The sun shone, Shearer scored, Strachan squirmed, Robson ruled. Easy, end of story.

Regardless of whatever else went on, three points were secured for the first time this season and the good old law-abiding folk of Tyneside went away duly relieved.
                       
But once the applause had died down, the Pink had been digested and The Premiership watched with something approaching pleasure for once, the fact remains that this isn't a happy ship with several mutinous elements below decks.

While that which cannot be discussed (but which threatens to overshadow everything and everyone on Barrack Road) hangs over the club in the near distance, other inextricably linked problems remain just below the surface, ready to hole us below the waterline.

While Skysports may wrap themselves in the comfort blanket of the Kluivert tale - which threatens to be this season's Kleberson/Ronaldinho/Emerton fable - those already on the books present as much of a management challenge to Sir Bobby.

At the time of writing, two more names have been added to the increasing list of those players currently less than enchanted with life at United.

If the tales from the club are to be believed, then one player refused to play in a certain position on Saturday and was promptly dropped, while another refused to take his seat on the bench as a sub. And they were the ones that hadn't previously been given the cold shoulder.....

Neatly switching things around though in a Devil's Advocate type scenario, while we can decant knowledge gleaned from what must be called sources close to the club, the question must also be asked as to who is feeding the media with information from the dressing room?

While football thrives on insider chat and the whole industry is founded on confidences, the motives of the mole must be questioned while speculating as to whom is blabbing and who they are trying to push towards the exits.

So what has all this got to do with that stress-busting 1-0 win?
                      
Merely that the heat in toon had been turned up and the pressure was increasing by the hour. Under those circumstances, Southampton were the perfect guests: undemanding, seeming unwilling to spoil the mood and aside from some shakiness on their feet, incapable of diverting the attention of the crowd from their pro-toon proclamations. Even Sewpa Kev failed to provoke the fans into anything more than hand gestures and pantomime hisses.

This game was always going to be about the win, more than the score or performance and so it proved.

It's a sign of the times that the player we labelled as the bogeyman only weeks ago now seems to be among the more professional members of the squad. For Lee Bowyer this was another change of position and a display of a superior quality and tenacity to anything we've seen before in a black and white shirt from him.

I was tempted to write something about him  showing conviction, but that's just cheap and unnecessary....
       
Elsewhere there came solid if unspectacular effort from most, with Strachan's comment about the scorer being the difference between the sides being as astute as it was when he said it last season.

Further goals could have followed, most obviously if Bellamy had been capable of crossing the damn ball without hitting the first defender time after time. But if there was one thing that stood out to these eyes, it was that Robert's enforced absence removed a layer of craft from the contest.
        
There are more questions than answers at present, with every man, woman and child in Britain seemingly having their own opinions and exclusive angle on current events. At one stage last week it did seem as if the mob ruled, with some people almost disappointed that Robson wasn't walking.

Thank goodness then that enough sensible people were in attendance on Saturday to give him what amounted to a vocal vote of confidence. As he himself commented though, the roof would have fallen in had we not won, with a fortnight's worth of papers, websites, radio and telly outlets to be filled before the next game. Who knows what conspiracy theories would have come to the fore in those circumstances?

The fact remains that this is a pretty unique club with a pretty unique bloke picking the team and an absolute one-off banging in the goals. Replacing both is a daunting task and the biggest headache for Freddy Shepherd, even more so than the errant spoilt children currently testing the patience of the grown-ups....

Problems remain though, not least of which are the increasing number of disaffected players who just quietly fancy a change of leader, given their isolation from the first team reckoning.

The talk may be of which presents we'll find under our festive tree, but at least as important to our future will be finding out who is off the Christmas card list. Quite frankly, there's little point in bringing in new talent if it's going to be tainted by those in situ. Ditto the home-grown prospects.

Sir Bobby remains King of this Castle, but the decisions he makes in the coming weeks will determine whether he remains in command here. Only he knows whether he's got the stomach for the fight - we're almost back on the steps with Keegan again after Cole's sale.

At times recently it's seemed that the only thing United about this lot has been that word written on the club badge. While most welcome, it'll take more than three points to improve matters beneath the spin and gloss.

Biffa

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