As a contributor to World Cup blog Finals Fantasy over the summer, I covered the USA’s opening game as they went down 3-0 to what looked at the time like a very potent Czech Republic side.  The comprehensive demolition job was largely attributable to the performances of two players, one who sparkled and another who had an absolute nightmare.  Tomas Rosicky, his move to Arsenal already sealed, was outstanding throughout, scoring twice in the process.

The other was the man who gifted Rosicky the chance for his first and allowed him escape for his second – this after having already granted ungainly beanpole Jan Koller a completely unnecessary free header for the opening goal and been booked for a rash tackle within the first ten minutes.  http://iufgn06.blogspot.com/2006/06/usa-v-czech-republic-bbc1.html He was thus a very worthy recipient of the Titus Bramble Award For Being Built Like A Brick Shithouse And Looking Solid For Most Of The Game But Cocking Up Badly At Inopportune Moments. That man was Oguchi Onyewu, and now he’s lining up alongside Bramble in the heart of the Newcastle defence.

Of course, it would be premature to write Onyewu off on the strength of just one game, and he’s certainly had his fair share of suitors over the past year (Chelsea included, if the rumours are to be believed) – but even still it’s hard to see how our loan signing from Standard Liege quite fits the bill.  He’s a strong, raw talent – but we’ve already got plenty of those.  What was needed was a cool, calm and experienced defensive organiser capable of keeping their head when all around – Bramble, Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage in particular – are losing theirs.

Make no mistake: such a player is paramount.  Over the past month, the focus has once again fallen squarely upon our defence.  January saw both David Edgar and Paul Huntington open their accounts for the club, with memorable goals against Man Utd and Spurs respectively, but at the other end they haven’t been able to prevent us from shipping a shedload of goals: 14 in six matches.  Every team we’ve played has created countless chances against us, and only a combination of poor finishing, inspired goalkeeping and desperate last-ditch blocking lunges have kept the score down.  The dramatic wins over Spurs and Villa were nailbiting because of our defensive fragility; on another day, both could easily have thrashed us.

Just look at the Birmingham FA Cup debacle.  A few minutes from holding on for a place in the Fourth Round, we gifted 10-man Birmingham an equaliser and then were forced to watch in horror as Bruce’s charges blitzed us on home turf on a night when absolutely everything went wrong.  Without a recognised authority figure in the back four, there’s every chance we could witness a repeat before the season’s out, especially against superior Premiership strikeforces.

Onyewu’s shoulders may be broad, but the pressure on them is already enormous – and not only because our defence is currently so frail.  He was our only signing of the transfer window.  Hard to believe, but there you go.  Pav’s staying on until the end of the season, and we didn’t manage to offload Albert Luque, but Rossi’s jetted off to Parma via the briefest of return visits to Man Utd, a couple of youngsters have left – and yet there’s only been one solitary reinforcement.

Presumably Fat Fred and Glenn Roeder were reluctant to splash the cash and pay over the odds; in the January transfer window two years ago Graeme Souness brought in Jean-Alain Boumsong, Amady Faye and Celestine Babayaro at a teeth-gnashingly exorbitant cost of £11.5m.  Instead, they were probably reckoning on the injury situation clearing up – which, knowing our luck, remains something of a gamble; after his recent run of games, Kieron Dyer’s due a bout of knee- or hamstring-knack, for a start.

While we sat back and twiddled our thumbs, most of our Premiership rivals were busy.  Aston Villa invested in a new strikeforce and West Ham in a new defence (two of whom promptly got injured), while Watford and Sheffield Utd revived ‘Supermarket Sweep’, stocking up on players no-one had heard of.  Arguably the two most eye-catching signings were both top-class if ageing strikers signed on short-term loan deals.  Henrik Larsson could be just the predatory finisher Man Utd need to wrest the title back from Chelsea, especially if he stays beyond his initial three months, while Vincenzo Montella’s displays for Fulham suggest that he could be equally important in ensuring the Cottagers retain their top flight status.

It all goes to show that, with a bit of forward planning and a bit of guile, it is possible to make the most of the January transfer window.  Of course I hope Onyewu proves to have been every bit as astute a signing as Larsson and Montella, but I remain doubtful.  And as my fellow Newcastle fans well know, scepticism is essential to the preservation of sanity.

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