was having a lie down. The downfall of the match itself, and the gradual demise of the season could be witnessed right there. Not an ounce of motivation to the side, and not an ounce of care. It was utterly abysmal.

Our club deserved nowt and got nowt on Monday night.

We continued to sporadically attack Reading’s goal - but their superbly executed offside trap, and effective counter-attacking play, had us running in circles. Shola ruffled the feathers certainly, but not enough to make a difference - his only clear-cut chance turned out to be a tame header that Hahnemann gratefully accepted.

The positives were diminishing rapidly, and the weird tactical brain of Roeder was summarised in the final stages, as the freshly introduced N’Zogbia found himself within 5 metres of Milner down the left flank at one point. The two alleged wingers - within tickling distance. Pitiful.

The positives remain merely the two comebacks of Owen and Ameobi. That is all. This was an awful performance from everyone else involved. Simply not good enough.

If only there was a good manager available. If only a top class manager, who has proved capable of doing wonders at other clubs, was available. If only eh, Freddy?

Man of the Match: James Milner, for a very professional job down the left flank. He was the only player in the entire team who looked capable of creating something. He really fights for the cause, does this lad. Some others do not. Others such as…

Donkey of the Match: Kieron Dyer, whose appointment of Captain was one of the most laughable decisions of Roeder’s reign as Newcastle manager. He just didn’t care. I’ve actually been a fan of Dyer’s, but this excuse for a performance makes me want him out of the club, fast. We can’t be doing with players who just give up when we go behind - especially not our bloody Captains. But other than Dyer, of course Roeder.