WHO'D have thought when Geremi put paid to Newcastle United's title hopes last March that the then Middlesbrough midfielder's goal had sent the Magpies spinning into a seven-month maelstrom?

That 1-0 defeat at the Riverside, which came just a week before Newcastle fought toe-to-toe with Internazionale in the San Siro, did not just scupper Sir Bobby Robson's dreams of lifting the Premiership trophy in spring.

It triggered an alarming slump that has brought the club to its knees and ended this season's championship challenge before autumn began.

And, crucially, the dip fatally undermined Newcastle's Champions League chances - and cost them at least £12m at the same time.

The most worrying thing for Sir Bobby Robson is that there is no easy excuse for his team's problems.

The Newcastle manager has hardly been hampered by a lengthy injury list (Craig Bellamy and Jonathan Woodgate are the only senior players to have been sidelined for any length of time).

Perhaps the run is proof that Robson erred in restricting his summer recruitment to the signing of free agent Lee Bowyer.

Then again, Newcastle's wretched record dates back to the final two months of last season - even Bowyer's vast army of critics cannot blame him for that!

So maybe, just maybe, it boils down to one factor: that Newcastle have been found out.

Their defence has always been vulnerable, but only Arsenal and United were their superiors when it came to attacking football.

Now, though, Newcastle are regularly finding the word "nil" next to their name in the round-up of full-time scores.

How often in recent years have the Magpies failed to score in three successive home games, as they did against Partizan Belgrade, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers?

They moan that teams are coming to St James' Park intent on securing a goalless draw but Newcastle ought to be good enough to overcome such gameplans.

Again, Middlesbrough showed the way last March when their miserly defence restricted Newcastle to barely a menaningful shot. In fact, Bellamy's main contribution that evening was to earn himself a one-match ban for a confrontation with referee Andy D'Urso after the final whistle.

What better place than the Riverside, then, for Newcastle to bring this terrible sequence to a close?

And after morale-boosting wins over NAC Breda and Southampton, maybe they are finally on the right track again.

Nevertheless, the long-term implications of the last seven months cannot be righted by a couple of victories.