Rafa Benitez commented:
 

Henk Fraser said:

"The first half was mediocre. The work-rate wasn't ideal and we showed little commitment. 

"I'm actually glad that this game had two halves and you'll know that we'll not play against Willem II (next week in the league) as we did in the first half here."

On the return of old boy Ricky Van Wolfswinkel:

"His arrival was decisive for me. He was a very compelling presence and let others play better. Of the ten balls he received did it nine times something good with it. We wanted to see him today at work on this position. We knew in advance and I must say he showed his quality. "

Newcastle successfully completed their five game pre-season schedule on Saturday, overcoming Dutch opposition at St. James' Park to make it eleven games unbeaten for Rafa Benitez's side. 

However, it wasn't all plain sailing for United despite scoring three goals in twenty first half minutes, as Vitesse exposed some defensive jitters and scored twice from set-pieces following the interval.

Debuting their new second choice blue and orange strip at a sparsely-occupied SJP, United attacked the Leazes End and went ahead midway through the first half through Matt Ritchie - although his effort was going across the six yard box before being deflected into the net off Kelvin Leerdam.

That goal was a reward for a bright opening during which Ritchie saw a free kick saved and Ayoze Perez direct a header straight at 'keeper Eloy Room. A second arrived on 36 minutes, when Dwight Gayle started and ended a move to notch his second goal of pre-season. 

It all looked too easy when Jack Colback nodded in a third, but Arnhem threatened to make it into a contest when halving the arrears within six minutes of the second period. They then netted again just ten minutes later, after which United began to make the first of eight substitutions. 

That inevitably disrupted their flow and saw Arnhem enjoy a brief period of dominance when they could even have added an unlikely equaliser. The closing stages did produce a few half-chances for Newcastle to cement their victory, but Room's best save was to prevent another own goal and a couple of efforts from Aleksander Mitrovic were easily dealt with.  

United held on for the victory and Rafa will have been boosted by positive contributions from new arrivals Ritchie and Hayden, plus some astute contributions from Anita.

A slight injury meant that Chancel Mbemba wasn't involved as a precaution, while pre-season has now concluded without Siem De Jong kicking a ball. 

Cheick Tiote and Florian Thauvin were on the bench but not used - the expectation being that they'll follow Moussa Sissoko down Barrack Road in the coming days. The chances of the latter reprising Damien Duff's Hawthorns cameo in the 2009 opener at Craven Cottage don't look great.  

Those likely departures maintain an air of uncertainty as to quite what strength we'll possess once the window shuts, Janmaat's apparent return to the fold looking like a boost - assuming he's here by choice, having looked set for a hasty exit at the end of last season.     

Benitez still has work to do on his final formation and get his new-look defence to act in unison, but as he said recently, the XI for Fulham is already in his mind and likely to be close to the one that started here. That's not to say though that further arrivals are anticipated as the squad is boosted to a level deemed acceptable by the gaffer, rather than some suit.

More pre-seasons than we care to recall have made us oblivious to the ups and downs of friendlies and attempts to correlate their results with the real stuff are doomed to failure - even more so since the artificial obstacle of the transfer window appeared.

Regardless of the opposition though, the records show we won four games and drew one, scoring 17 goals with 13 different players on target. The four goals conceded came from or after set pieces. 

Looking back over the last Championship season in 2009, our verdict after six pre-season games was summed up as "unconvincing" and "uninspiring". 

At this point back then, optimism was in short supply and what anticipation there was for the Championship season was largely as a distraction from the ongoing off-field pantomime. Indeed, it took a Shola Ameobi hat trick against Reading in the second game to put an end to our self-pity and move forward to the task in hand. 

Seven years on, the mood is utterly different; the relegation issue instantly processed and filed. We also possess a manager who commands respect from his employers and opponents...and doesn't have a job title including the word "interim".

Expressing some concerns about the playing strength is understandable, but has to be put in the context of what we'll come up against. 

There was enough pace, poise and talent on show today to suggest we'll be a threat to every team in the division. It's now a question of adding more quality, options and goal threat to get this right first time. 

Biffa