TWELVE days ago, Michael Owen discovered that nobody does anticipation quite like Newcastle. Fifteen thousand expectant fans flocked to St James' Park in a mass outpouring of hope and desire.

On Saturday, the Magpies' supposed saviour discovered that, as well as anticipation, Newcastle also do a decent line in anti-climax. Fifty thousand fans traipsed out of the ground bemoaning the fact that precious little had changed. Perhaps they should have expected no better.

"We were set up to fall flat on our faces," claimed a rueful Graeme Souness. "It was always a worry that we would get caught up in the day. Everyone's eyes were on us and we were set up to have a bad time."

They did not disapppoint. Innumerable false dawns have broken over the Tyneside skyline in the last 36 years and, with Saturday's 1-1 draw following a well-worn script of under-achievement, it remains difficult to envisage Owen's arrival heralding an end to the club's much-bemoaned trophy drought.

One man cannot solve the myriad of problems that have left Newcastle just one place from the foot of the Premiership table, unless that man is Souness.

The Magpies manager has spent more than £48m since replacing Sir Bobby Robson last September, yet his side continues to display the same age-old failings.

Against a Fulham line-up who had lost their two previous away games, Newcastle's disaster-prone defence surpassed even their own slipshod standards to present the visitors with the easiest of openers, before the Magpies' malfunctioning midfield ensured Owen would be forced to forage for scraps.

On Thursday morning, it was difficult to envisage the England international playing in front of a more disjointed and disorganised midfield than he encountered in Belfast. Yet, with Stephen Carr toiling in an unorthodox right-wing role and Amdy Faye blundering from one misplaced pass to the next, Newcastle somehow managed just that.

"At the moment, we seem to be taking one step forward and then one step back - or even two back," admitted Souness, despite Charles N'Zogbia's 79th-minute equaliser at least breaking a Premiership scoring duck that had exceeded the eight-hour mark.

He was referring to the hamstring injury that will keep another big-money summer signing, Albert Luque, on the sidelines for at least the next month. He could quite easily have been talking about his rebuilding work in general. Finally get the attack sorted, and the rest of the team collapses into an unseemly mess.

After an abject first half in which Newcastle were fortunate to find themselves only one goal down, Owen could have been forgiven for desperately scouring his contract for the get-out clauses Freddy Shepherd claims were never inserted.

With Scott Parker sitting in front of the back four, Faye found himself cast in the unlikely role of playmaker behind Owen and Alan Shearer.

Twelve months ago, the former was benefiting from having Zinedine Zidane in the same position. In effect, he has swapped French flair for African awkwardness.

Faye's lack of attacking ability was exacerbated by Carr's inevitably defensive outlook on the right, allowing the imposing Papa Bouba Diop and the impish Luis Boa Morte to seize control of the central area.

With the mood in the stands quickly turning from happy to hostile, the Magpies found themselves firmly on the back foot until the second-half introduction of Lee Bowyer finally introduced an element of urgency and zest to their play.

"The idea in the first half was for neither Parker nor Faye to get in front of the ball because we were mugged last year by Fulham," explained Souness.

"We lost 4-1 here and we knew they would have players in the team who could create chances. The idea was for Scott and Amdy to sit there and see how the game panned out."

Hardly the most adventurous of policies to accompany the unveiling of one of the leading strikers in the country, and which unravelled entirely once the now customary defensive mishap arrived in the 13th minute.

Steven Taylor, exuding an air of misplaced authority, rolled a casual backpass that was intended for Shay Given, but merely found the loitering Tomasz Radzinski.

The Fulham striker, with his back to goal, was forced to lay off the ball to Boa Morte, who duly rolled it across the face of the six-yard box. Jean-Alain Boumsong fell flat on his face - not for the first time this season - and Brian McBride casually converted into a gaping net.

"Taylor is not a right-back and Titus (Bramble) has not played a game for a long time," said Souness. "He's had a week with us, but I had to throw him in. There are two obvious reasons for us looking a little bit shaky."

Even more obvious, is the fact that Newcastle's defenders continue to make elementary mistakes that would be inexcusable at a far lower level.

Things might have been worse had Shay Given's improvised kick not kept out Diop's swerving strike towards the end of the first half and the goalkeeper's smothering save not thwarted the onrushing Radzinski shortly after the interval.

The introduction of Bowyer and Charles N'Zogbia finally added some purpose to Newcastle's midfield work, but the home side had not looked like scoring until Carr's rasping drive crashed against the underside of the crossbar in the 75th minute.

N'Zogbia enjoyed more success four minutes later - curling a precise free-kick into the top left-hand corner - but the home side endured a fraught finale after Scott Parker was sent off seven minutes from time.

The former Chelsea midfielder made minimal contact with the surging Claus Jensen but, as the final defender, a second booking was just about justified.

Jensen dusted himself down before curling the resultant free-kick against the crossbar - it remains to be seen whether Newcastle can pick themselves up quite so quickly.

Owen will doubtless improve once his fitness levels return to their peak standard. If the evidence of this disjointed display is anything to go by, Newcastle might not.

Result: Newcastle United 1, Fulham 1.

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