Boys in pink left red faced
Well what can you say?
Sheer class from Newcastle United on one of the best European away nights in the club's history.
True, it wasn't Palermo's best XI but considering the quality of the Sicily side's squad and their position in Serie A, this was a superb effort from United.
Tim Krul managed to grab the headlines with a string of fine saves and what about Albert Luque's winner?
The Spaniard was terrible in the reserves on Monday at Kingston Park but managed to steer home the winner in fine style against Pink-kitted Italians.
A hostile atmosphere didn't get to United and Emre perhaps put in one of his best showings in a Toon shirt.
On a night of fireworks and bangers, Emre was the most sparkling attraction of all.
Beating Palermo is fantastic for Glenn Roeder and keeps Europe alive for the forseeable future.
But nobody is getting carried away.
And as the 180 Toon fans partied into the night here in Palermo all of them and millions of others around the globe will be hoping for the same against Sheff United in less than 48 hours time at St James' Park.
Certainly, though, one for the scrapbook for the Toon Army.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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saying that it wasnt palermo's first 11 means nothing, it wasnt the toons first 11 either. Top top performance lads!!! get in Tim Krul as well! And nice to see Andy Carroll getting a game, I went to school with him and he is class!
In my book a well deserved win though I don't think Luque pulled up any trees. I know he is paid to score goals, and he did that last night. However he is still showing an unwillingness to tackle and shows an inability to withstand a tackle himself. For this alone, I fear his premiership career could be a very short one. I really hope not, and would like to be proved wrong.
There was nothing going down the right wing, Nobby tucked in and never looking like working an overlap with Taylor. Even Milner's forays down the left were solo efforts. Don't mean this to be too disparaging as all of the team put in a good shift. The four at the back, once they had sorted out who was doing what, looked fine, though being caught out a couple of times by some very slick interpassing. Luckily Krul was up to the mark.
The thing that I find most intersting is that apart from this seasons longer term injury absentees, Owen, Dyer (& Given), who would you want to put back in place of those that turned out tonight, Parker aside?
Would we have faired any better with the likes of Carr, Babayaro, Duff, Martins in the team.
Even with our paper thin squad, Roeder really now has to know his best eleven; the ones who are most up for the fight to improve our premiership position; maybe keeping the others back for UEFA and other cup games.
Why does everyone keep on about Newcastle's paper thin squad? In Palermo we had 12 potential first team players injured or unavailable and still put out a decent, experienced team. True, we are at the moment short up front, but you can't really legislate for injuries to your top four strikers (Owen, Ameobi, Sibierski and Martins), as well as Dyer, a possible striker. And then to have Rossi unavailable as well. How many strikers is GR supposed to buy? What would Man Utd or Arsenal do with that number out? Admittedly, our lot may not be the best (with the exception of Owen) but they are far better than most Premiership teams have. Defensively we had four centre backs playing last night, but had three full backs injured or unfit. That's 7 goodish or very good defenders. And in midfield we've got plenty of good options - Solano, N'Zogbia, Butt, Emre, Duff, Dyer, Parker, Milner. That's two players for every position. Most teams would settle for that, even Chelsea. Again, I ask: why all the nonsense about a thin squad? The problem is a long injury list, and injuries to key players, not a tiny squad!
I thought Luque did well, he showed some nices touches and played some very nice one-touch lay-offs to bring the wingers into play. His job was to lead the line and stay up top, keeping the Palermo defence from pushing up, and he did a very disciplined job of that, even though (how many times have I said this?) it is NOT his natural position. He will never pull up trees, but he won't run around trying to fool people into believing he's Alan Shearer either - because he's not. Nor does he (or should he) want to be - he is Albert Luque.
Hopefully the goal will be the first of many, and judging by how pleased the team/management looked, maybe, just maybe, he is starting to be appreciated. As a result, he may even start to FEEL appreciated, which will give him the kind of confidence booster he has been craving for so very long. I honestly feel that not feeling important/appreciated has been the biggest psychological barrier for Luque since he arrived - maybe now he will start to come out of his shell and give GR a real selection problem for when the unfit Ameobi and underperforming Martins are available again.
Oh and another thing - I'm sick of people saying Palermo fielded a weakened team! Our team was nothing short of depleted!! We were far more weakened than them.
And here is a quote from Glenn Roeder of all people, about Luque:
"He did as well as he could playing up front on his own which is difficult. The key thing was that he finished from an excellent cross. His header was perhaps not as easy as it looked."