Ian Horrocks/Getty ImagesShola Ameobi's red card was one of the many lowlights exhibited by Newcastle in their 2-0 FA Cup loss to Brighton.

Newcastle United have a very proud FA Cup history. They'd won six FA Cups before Liverpool, a club who love to remind everyone of the importance of history, had won any.

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Sadly, in recent years, participation in the 142-year-old competition has become something to dread for supporters of the club. This isn't because we see the cup as a distraction. Far from it. It's because the club obviously don't see any credibility in the tournament -- weakened teams are always fielded, and they have been eliminated by lower league opponents three times in three years. When they lost to Stevenage in 2011, it was OK "because the club were just back in the Premier League and needed to focus on league results". 2012 saw defeat at Brighton, but that was acceptable to some "because Newcastle were chasing European places so needed to focus on the league". Roll on 2013 and another defeat at Brighton. This time it's not that important "because Newcastle are in a league relegation scrap and need to concentrate on league games". Absolute nonsense. Alan Pardew took charge of each of those defeats and used each of those excuses.

Pardew also used the excuse of injuries in his post-match interview. I have a couple of points to make on that:

One: Pardew publicly complies with his chairman and managing directors policy of having 11 "purple" players and then the rest of a squad of development players. Many of the players he fielded today are development players who step in in the absence of first-teamers, and most of them are nowhere near good enough to play at a high level.

Two: As bad as the injury situation is, does that account for appalling tactics, team selections and a very worrying lack of heart?

Newcastle started this game playing a very deep 4-5-1, and at one point Brighton passed the ball about in their own half with Shola Ameobi being the most advanced Newcastle player only 35 yards from his own goal. Negative. Yet he went to Old Trafford and the Emirates and went all-out attack!

At no point in the game did the players put in any amount of effort (except for Vurnon Anita and Gael Bigirimana from the starters). They were apathetic, and instead of getting about the pitch trying to give their manager and supporters a good impression of themselves, they jogged about looking as if they'd rather be anywhere but on a football pitch. What does that have to do with injuries? They have no heart at all. There were seven changes from the XI who started against Everton, and they had little stomach for the fight in that game, either.

Do this lot actually work on anything in training? If they do, it certainly doesn't include defending, set pieces or attacking creativity. Newcastle are a defensive shambles. Game in, game out, opposition players find enough space inside the Newcastle 18-yard box to be able to take a touch or two of the ball before scoring. This is how Brighton took the lead today -- Gabriel Obertan lost an overlapping Wayne Bridge, and Bridge's cross from the byline was taken by a totally unmarked Andrea Orlandi, who swiveled and scored. Mike Williamson was yards off him. Their second came when Williamson opted to stand six yards ahead of Will Buckley as a through ball was threaded. It looked as if he might have been stepping out to play an offside -- if he was, he was the only one of the back four doing it. Then again, he was on the wrong side of Buckley for so long that I'm not even sure he knew where his man was.

It's not just Williamson, either. In recent games, we've seen James Perch and Fabricio Coloccini both guilty of equally pathetic defensive displays, not to mention the frighteningly rapid decline in form of Davide Santon. These defensive calamities also have little to do with injuries -- Williamson has started more games under Pardew than any Newcastle defender apart from Coloccini.

Pardew also referred to the dismissal of Ameobi as a factor in the defeat. Ameobi should never have been sent off, but, if anything, Newcastle were better when down to 10 men. Playing Shola as a lone front man is a mental tactic -- he has all the movement of the gigantic fridge freezer I have in the kitchen.

Every week I've tried to put a positive spin on my post-match write-ups, but today I can't find anything positive at all. Even though I was expecting defeat, I am still very downhearted by the display. Something is fundamentally wrong, and there is a lot more to it than injuries. No away win at all in eight months has nothing to do with injuries.

This is the most downhearted I've felt about Newcastle United since May 2009. The next 26 days will tell us exactly how serious Mike Ashley is about owning Newcastle United as anything other than a personal cash cow.

Twitter: @MarcSDuffy

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