SO, Laurent Robert doesn't help out his defence, does he? He doesn't replicate his efforts in attack when Newcastle United lose the ball, right?

Try telling Danny Mills that, after Robert scurried after the Leeds right-back for 50 yards before whipping the ball off his toes just as he shaped to cross.

Perhaps Robert, whose teammates turned on him after apparently failing to show the required level of endeavour at Liverpool last season, feels he has a point to prove.

If so, every lung-busting yard he ran in support of Olivier Bernard as the left-back tried to neutralise the dual threat of Mills and Alan Smith will have done that little bit more to silence his critics.

Sir Bobby Robson has to perform a difficult balancing act: he must ensure Robert does not abdicate his defensive responsibilities, while at the same time ensure the winger with magic in his boots doesn't lose his Gallic flair.

Robert, too, needs time to readjust to the unique demands of the Premiership, and certainly last night he struggled to reproduce the form that helped to propel Newcastle into the Champions League.

When last season he might have driven forward, tested and tempted a right-back who had been booked inside the first half-an-hour, he checked back.

Even though a couple of free-kicks sent panic coursing through the Leeds backline, not once did Robert get to the byline to deliver a cross.

Seven minutes had elapsed when he had his first sight of goal, but his right-foot drive was diverted to safety.

Four minutes later, he halted the galloping Mills, triggering a reaction that veered from the delighted to the shocked from the Newcastle fans.

As Newcastle became more and more dominant as they searched for an equaliser, so Robert had less and less to worry about save for trying to break down Leeds' impregnable defence.

He tired, no doubt about that, and one crossfield ball that was aimed at Alan Shearer but was easily cut out 20 yards from its intended target was down to weary limbs, plain and simple.

But Robert will be stronger for his 90 minutes, and if Robson can get him to harness his defensive obligations with his attacking talent then he can look forward to another exhilarating season on Tyneside.

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