One week on from an instantly forgettable draw at Aston Villa, the addition of another point - and the manner in which it was arrived at - had an altogether more significant feeling to it in terms of the immediate future of Newcastle United and Alan Pardew.

In a nutshell, United recovered from conceding early goals in each half to draw level before going ahead with what seemed to be immaculate timing - although the scoreline flattered them. Having worked themselves into a match winning position though, they fell victim to a lapse in concentration as Palace got their first point of the season in the added time their antics had caused.   

A team lacking strikers scores three times, but no strikers are on target. A clutch of acquisitions from across Europe are eclipsed by a teenager who was released by Bristol City. Oh aye, and a striker we signed on loan a month ago still hasn't been seen near the first team. Typical NUFC. 

Post-match comparisons were made with a 3-3 draw here with Wimbledon in August 1999, when the shambolic and error-strewn display Ruud Gullit's expensively-reassembled side served up was followed by a derby loss and the Dutchman's departure.   

To our mind however, a more obvious and recent comparison was a 1-2 home defeat by Reading in January 2013 when Mike Ashley was also present. Sneaking off with his side 1-0 up, the owner missed a late collapse that made it just one Premier League win in eight attempts, leaving fans openly questioning the club's direction and ambition - and the competence of their manager.

Instead of sacking Pardew though, the owner was persuaded to finance a spending spree that ultimately failed to improve on the club's sixteenth placing but was enough to safeguard top flight football for another season - the only result that really matters in a Sports Direct world. 

The point at which Ashley squeezed out of his seat on Saturday isn't clear, but whether he heard the result second-hand or witnessed it himself will have done little to improve his mood - certainly at 1-2 down, he and watching companion Lee Charnley wore the expressions of Easter Island statues.

The turnover of players in the close season and some  has excited some, although our stock response has been "different" to questions of whether the squad is now "better". Taking Remy, Cabaye, Debuchy and possibly Tiote out of a side means that the new boys have a hard act to follow - and even with that quartet in place, we were short-handed.

Confusion abounds on and off the field at this point in the season, with the new recruits showing some positive moments but the overall effect is one of a rudderless ship, lacking an appreciation of what they're trying to do and with an absence of the street-wiseness that used to be called nous. 

Be it a schoolboy-like tendency to follow the ball in the latter stages, an ongoing inability to beat an opponent rather than use him as a dance partner or fundamental issues like failing to attack crosses, then whatever pretty diagrams were displayed on flip charts pre-match were upside down - or in the case of Siem De Jong, drawn with invisible ink.

Don't think though that it's the new intake who are misfiring and causing the current problems - the blame must also be extended to players who had a significant hand in the downturn of our fortunes in the closing months of the season; Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran again failing to punch their weight, while Tim Krul continued to give cause for concern. And let's also bring in the mysteriously hamstrung Ivorian, who has lately absented himself for reasons yet to be divulged. 

We comforted ourselves after the season-opening defeat to Manchester City that the guts and application shown by the black and whites would soon be augmented by some greater cohesion, understanding and crucially, a cutting edge. 

Sadly that's not yet the case - and if a team of Palace's calibre can rip through us with ease, it barely bears thinking about what damage other more expensively-assembled outfits can inflict. 

And having failed to beat both Villa and Palace, just where will the next win come from? 

When told that his longed-for new striker was no longer in the budget, Pardew clung to hopes of Papiss Cisse being like a new signing when returning from injury. However, a look at our next set of league fixtures begs the question whether the man from Senegal will actually be available for selection before the axe falls:

Southampton away, lost 0-4 last season. Hull City home, lost 2-3 last season. Stoke City away, lost 0-1 last season. Swansea City away, lost 0-3 last season.

Anything resembling a repeat of that little lot will surely see the club use the October international break to jettison their manager, having saved a portion of the transfer pot for January. 

Criticism of Pardew was barely suppressed today, but memories of the abuse he received against Cardiff here in the home season-closer last May persist. To some the tactics jar, to others the constant stream of drivel from his mouth are reason enough to discard him - today's slack-jawed wisdom blaming fans for over-celebrating what they thought was the winner. We're so sorry, we don't know what came over us - it almost certainly won't happen again, given your inept tactics. 

(we also won't forget the recent hogwash about wanting to become a freeman of the city by winning a trophy, especially when increasing pressure caused by a lack of Premier League points results in our fielding a Gael Bigirimana select XI at Selhurst Park in a League Cup tie that both sides may well do their best to lose).

And of course, the favouring of compliant underachievers like Gabriel Obertan to the exclusion of crowd favourites like Hatem Ben Arfa is an ongoing bugbear. On that basis, the identity of Palace's second scorer was particularly noteworthy - Jason Puncheon playing today because his new manager was able to put a previous public spat with a player to one side for the good of the team. 

Contrast that to the failure of Pardew to manage the Ben Arfa situation (and Sylvain Marveaux before him) and on a wider level, have enough meaningful influence in the dressing room. 

We've written before our belief that blame in the HBA saga can be divided between the manager for an inability to control his asset, the player for failing to attain the required fitness since 2013 and most tellingly for the dressing room - led by the curly-haired "love of your life" - to reject him from the side. Point your finger at Alan, at Hatem, at Fabricio. Seriously. 

Pardew may have survived the Hull City incident in March, but any threat to the club's Premier League status will result in a response from the owner. Until this point that has been signings - albeit after other departures - but to have been granted his supporting cast this summer and then be denied the leading man looks like a vote of no confidence.

A club with a habit of discarding managers when the ink on the fixture list had barely dried may now be set for a return to that policy, after almost four years of Pardewism. Unlike 1999 though, there's no Bobby Robson waiting round the corner to add a veneer of respectability to proceedings. 

Biffa

This report is dedicated to Hebburn Mag 
and season ticket holder Neil Clark, who 
recently passed away. Colleagues and 
friends at Santander made this tribute: