Can fresh faces close Hull City's corridor of uncertainty?
When relief greeted the final whistle at St James' Park, it felt like Hull City were ready for the next step in their evolution.
The most unexpected unbeaten Premier League run for some time is over after a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United, but all hope is certainly not.
In the first half, it appeared Newcastle coach Matthis Jaissle had sussed the formation that served the Tigers so well in four games.
All featured seven or eight of May's Championship play-off final winners in the XI – this one eight. It is remarkable considering Hull signed 18 players this summer – 16 new to the club.
Sorba Thomas and Lucas Herrington made first Premier League starts but Mohamed-Ali Cho, Ilyas Ansah, Christos Mouzakitis, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Jens Hjerto-Dahl and Robinio Vaz are awaiting theirs. Tim Iroegbunam, Joe Gelhardt, Matt Targett and Jack Butland have kicked off top-flight games for other teams.
When Newcastle were clinging on, Hull had seven summer signings on the field. With a three-week international break to help integrate some – though 13 players away with their countries make it less straight-forward – perhaps a couple more might be dripped in when Everton are in town on October 11.
Sergej Jakirovic is far too shrewd a coach too simply start again but the Premier League is a constant process of having your weaknesses laid bare in public – just ask Arsenal.
This was the second away game this season where a team had real joy in the first half attacking down their inside-left channel. Frank Lampard, who should know Hull better than any Premier League manager, did the same with Coventry City.
Newcastle scored twice via that route in the first seven minutes.
Lewis Hall played a lovely ball through the corridor of City uncertainty to Joe Willock, who needed two attempts, but found the net. Then Hall went down it himself to score, robbing Oli McBurnie in his own half, and getting the ball back after feeding Harvey Barnes' run.
Newcastle's 4-1-4-1 formation was giving Hull's 5-4-1 problems. Centre-backs, especially John Egan, were being drawn out to close down Willock and Yoane Wissa. Where Jack Rudoni had been creating overloads on Hull's right at Coventry, now it was mainly Willock.
"The distances between the lines were too big,” said Lewie Coyle.
If you were the sort of ordinary Joe pundit who does not bother with the Championship, you might fear the roof would come in.
Even with Hull's character, it came close to being terminal. When Newcastle were thrashed 4-1 at Elland Road five days earlier, Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring a third goal as the first half ticked into stoppage time clinched it.
So when Thomas grabbed Jacob Murphy's ankle as he fell to the floor in the area, your heart sank.
Was the contact enough to send the former Sheffield Wednesday loanee toppling? Probably not, but Thomas’ big risk backfired.
Konstantinos Tzolakis dived left to keep out Wissa's penalty.
At half-time in Coventry, Jakirovic replaced right-back Coyle and midfielder Hidemasa Morita with Cody Drameh and Lucas Gourna.
With Drameh now at Genoa and the man he was swapped for, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, injured, this time it was just midfielder Matt Crooks who made way.
Despite Hull having signed six central midfielders, Crooks has started all four league games he has been fit for, but only finished the first. He has three bookings.
"We tried to change something," explained Jakirovic. "Also Cooks had a yellow card. We know Cooks, how he plays, and always he can maybe get a second yellow."
Iroegbunam’s greater dynamism improved Hull and whilst the Newcastle threat did not stop, holes were no longer pulled so aggressively.
Cho's first contribution of note after coming on as a left winger was to pop up in the inside-right channel onto a reverse pass from Mohamed Belloumi and clip a shot in off the far post for his first Hull goal.
Late on, 5-4-1 became 4-2-4 and substitute Gelhardt had four sniffs at goal without finding it.
Jakirovic has been wise enough to buy as many of his new faces as possible time to settle and more importantly, the play-off winners have been good enough to allow it.
But former Evertonian Iroegbunam, Cho and if they can get him fit, Norton-Cuffy, look ready to kick off phase two of a season that has started far beyond expectations.
Newcastle United: Hornicek; Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Steur (Schar 66); Murphy, Willock (Bamba 87), Wissa, Barnes; Fernandez-Pardo (Toure 74).
Unused substitutes: Pope, Pivas, Thompson, Salia, M Miley, Mills.
Hull City: Tzolakis; Coyle, Ajayi, Egan (Vaz 78), Herrington, Giles; Crooks (Iroegbunam HT), Slater (Gourna 78); Belloumi (Gelhardt 83), McBurnie, Thomas (Cho 63).
Unused substitutes: Phillips, Hjerto-Dahl, McNair, Stroud.
Referee: T Harrington (Hartlepool).
GAME AT A GLANCE
Controversy: The penalty Sorba Thomas conceded was soft, but once Tony Harrington gave it, video assistant referee Peter Bankes was never likely to overturn the Premier League debutant’s call. The blame lay with Thomas for doing something so daft.
Star performers: Mohamed Belloumi was Hull’s best attacking player and although Konstantinos Tzolakis had a couple of unusually untidy moments late in the game, his penalty save and reassuring handling until then shone out once more.
Let-off: Maybe had Tzolakis not saved Yoane Wissa’s penalty we might have been asking why Sergej Jakiroivc waited until half-time to make any substitutions. The problems were obvious long before then.