Newcastle Utd - 1 Manchester City - 0: Stuart Pearce produced a boxing analogy after this exercise in flat-footed mediocrity. Pearce said were the teams to have met again yesterday his Manchester City players would have shown Newcastle United none of the "respect" that had so inhibited City here, particularly in the opening 45 minutes.
Having taken a couple of punches, seen what Newcastle had to offer, Pearce said his team would have been entitled to ask: "Is that your best shot? Is that all the problems you are causing us?" That is how weak Pearce thought Newcastle were.
And they won. So can you imagine how bad City were? Given that management is about foresight, Pearce's opinion sounded dangerously like the opposite. Pearce said he could "sniff" that his players were not "at it" after barely two minutes of the match. But despite being invited to explain his role in why that was the case, Pearce elected to talk in general terms about City's approach to a game that was winnable from the moment last Wednesday when Graeme Souness declared none of his injured midfielders Kieron Dyer, Emre Belozoglu and Nolberto Solano would be fit to play.
Souness, moreover, admitted Newcastle's confidence is still nowhere near what it could be. Low on confidence, key players out - City's scouts should have told Pearce his former club were there to be thumped.
Had Antoine Sibierski scored with his seventh-minute free header - poor marking by Jean-Alain Boumsong - instead of allowing Shay Given to make a fine reaction save, City might have enjoyed their trip to Tyneside.
Instead, one more win next Saturday for Newcastle - Portsmouth away - and it would be three in a row and people would be acclaiming Souness. The Scot made two very good decisions last week: he had the bravery to rest the injured when his midfield was crying out for their creativity. He then had the experience not to go overboard about this result.
He refused to sing about Michael Owen's clinical winner, as he beat Richard Dunne to Lee Bowyer's pass, or about Owen's combination with Alan Shearer. As the silent stadium proved, there was very little to sing about.
Guardian Service
