Boss Roy Keane once again bemoaned his side’s defending as the Blues lost 4-0 at home to Newcastle United. The Town manager felt his team conceded “unbelievably bad goals” as his team’s winless league run stretched to nine matches.
Keane said: "The game was dead and buried by half-time. We conceded some unbelievably bad goals and we just have to defend better.
"I don't know if Nolan has scored a hat-trick before but he won't get an easier chance to get one. He must have thought it was Christmas.”
The Blues boss says individual errors have been costing Town all season: "We started OK but the first goal was a bad goal to give away. The lad Nolan scored loads of goals from set pieces at Bolton, yet we let him have a free header.
"It was bad defending for the second goal as well and that knocked the confidence of the players and it was always going to be hard from that point, given the experience of the Newcastle players and their defensive record this season.
"If we are opened up with good play then fair enough, but we have been giving goals away from the start of the season and it's unacceptable."
Keane had no complaints about the boos which greeted the final whistle: "I'm not daft, a lot of supporters voiced their opinions at the end but that is fair enough. They pay their money and they are entitled to that. But we will keep going.
"We knew it was a big day for the fans and I thought they were outstanding today. It's very easy to support your team when you are winning every week but the vast majority of the fans stayed right behind the team to the end and hopefully they will see that we have young players out there that need their backing.
"We are short of confidence and we need them to keep behind the team and they did that.”
Keane says the various tributes to Sir Bobby Robson were not a distraction for his players: "It didn't affect the team, what affected them was conceding the second goal so quickly after the first.
"It should have been something to enjoy, there was a good energy in the stadium but we keep giving teams a helping hand.
"You have to cope with set pieces, it's basic stuff. There are no magic wands and confidence comes with results. The longer this run goes on then the harder it will get.
"We have our pride and it has been massively dented. It is hard to take, but we have the chance to start to put it right against Sheffield United on Tuesday.
"But if we give goals away like we did today, we will get beat on Tuesday. There is no doubt about that."
Newcastle caretaker-boss Chris Hughton felt his side put in a display which was a worthy tribute to Sir Bobby Robson: "This group of lads were all at the memorial for Sir Bobby on Monday and that was an emotional occasion.
"The players were delighted to attend and we all tried to put on a performance for Sir Bobby. It was a special result and a special performance.
"It's a wonderful feeling to go in at half-time with the cushion we had and it doesn't happen very often.
"It's a massive boost to go top. The most important thing is that we are fighting at the right end of the table.
"There are a lot of teams around us who are not dropping many points so to go top is testament to this group of lads."