A DEFIANT Graeme Souness last night insisted that he does not need to make wholesale changes to get Newcastle's stuttering season back on track.

Yesterday's 1-1 draw with Everton left the Magpies languishing in tenth place in the Premiership table, and means Souness' side have now won just one of their last five league games.

That run includes three successive home disappointments and, in a worrying echo of the 4-1 reverse to Fulham, Newcastle again passed up a hatful of chances to earn all three points.

Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Jenas both hit the woodwork after the former had given United a fifth-minute lead, but Lee Carsley's second-half free-kick maintained Everton's fine European push and left the home side eight points adrift of a Champions League place.

Goals are proving hard to come by in the Premiership. But with the Magpies having slammed four past Sochaux on Thursday, Souness is confident his side will be enjoying similar domestic success soon.

"I've been in the business for a long time and I know when we've played badly or when we're not creating chances," said the Newcastle boss, who has won just four of his ten league games since taking over at St James' Park.

"We're creating chances and, given the pedigree of the players that are out there, it's only a matter of time until they start putting them away. Common sense would tell you that.

"I thought we played very well, other than the ten minutes or so before half-time. We passed well, defended well and, on another day, we would have won three points.

"There were a lot of good things about our play, but we're going home with one point and that's frustrating.

"There's a saying - I think Gary Player first coined it - that the harder you work, the luckier you become.

"If that's the case, then you can see why Everton are sitting third in the table. They work extremely hard and they enjoyed the luck that was on offer.

"All credit for that but, on another day we will take our chances, make them change their system and win the game handsomely."

With Robbie Elliott and Ronny Johnsen both sidelined through injury, Souness was forced to hand a second senior start to 18-year-old defender Steven Taylor.

The replacement right-back struggled on his Premiership debut at Bolton this year. But on a day of few positives yesterday's impressive display suggested Newcastle might not be as short of defensive options as most had assumed.

"Steven Taylor was excellent," said Souness. "With the tempo of the game being different to what he is used to, you would think he was going to run out of steam.

"He played against Kevin Kilbane, who's a handful, and I think he dominated him throughout. He was a real plus and he's got a definite chance of staying in the team now."

Stand-in skipper Jermaine Jenas was another of Newcastle's star performers and, in the continued absence of Alan Shearer, the 21-year-old is showing a maturity that belies his tender years.

"I made Jermaine captain and he's a baby," said Souness. "I think that tells you what I think about him.

"There's two ways to be a captain - you either go round telling people what you think about them or you lead by example. Being so young, he's not going to go round shouting at people. So he does it by example.

"If you're a central midfield player for me, the largest part of your game has to be about getting the ball back for your team.

"We've got to have the ball to play football, and our two central midfield lads have as big a role as anyone in that process. Jermaine wins the ball for us and, when he's got it, he can play as well."

* Bellamy raised a few eyebrows when he admitted he expects to get ''a lot more goals'' playing alongside Patrick Kluivert than the Magpies' talisman Alan Shearer.

With Shearer sidelined for the third successive match due to a thigh strain Bellamy was again paired with the Dutch striker and he responded by scoring for the third successive match.

''Patrick does that little job (of dropping off) and I know I get a lot more goals playing alongside Patrick,'' Bellamy said.

However, the Wales international, laughing as he realised the significance of what he had said, quickly added: "Alan is a great player and I'm a very fortunate person."

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