The only positive things to say is that both goals were scored against the run of play and that we had a fair share of possession and chances and that we kept a clean sheet for 32 minutes of the first half (OK, that is in minutes but hardly realty) and all of the second half, if you like anorak style stats.

On the negative side one has to repeat that great possession stats mean nothing if you don't do something with ball and get an end result.

Before our return to the top flight, we thought we'd leak more goals than we'd like but were convinced we'd score more than our opposition in many games. Until the games unfolded, most of us were aghast at just how awful our defence was, still, with Mitro and Ryan we'd overcome this while it got sorted out surely?

Nope, nothing has changed so now we know that the coming months are going to be really difficult, the only consolation is that other teams are nearly as bad so our immediate target is to cling on and overhaul the other strugglers.

As fo the next challenge, we play Newcastle away, St James's Park has been a comparative happy hunting ground of late, we've never needed it to contnue as much as the next game!

Note how I write nothing of the game, our team's performance or that of individuals but it was all there under a microscope on Saturday

I'm not sure how much some of those players are worth on the open market right now. One is tempted to speculate that were we to cash in this January, we'd lose millions on those that so far haven't reached the standards they are capable of, no names, no pack drill!