Moussa Sissoko grabbed a late winner against Real Sociedad as only one of Newcastle's eight  warm-up games on home turf ended in victory at on a slight soggy Sunday afternoon.

With both Siem De Jong and Cheick Tiote due to fitness concerns, Alan Padrew selected ten of the starting XI that had drawn 2-2 at Huddersfield in midweek, Vurnon Anita returning to the midfield at the expense of striker Facundo Ferreyra.

A low-key first half was played in constant drizzle and saw neither goalkeeper seriously tested, one injury scare seeing Yoan Gouffran forced off after 13 minutes following a tackle outside the Sociedad box. However he soon returned after treatment at pitchside for a knee ailment.

Playing only his second game for the club, the impressive Daryl Janmaat made a fine intervention on 26 minutes before setting up Emmanuel Riviere in front of goal, only for the French forward to narrowly fail to connect with the ball in front of the Leazes End goal.

Looking for force a breakthrough, Remy Cabella popped up across the front line, switching flanks with Sissoko and also joining Emmanuel Riviere up front. However both he and Massadio Haidara failed to make the most of various opportunities they created to get accurate crosses into the box.

Rolando Aarons was introduced for the second half and did his best to try and force a goal, but once again it was the introduction of Gabriel Obertan down the right flank that was to prove pivotal to breaking the deadlock.

In a game of very few goalscoring opportunities, visiting goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli made an excellent save just before the hour mark, denying Mike Williamson after he met a Cabella corner with a firm header at the Gallowgate End.

With Tim Krul a virtual spectator as the rain began to fall more heavily, his colleagues belatedly fashioned a goal in the closing moments, Moussa Sissoko's finish ensuring that we'd found the net in all of eight of our warm-up fixtures - 14 goals coming from no less than different scorers.  

Sociedad finished four league places higher last season than a Malaga side who tore us to shreds in Germany a week earlier, but arrived on Tyneside having sold their top scorer Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid and lost new signing Alfred Finnbogason to injury against Aberdeen on Thursday.

Add in a friendly at Chelsea on Tuesday and the first leg of a Europa League tie against Russian opposition before their domestic season kicks off on August 24th, and it's fair to say this was Real's least vital August fixture. Guts weren't busted although there were some meaty challenges.

But this is about us not them, so what have we learned since July 15th?

A week before the real stuff recommences, it still remains to be seen whether hostilities resume between the manager and sections of the crowd. Has the player turnover of the last three months has been enough to calm people - or have the malcontents withdrawn their support and cash?

Certainly the sparse attendance here today and diminished attention span of some (who spent most of the 90 minutes idly wandering to and fro for no good reason) meant that no conclusions could be drawn by the fact Alan Pardew occupied his technical area without any howls of derision.

Pre-season is about working on styles, systems and players, with the chance for reputations to be enhanced - or in some cases, negative memories to be exorcised. Experience has shown that the actual results are meaningless and conclusions can only start to be truly arrived at once league games have got underway and the window has closed. Until then you don't know what you've got - and whether different is also better.

The reshaping of the squad means that this particular phoney war has been more engrossing than usual. Putting aside the valid concerns of only reinvesting the Cabaye and Debuchy fees and failing to touch the TV cash, the endless lists of targets provided by Alan Carr's dad have been acted upon this summer and our personnel has changed to a greater extent than most cynics thought possible.

(it's a moot point whether there's any moral obligation to blow that goggle box dosh on buying players that add entertainment to a team and therefore make the "BPL" product more saleable).

The traditionalist in us shuddered at appearance after appearance for the austerity horse blanket of a change kit in place of the black and white stripes. Never mind whatever arse first campaign Puma have cooked up, we should have been walking out in Gelsenkirchen etc. in the kit we are known for - we we actually interested in brand building. 109,000 saw Manchester United play Real Madrid in Michigan - red shirts versus white shirts, iconic and synonymous - even with stupid adverts.

Barely concealing our delight at not having to witness Shola being flogged across foreign fields as was the case in previous seasons, the early boost that came from seeing De Jong achieve more in the warm-up at Oldham than his brother managed in a dozen appearances for us last season was short-lived, as the former Ajax player no sooner got bedded in than was limping out. 

The extended leave granted to messrs Debuchy, Cabella, Sissoko, Tiote, Krul and Janmaat meant that our usual issue of not being able to field an XI that remotely resembled one that would be selected in anger was still a factor. Given the number of new faces though, that did allow for the majority of players to get some decent pitch time in and a few to salvage their reputations.

Chief amongst those was Gabriel Obertan, who may well be playing to catch the eye of someone prepared to keep him in the style to which he's become accustomed, but showed both fitness and finesse out on the right. If only he wasn't such a gutless blighter when the real thing is in play. 

Not mentioning Hatem Ben Arfa here will doubtless result in people assuming we're either with or against him depending on their own view. As succinctly as possible: he has been handled poorly by the manager with his "one size fits all" approach, but lacked the personal professionalism a sportsman needs to get himself fit last season  - that's unrelated to a management dispute, if he'd worked as hard on his fitness as Ryan Taylor then this problem wouldn't have festered and grown. 

The damage was done in July 2013 when he sat by a Portuguese pre-season pitchside in his flip flops and by the following January waddled off the bench at Carrow Road. The sale of Cabaye highlighted that fact and doubtless prompted the question from on high, just why are we still paying this bloke?

The issues with integrating Ben Arfa in the first team came as much from the dressing room as the manager's office though. No change of captain means that situation remains unaltered, while the comments of Hatem's agent about him out-lasting Pardew at SJP suggest that any successor would reinstate his client in the team. That's a long way from a given.

It's also worth restating that Ben Arfa is sufficiently known by reputation to deter many suitors and result in phantom transfer stories appearing. If he really was the full package then he wouldn't have ended up at SJP in 2010. And recalling how that initial move came about, the player downed tools at Marseille and sought sanctuary at a willing Newcastle. Fast forward four years though and there looks to be a lack of clubs offering a similar escape route. 

The lag between the Debuchy/Janmaat changeover meant that Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa ended up playing more than anyone else, despite strong claims that he was set for a return to France. Whether Mapou has improved his reputation or the budget didn't extend to replacing him is unclear, but initial reports that Jamaal Lascelles was to join our squad this season may give a strong clue.