Alan Pardew was at a loss to explain Newcastle's second-half capitulation following their 5-2 defeat at Fulham.
Magpies boss unhappy with mental indiscipline in second period
Alan Pardew was at a loss to explain Newcastle's second-half capitulation following their 5-2 defeat at Fulham.
The Magpies were leading 1-0 at half-time but two penalties and a hat-trick from Clint Dempsey saw the Cottagers romp home in the second period.
Danny Guthrie opened the scoring with a fine effort and Hatem Ben Arfa added to that tally late in the game, but Pardew rued his side's lack of concentration.
"We couldn't have been in a better place at half-time in terms of how we controlled the game and got the goal," he said.
"But the Premier League is such that you can't switch off and I thought the first goal for them changed the course of the game really.
"Whether we felt an injustice from the penalty or an injustice that they happened to be level with us, I don't know because we switched off in that period and it cost us three goals.
"We talked about the fact that the wind was with us and balls in behind would hold up. But without criticising individuals in our team, our second-half display in that period wasn't what we have been doing all year.
"I can't think of any period in any game where we were as inefficient as we were today for 25 minutes.
"We lacked mental discipline in that second half and it cost us. Hopefully it won't happen again."
Pardew was not happy with the penalty given against Davide Santon at the beginning of the second half, when contact with Damien Duff appeared to take place outside the area.
"I thought the contact was minimal and the only contact that did take place was on the edge of the box," he added.
"But it got given and we have to accept that. It was our reaction to that goal that was the disappointing thing today.
"That unit at the back did not play well second half, no way near good enough in terms of the standards they've set."
