Newcastle 2-1 West Ham - 'The Index 6'

Newcastle produced arguably one of their best performances of the season as they swept away West Ham 2-1 at St James' in a game that was a lot closer than it should have been!

Here's the 6 things we learned...

What a debut!

Yesterday went a huge way to justifying exactly why we have paid big money for English midfielder Jonjo Shelvey. His eye for a pass is outstanding and he played a huge role in both of our goals. He also looked to be vocal throughout and he's exactly the kind of player we need in there alongside Colback. One drawback from today's game is that Shelvey may be subject of FA investigation for a shoulder/elbow challenge on Enner Valencia. Overall though, a good start to life on Tyneside for Jonjo Shelvey. 2 goals... Is that all?

From the first whistle, we were immediately on the front foot, looking dangerous and it paid off with two goals fairly early in the game. So the question you ask is how did we only manage to score 2? Once again, we were so wasteful and the game should have been beyond West Ham by half time, but instead in typical style of Newcastle United, we made it difficult for ourselves. Of course, it's great to get the 3 points, but we can't afford to miss those chances in weeks to come.

The curious case of Aleksandar Mitrovic!

When it was announced that we had signed Mitrovic, I was absolutely buzzing to see him banging the goals in at St. James' Park. I actually still believe that the goals will come, and had we signed another forward to play alongside Mitrovic, perhaps he wouldn't receive such heavy criticism. I actually believe as a player he is outstanding. His strength and ability to hold the ball up is key to how we play the game.

I still believe he can score goals week in, week out, but perhaps at this moment in time, the weight on his shoulders is too much to handle. On a day where Southampton signed Charlie Austin for a bargain £4million, it's very hard to see where there is a striker available who is a banker for scoring goals in the Premier League. Where's our natural winger?

For me, we have to do everything now in our power to make sure we have Andros Towsend signed and ready to play against Watford. As far as I am concerned, we are crying out for that natural winger on the left hand side where we have Ayoze Perez playing at the moment. I'm not for one second doubting the ability of the Spaniard, but he needs to be more central, as we saw from his incredible finish this afternoon. Townsend coming in will only give more pace and creativity to the team, for players like Mitrovic and Perez to be central to finish off. Consistent Colo

We saw yet another stand out performance from our captain Fabricio Collocini. He looked switched on, tactically aware and put in some great challenges to break up play today, following up great performances like that against Arsenal. I also noticed throughout how vocal Coloccini was today, which is also another change from the man who often appears quite shy and unable to command and show his qualities as a captain. I know I'm one of many fans who wanted Coloccini out the team at the beginning of the season, and perhaps still feel that we need to replace him, but if he can keep producing this form of recent then he could be able to inspire the team to survival. Super Sissoko

Usually when the going has got tough in recent years, there tends to be a missing warrant issued for Moussa Sissoko. However, over the last month or so, I believe that he has finally began to bring those consistent performances and really benefit the team. His power and pace can turn defence into attack in an instant, but he's another who should be bringing more goals to the team. It's also good to see we haven't heard much of Sissoko this month media wise, perhaps McClaren putting at end to that, and simply getting the best out of our number 7.