Football: Toon Army traumatised to find its team firing blanks

Newcastle United's trip to Barcelona proved far more memorable for their fans than the team. Glenn Moore assesses the mood of the Toon Army and its fallen heroes.

"Nice trip, shame about the game," was the verdict of the Newcastle United supporters departing from Barcelona yesterday. It was not so much the defeat, in Wednesday's Champions' League match at the Nou Camp as the nature of it which had disappointed them.

"It was boring," said one supporter. "Fans have paid pounds 250 each to come here and see this and they deserved better. Kenny Dalglish can say he didn't have any option but we'd rather have a go and lose 3-0 than this."

Damage limitation - avoiding the 4-0 drubbing Manchester United received here three years ago - did seem uppermost in the Newcastle manager's mind, even if he said it was "insulting" to suggest his team had lacked ambition. Failing to manage a single shot on target hardly backs that view up.

The withdrawal of John Barnes, who had scored four times in the previous four matches, to midfield was presumably done in an attempt to retain possession but he could have done that more effectively as a focal point for the attack than out wide where he was played. Instead of Barnes Temur Ketsbaia, not an accomplished holder of the ball, played up front and Newcastle never managed sustained pressure. Unlike Manchester United's early European experiences, Newcastle did try and pass through midfield rather than play it long even if that was partly because, with Keith Gillespie suspended, they did not have much of a target at which to aim.

Newcastle have been unlucky to lose both Alan Shearer and Faustino Asprilla with injury but Les Ferdinand and Peter Beardsley were both sold after Shearer's misfortune. Rush and Barnes were brought in but one is fading and the other is only an emergency striker. Among the lessons, said Dalglish, is the need for a deeper squad but, with his experience, he should have foreseen that in the summer.

The lessons for the players include the importance of retaining possession and concentration - maxims Manchester United have gradually absorbed over the decade. These principles are only learned through further European experience and Newcastle's priority now is to ensure a return to the Champions' League next season. "It's been great," Dalglish said. "The players have enjoyed it and the taste is a great incentive to get back."

No one will have enjoyed it more than Aaron Hughes, the teenage Irishman who will long remember his Newcastle debut - even a quarter-full Nou Camp was a long way from playing for the youth team last week.

While his appearance, and Stuart Pearce's reappearance after months out with injury, were Newcastle's only real benefits from the night, Barcelona had more to be thankful for. Most important of all was a victory. Previously winless in the Champions' League, and with four defeats in their last five in all competitions, the headline in the city's sports paper yesterday morning was understandable. "At last," it said.

They were also able to ease Josep Guardiola, Sonny Anderson and Amor back into first-team action and earn around pounds 250,000 from the Champions' League bonus pot. However, the assertion, by the assistant manager, Gerald van der Lam, who had prepared the team in the absence of Louis van Gaal, that it was "one of the best games we have played this season" was a surprise. If that was a good performance the Spanish league - in which they are level top - is weaker than we all thought.

The press conference underlined Van Gaal's frosty relationship with the local media. The public appear equally disenchanted with their new coach but Van Gaal, with typical arrogance, dismissed criticism with the confident assertion: "I will succeed."

Dalglish is less brash and more respected, but his tactics are equally unloved. Only time will tell whether both, or either, will get it right.