Newcastle United 1 Fulham 2: Roeder unable to make any case for his defence

Glenn Roeder's insistence that all is not gloom and doom at Newcastle is becoming a hollow platitude. The fog on the Tyne hangs a little heavier after this capitulation.

With just a single road victory in the previous 12 months and after being shorn of their best player by a sickening dislocation of the knee a third of the way into the match, Fulham exploited defensive frailties that have not been addressed since Graeme Souness signed Jean-Alain Boumsong.

"I coach the players that if you can't touch the man you're marking you're in a bad position," Roeder said after Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra had sealed Newcastle's fate with goals in the final eight minutes. Given the errant defensive positioning for both goals, only Mr Tickle would have been able to accomplish Roeder's master plan.

Roeder would not name names, but Titus Bramble was a liability. The centre-back was at fault for both goals with the latest instalment of his ball-watching approach to halting the opposition.

"Individual errors cost us," the Newcastle manager admitted. "In the lead-up to the second goal, McBride had a free header and the person supposed to be marking him certainly couldn't touch him. It was an awful piece of defending. Hopefully, we won't have too many more days like this, we can't afford to. It's my job to lift the players, we have to keep working with the defence on the training ground to remind them of the way they should be defending."

With the home debutant Obafemi Martins ineffectual as he searches for match fitness and his replacement, the loan signing from Manchester United Giuseppe Rossi, no better in many supporters' eyes than Michael Chopra, the local product who was allowed to depart to Cardiff City in the summer, Newcastle were indebted to Scott Parker for the goal which, defensive howlers aside, should have been enough to seal victory.

The captain headed in an Emre cross, putting aside his personal turmoil in the wake of his unwitting role in Jimmy Bullard's gruesome right-knee injury. Thankfully, the problem is less serious than at first feared and the Fulham midfielder is expected to return before Christmas.

"When you see parts of the body where they shouldn't be it's not the nicest thing," Parker said, after earning praise from Fulham for his immediate efforts to check on Bullard's welfare after their accidental collision.

"I could see what he'd done and I knew he was in serious trouble, I wanted the half to end right there," added Parker, whose withdrawal with a knee problem of his own late on helped pave the way for Fulham's revival.

Collins John vomited on witnessing Bullard's leg buckle horrifically under his weight, but the prompt actions of Fulham's medical staff in immediately righting the dislocation spared the player a significantly longer lay-off.

With a hand in both goals, Wayne Routledge made an impressive Fulham debut coming on for Bullard, who will find employment during his enforced lay-off. "He's a bubbly character and I want him around even when he's sidelined," the manager Chris Coleman said.

Roeder's task in addressing his porous defence is slightly more pressing. "It was back to the same old Newcastle," Parker said. "The six-million dollar question is: what can be done to rectify it?"

At current market prices, a solution will cost significantly more than that.

Goals: Parker (54) 1-0; McBride (82) 1-1; Bocanegra (89) 1-2.

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Carr, Bramble, Moore, Ramage; Duff, Parker (Butt, 80), Emre, N'Zogbia; Ameobi, Martins (Rossi, 72). Substitutes not used: Harper (gk) Solano, Sibierski.

Fulham (4-4-2): Niemi; Rosenior, Knight (Bocanegra, 78), Pearce, Queudrue; Brown, Bouba Diop (Radzinski, 81), Bullard (Routledge, 34), Boa Morte; McBride, John. Substitutes not used: Lastuvka (gk), Helguson.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).

Booked: Newcastle Emre; Fulham Brown.

Man of the match: McBride.

Attendance: 50,365.