By akin
December 1 2005

Newcastle United's Most consistent performer Shay Given has pointed the finger at his team mates, branding their performance against Wigan reserves as the "worst he can remember". He also gave a special mention to the fans, who he didnt think deserved to sit through that performance.
"The fans deserve a special mention.

"They were fantastic. The amount of people that came down to support us was unbelievable, but we let them down and we didn't give them anything to shout about.

"We just weren't at the races all over the pitch. They were creating chances, and they were all over us.

"I thought in the first half we were terrible. It was as bad as it has been for as long as I can remember.

"We tried to address it at half time, and it probably got a bit better but it still wasn't anywhere near good enough.

"It's just a huge disappointment to go out of the cup, expecially when you look at the teams that are left in the competition."

Wigan boss Paul Jewell made no fewer than nine changes for the cup tie, but Given dismissed claims that Newcastle underestimated their opponents.

"We weren't bothered about what team Wigan put out, we were more concerned about the way we played as a team," he added.

"Obviously they made changes, but the players that came in for them were always going to want to prove a point to their manager that they should be playing more games.

"It wasn't a case of us underestimating them or anything like that.

"If you perform like we did, it doesn't matter who you play. Look at Doncaster beating Aston Villa the previous night.

"If you don't get your game right, then you will always end up disappointed no matter who you are playing against.

"If you aren't at the races then you are going to get punished, it's as simple as that."

Given had a good view of the incident that led to the late penalty, with Robbie Elliott adjudged to have backed into Jason Roberts.

But while he didn't feel as though the incident warranted a spot kick, Given wasn't in the mood to look for excuses for the defeat.

"I didn't think it was a penalty to be honest.

"The lad was backing into Robbie, and the referee was quick to give it.

"The referee made his decision, and there's nothing we can do about it.

"But that doesn't alter the fact we were poor, I think it just summed up our night to be honest.

"We're just not playing well enough at the moment.

"I don't know if it's a confidence problem or not.

"I can only speak for myself and not the rest of the lads, but my confidence is fine.

"It's just a huge disappointment that we're not picking up the results, and all we can do is hope that it changes for us sooner rather than later."