WHEN Graeme Souness took over at St James' Park in September, Newcastle were a club in crisis.

They were shipping goals left, right and centre, had won just one of their first five league games, and were 12th in the table.

Today, Souness presides over a Newcastle side that are also shipping goals left, right and centre, and have won just one of their last eight Premiership outings. And, after their latest humiliation at Liverpool, they're now 13th.

Hardly the turn-around that United's board had predicted when they elbowed aside Sir Bobby Robson to bring in the former Scotland international.

Three months have now passed since Souness moved north promising to "take Newcastle back into the Champions League". Instead, he has taken them round in circles.

The old failings are as prevalent as ever but, perhaps more worryingly, some new ones have also appeared to plunge the club into even more trouble.

Newcastle have always conceded goals - even when they were finishing second in the Premiership, pundits were queuing up to berate their defensive shortcomings - but at least under Robson they looked capable of doing their own damage at the other end.

In the last month, United have looked as toothless in attack as they have been useless in defence.

Eight goals in the last eight league games is hardly a drought. But when you're leaking goals like a bucket with a hole in it, one a game is not going to win you many points.

Luck has played it's part, with Alan Shearer, Patrick Kluivert and Craig Bellamy all spending time on the sidelines. But with Shearer losing form and Kluivert losing interest, opposition defenders now fancy their chances of blunting Newcastle's previously much-vaunted attacking edge.

It doesn't help that one of the Magpies' most potent threats, winger Laurent Robert, has been exiled because Souness feels he does not try hard enough in training.

The transfer window hasn't even opened yet, but already Robert has been sent to Coventry, despite possessing more vision than Darren Ambrose, James Milner and Lee Bowyer put together.

With Kieron Dyer unable to stay fit for two weeks at a time, Newcastle's midfield has become worryingly one-dimensional - a point underlined by the ease with which both Everton and Portsmouth ground out dour 1-1 draws at St James' Park.

Much of this has been down to Souness, with the Scotsman prioritising solidity over style and energy over enterprise.

Defensive shortcomings have not been his fault but, with United's back four looking as shaky as ever, next month's January sales have assumed immense importance for both club and manager.

Two new centre-halves could shore up a backline that has already shipped 35 goals this term. But as Shay Given pointed out last weekend, it is unrealistic to expect them to transform the club's fortunes overnight.

It will take them a couple of months to bed in - perhaps more given Newcastle's record for turning previously reliable defenders into quivering wrecks - and, by that time, the race for Europe could have turned into an unseemly scramble for survival.

Curbing the off-field excesses of his errant stars was supposed to be Souness' biggest challenge when he arrived at St James'.

That is still an ongoing process - as Sunday's salacious headlines proved - but keeping his players on the straight and narrow pales into insignificance compared to keeping United in the Premiership.

It is easy to get carried away when things go awry, and a couple of wins could quickly take Newcastle back into the race for a top-six finish.

But Christmas defeats to Blackburn and Arsenal would leave the Magpies on the edge of a precipice, and once you're staring down it's difficult to edge away from danger.

Souness remains upbeat and insists things will change soon. Yet, after targeting the Champions League three months ago, it is sobering to think that his side are nearer the Championship with just half of the season to go.

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