"What I want you to do, is get me out of the sh*t...."

Steve Bruce said:

"We had a difficult first half and we knew Brighton base their game on possession, especially in their own half, and we didn’t really sort it out until half time.

[Friday might have been a better time to sort it out if Bruce knew how Brighton played....]

"We made a tactical change after 30 minutes that stemmed the tide a bit but it wasn’t until we got them in at half-time we got a grip on them.

"We were pressing them in areas we shouldn’t have been trying to get after them and until, we changed in second half, we made it a little bit too easy for them... and they played round us and through us too easily.

"The Achilles heel is that we have to take big chances when we get them.

“I'm not aware of any injuries. We’re in tomorrow and I’ll have a run down with the doctor. There’s one or two with a few knocks but, how serious, I don’t know.

"What I’ve learnt is that we can’t leave ourselves open and try and get after teams because people will play through us - that’s what I’ve learnt. There’s a certain way the whole group has played and I can understand why.”

Fabian Schar didn't pull his punches:

"We played a s*** game - what can I say? We were lucky to get a point. But we played a bad game, that's it. We move on to the next game, but we have to improve on this."

Graham Potter said: 

"I thought we played well and the performance was good. It’s a point away from home and a difficult place to come. We’re at the start of a process and need to keep moving forward.

"We’ve made a good start, but that’s all it is - a start. It’s the Premier League so you have to get results.

"We’ve performed well in all our games but it’s the toughest league in the world. Hopefully the results will come.

"We’re disappointed because we came away from home, created some good opportunities but didn’t score the goal, which is always the most difficult thing to do in football. But if we can maintain and improve the performance levels, then I think that final part comes.

“There’s sometimes a little bit of luck involved. The more you get into the final third, the more you can develop your final-third attacking play.

“We’ve been competitive in all of the games so far — we just need to take that next step.”

On Schar's clearance:

"It looked like it was in from where I was but apparently it was a few millimetres away. 

A maiden top-flight victory over Brighton continues to elude Newcastle; this stalemate a fifth unsuccessful attempt to beat the Seagulls in the Premier League.

Such was the poorness of United's play for 75 minutes though that they barely deserved the point they gained - and Albion will wonder just how they failed to win here for a second season in a row.

The visitors dominated possession from the off and had an effort deflected onto the home crossbar on 18 minutes, coming close to scoring three times in quick succession before the half hour mark.

A Magpies side with one change from that beaten a week ago at Liverpool (Emil Krafth making way for Javier Manquillo) remained in panic mode; jittery and displaying a complete lack of composure.

That was evident when Miguel Almiron burst into the box but hammered his shot straight at the goalkeeper on 21 minutes - a rare sight of goal for a United side, who gave the impression of never having met each other before today, never mind played together. 

That 50/50 balls weren't won was frustrating; that many weren't even contested was completely unacceptable. Pass and move is an alien concept; aimless forward punts the limit of our creativity.

The malaise began with a succession of under-hit clearances from Martin Dubravka and spread across the pitch; Albion making light of our attempts to pack midfield as they strode upfield - and perhaps even got too many players forward in their haste to score.  

We were certainly in no mood to exploit any gaps that appeared: supposedly over-regimented and unadventurous under their former manager, this motley crew today were just aimless and anarchic.

Booed off at the interval, the second period saw no changes in personnel and little discernible uplift in performance; Christian Atsu firing wide in the first seconds of play and Almiron ending his run with a tame finish that the goalkeeper easily gathered. 

With time ebbing away and Brighton lacking their earlier poise, Steve Bruce made a double switch and brought on Allan Saint-Maximin and Ki. That instantly saw us raise our game and rouse the crowd from their slumbers, but it was Albion's replacement Aaron Connolly who came close to opening the scoring - denied only by an acrobatic goal line clearance from Fabian Schar.

Newcastle played their get out of jail card on 82 minutes, Andy Carroll leave the bench to great acclaim for a first game in our colours since December 2010.

Sadly though that was to be the loudest cheer of the afternoon and there was no fairy tale finish despite six minutes of added time; one late cross from Saint-Maximin on the left seemingly destined for Carroll's head before a defender intervened.

The desire that had been so desperately missing for the majority of the game was evident in those closing stages, Saint-Maximin asking questions of the Brighton defence for the first time and Ki's mastery of the basics instantly making him more valuable than the listless Shelvey. It's fair to say that Matt Ritchie's reputation is sky-rocketing during his enforced absence.

The late fight shown though cannot obscure our earlier shortcomings - and the fact that we've scored just once in three home league games thus far. Without becoming a slave to statistics, it's worth repeating that we managed less than 29% possession today; less than a Watford side who conceded eight goals without reply at Manchester City earlier in the day....

Six games in and we as fans have no idea what our best XI is or what the formations and tactics should best be deployed. More worryingly, it appears that the players and coaches are similarly in the dark. The first half reshuffle from a back five to back four followed a bemused Isaac Hayden making his way to the touchline and telling Bruce - and the adjacent pressbox that "this isn't working".

If the training ground really is buzzing, as Sports Direct acolyte Kevin Nolan claimed recently, then pest control should be informed without delay. 

There were decent players on the field today and good ones still to come back in; but at this point in time, our team is a good deal less than the sum of its parts - and failing to get anything like value for money from their two record acquisitions.

Time is a luxury we just cannot afford however; Steve Bruce's assertion that we've had a decent start given the "big" teams faced ignoring the fact they've been completely unconvincing against allegedly lesser opponents so far this season.

Going back to statistics and after six games, we're better off in points terms than in three of our last four Premier League seasons, only one of which resulted in relegation. 

Unfortunately the evidence of people's eyes from their stand seat or pub stool tells a different story. There's an almost total lack of confidence on and off the pitch. A minority of fans may not want us to succeed, but increasing numbers don't believe we will - or no longer care either way.

Biffa