Yokohama FM 2-0 Newcastle United - Well ... it was a game of football

Newcastle United rounded off their week in Japan with a 2-0 defeat to Yokohama F Marinos.

Yokohama FM are one place below Urawa Reds in the J League, but where Newcastle were able to despatch Urawa 4-1 on Wednesday, they made everything look difficult today and Yokohama took full advantage.

Goals either side of the half time break from Elmer and Amano were the difference, but in truth, Yokohama could have had a hatful with one late chance seeing one of their forwards heading over the bar from less than a yard out.

It's not all doom and gloom, it was only a friendly after all, but we've managed to pick out a couple of positives, but we'll deal with the negatives first.

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Ben Parkinson is not the answer. Unless the question is who isn't even good enough to be the next Shola?

Yes, yes, it was just a friendly and it means nothing, but if we were to give player ratings for friendlies, it would certainly be a low average.

Many fans will be wondering why we haven't sold Miguel Almiron yet, and the answer is very clear. Nobody will take him. If any interested parties were watching today we'd have to pay them to take him off our hands.

Newcastle has a lot of talented young players, but unfortunately, it's becoming apparent that Ben Parkinson is not one of them. Newcastle are screaming for another striker, and it would be the perfect time for Parkinson to step up and show Eddie Howe what he can do, and he's failed to do it every time he's been given the opportunity. You could make the argument that he's not a striker, and that's fair, but even as a wide forward, he offers very little.

Anyway, positives now.

It was a good run-out if nothing else

Jacob Murphy came on for the second half and was absolutely woeful for his first 15 minutes on the pitch, so if Eddie Howe was starting to think that he didn't need a new right winger because of Murphy's pre-season form, he can certainly forget about that now. So our right-winger search should continue.

Youngsters Trevan Sanusi and Alfie Harrison looked very bright. Sanusi in particular looks like a class act and we really hope he gets a few opportunities next season.

Plenty of players got minutes under their belts with just two weeks to go until the games actually matter.