Matthias Jaissle's first game at St James' Park didn't quite go to plan in terms of result, but it once again provided us a rather interesting insight as to what we can expect going forward.
It certainly wasn't all positive, I think we are all aware that we will be far from perfection for the foreseeable future, but I do think slowly but surely, we are beginning to see the first building blocks placed by our German gaffer.
Some neat pockets of play were broken up by spells where the rawness of tactical implementation was clear for all to see and ultimately, not having a senior bench (with the Strasbourg game to attend to tomorrow) was quite telling toward the latter stages.
Anyway, enough of that waffle – let's get into 5 things that we learnt from today's game, for better or for worse...
Closing down the edge of the box is a BIG problem
What better place to start than with what saw us come undone in the first minute of the game... yet another screamer from outside the box.
As was the case in Valencia, a peach of a strike saw the Magpies fighting an uphill battle from early in the game. Yet, whilst we can admire the strike all we want, the truth is it once again felt rather preventable.
The ball was played back to the edge of the box after a decently worked move by the visitors which had Newcastle's backline looking somewhat unsure. Lewis Hall was the man who went out to close down but got there half a second too late and the ball sailed past Hornicek.
This whole conceding goals from distance thing does feel like an urgent fix is needed, especially with the quality and sharpness of those Newcastle will face when the season kicks off.
Hopefully it'll be figured out sooner rather than later, but I do fear a Szoboszlai screamer on the opening day is almost inevitable if it can't be nipped in the bud.
The Steur & Miley double pivot could be generational
Right, now this was quite possibly the most exciting part of the game, for me at least.
Given the midfield shake-up that we've seen courtesy of the Tonali and Guimaraes sales (yes, they get second names from now on), there has been some rather pertinent question marks around who will be lining up in Jaissle's pivot for the majority of next season.
To this point that has mainly been Jacob Ramsey and new signing Aladji Bamba, who haven't been obviously bad, but also haven't set the world alight.
Which is why it was quite intriguing when the team was announced today and a new pairing was starting. That of course being Sean Steur, who has deservedly garnered a lot of praise for his preseason performances, and the returning Lewis Miley – we all know how good he can be.
Miley was ultimately replaced by Rory Finneran at half-time, with his minutes still being managed, but that first 45 minutes showed an exceptional amount of promise from the young midfield duo.
Both teenagers looked to always get on the ball, with Steur the orchestrator in forward play and Miley doing the simple things excellently well and being integral in the periods of prolonged possession.
The two seemed to have a natural understanding of each other's game, especially in terms of the rotations to create space and cover each other off the ball.
In fact, it was Miley's departure which caused Jaissle's men some problems in the second half, mainly due to the absence of his defensive maturity and understanding of the game.
Whilst I don't necessarily expect Steur and Miley to regularly start together in the upcoming season, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was yearning to see them develop a partnership as it seems it could flourish into something serious in the coming years.
Someone needs to sort out Anthony Elanga's end product and quickly
Perhaps in blind faith, I did come into this preseason with a rather substantial beacon of hope that Anthony Elanga would be like a new signing and turn his Newcastle United fortunes around.
But, as it would seem so far, that glimmer of form we were privy to at the World Cup with his two goals for Sweden have become nothing more than a mirage on Tyneside.
Not that he doesn't look dangerous because he does, the issue is that danger seems to completely dissipate when he gets within 10 yards of the opposition's box.
There were at least two occasions today where he did some good work down the right flank and fashioned a chance to cross, only to drill the ball harmlessly into the grasp of Mark Flekken in the Leverkusen net.
His touch appears to have got better (at least to some extent); he seems marginally more direct than he was last season - but his end product is still leaving a lot to be desired, and it doesn't exactly bode well for our right-side next season. Especially given Murphy is the other option...
Surely someone can teach him how to wrap his foot around the ball, for all our sakes.
Mason Miley might be the club's best right back, including Livramento
Okay, okay - that was an exaggeration.
But Miley Jr has looked very solid every time he has stepped foot on the pitch at right back in preseason.
Leo Shahar is probably the name many would have expected to step up in the absence of Livramento during this preseason, but the England youth international has largely been usurped in the eyes of fans by Miley's performances.
Perhaps the funniest part is, he is very much following in his brother's footsteps. A midfielder, forced to play right back because the club don't have any – the only difference is poor Mason has never even had the chance to play in midfield for the first team.
With Dedic's signing looking imminent, if Livramento does spend the first few weeks of the season injured, as mad as it sounds Mason Miley is probably second in line for a starting spot.
Jaissle still has a lot of work to do but must be backed
To be quite honest, this isn't exactly some groundbreaking realisation that reared its head in the Leverkusen game, but it feels a fitting way to round off the list.
I have a full belief that Jaissle will come good if we give him time to put everything in place. In fact, I'm so confident of that being that case that I don't think it's any sort of question about Jaissle's coaching and managing talent that will be his undoing.
Instead, it is what happens between now and the end of the transfer window. The squad is in desperate need of players, which shouldn't be a problem given the mass of funds raised through sales this summer.
The model of signing young, high potential players makes complete sense going forward, but we NEED at least one senior, proven player just to balance the books and provide a bit of experience to what is currently an exceptionally young changing room.
If there isn't at least two or three more incomings before September rolls around, I can't help but fear that Jaissle will be fighting an uphill battle throughout the campaign, no matter how much talent he may have.
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