SHAY Given has warned Newcastle's fans not to expect Graeme Souness to wave a "magic wand" when the transfer window re-opens in two weeks time.

The Magpies are rapidly resembling a club in crisis after winning just one of their last seven league games and tumbling to a lowly 12th in the Premiership.

Thursday night's 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon ensured Souness' side entered the knock-out phase of the UEFA Cup as group winners, but the paucity of the performance still saw United's players booed from the field for the second home game in a row.

A succession of injuries have taken their toll and Souness' desperation to make additions to his squad was underlined by the hasty £7.5m bid for Jean-Alain Boumsong that Rangers rebuffed this week.

The United boss has always maintained that he inherited an unbalanced squad and the imminent arrival of two centre-halves is already being heralded as the answer to the club's current problems.

But with most leading defenders unavailable, and those who are willing to make a switch unlikely to settle overnight, Given has sounded a note of caution to those expecting a quick fix.

"Just because some new players come in, it doesn't mean there's going to be a magic wand that suddenly makes everything alright," said Given, who was the subject of some transfer speculation himself this week, with Arsenal and Manchester United both expected to sign a goalkeeper next month.

"We can't wait until January and just hope that everything turns out right then.

"We're not going to suddenly start beating teams up. As a group of players, we've got to stick together and do better - it's as simple as that.

"I think it was always inevitable that there was going to be a bit of a transitional period when Graeme took over, so it's unfair for anybody to have a go at the manager because it's not his team.

"I'm not having a go at Bobby Robson, but Graeme Souness will have his own ideas and his own thoughts.

"He won't want a team of all his own players, but he will want some new faces to come in. Hopefully, next month, we'll get a few players in. We need a few new players and hopefully that will happen.

"But it's not a case of muddling through until January - we'll go to Liverpool tomorrow and we'll be trying to win. You can't look any further into the future than that."

At the start of the season, most observers expected Newcastle and Liverpool to be battling it out for the fourth Champions League spot behind Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

The reality has been somewhat different, with the Magpies struggling in the bottom half of the table and Liverpool stranded six points adrift of the top four.

Both sides suffered embarrassing slip-ups against Portsmouth last week and, while Given admits that Newcastle are currently under-achieving, he does not feel tomorrow's opponents are faring much better.

"It's not the season that we all envisaged when it started," admitted the Republic of Ireland international.

"It's been disappointing - there's no hiding that - but there's still a long way to go and a lot of games to be played.

"People have said all along that it's between us and Liverpool for the Champions League.

"We've got a real uphill battle to get into that position now, but that's still what we've got to aim for.

"It's going to be tough but, if you look at us and Liverpool, there's not a big gap between the teams.

"Portsmouth scored really late against them and they lost the Merseyside derby as well. They'll be hurting and they've had an up and down season as well.

"I don't think their confidence will be particularly sky-high at the minute, so it's all to play for at Anfield."

It was all to play for on the same ground in May, as Newcastle travelled to Liverpool on the final day of last season needing a point to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Shola Ameobi's first-half strike earned a priceless 1-1 draw and, after United shook off a myriad of injury problems seven months ago, Given is hoping that history repeats itself tomorrow.

"Last season's game at Anfield was a big day for the club," he said. "We had to get a result and we got the point that brought us into the UEFA Cup.

"Aston Villa would have sneaked in had we not got that point, and we would all have been gutted to have missed out on Europe. We had our injury problems that day but overcame them - there's no reason why we can't do that again."

Qualifying for Europe enabled Given to make a record-breaking 45th European appearance on Thursday night and, despite this week's latest rumours, the highly-rated shot-stopper expects to be around to help Newcastle in another continental campaign next season.

"I was as surprised as anyone when I woke up to the news this week," he said.

* French teenager Charles N'Zogbia has been given the green light to play for Newcastle after the dispute over his signing was resolved.

Newcastle have been told they must pay training compensation - believed to be in the region of £60,000 - but that the player is now free to be registered.

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