Cometh the need cometh the new man, head and shoulders above the rest. Literally. Nick Woltemade stretched his 6ft 6in frame upwards and sideways to head home Newcastle's first winner of the season to bring three points and much relief.
The German was imported at a club record fee just for such occasions and though he disappeared long before full time his impact was considerable. I was sitting next to a Newcastle No 9 legend, the first time we had been together in the SJP Press box for over a year since Malcolm Macdonald first suffered mishap more accustomed to older age than football injury.
SuperMac's old shirt was not in residence with Yoane Wissa sadly hurt but we were witnessing United's new potential messiah leading the line and filling a hole previously rendered barren. Was MM impressed?
"Oh, I have no doubts about him," SuperMac told me. "He is essentially a ball player but he'll get in the box and we haven't had a player who does that in the last three matches. And his goal was a great header.
"I can see him forming a good understanding with Jacob Murphy who will feed him. I loved wingers like Murphy who create a centre-forward chances. I had Terry Hibbitt on one side and Stewart Barrowclough on the other - two different wide men but both effective. Murphy does for a striker what Harvey Barnes doesn't and that's provide assists."
Let us deal in truths. This wasn't a game for the connoisseur. More a match of relief and gratitude. Nor was Woltemade's a home debut of dripping drama like SuperMac's hat-trick against Liverpool in the early seventies, though similarly he was the match winner.
The headlines were written with that jerk of the neck muscles as the half-hour mark came up. You could see the pencils sharpening and the phrase book being thumbed . . . selfish, self centred Alexander Isak leaves after being on strike and dropping us right in it while a good guy arrives like a breath of fresh air, loves to be here, and scores the winner. The adulation and appreciation is unabated. Words go into overdrive. The world is a wonderful place in which to live again.
Yet when everyone calms down this was the appetiser from Nicolas. The real main course is still to come. That is not a criticism, rather a promise of what lies ahead. Yes the perfect start but perfection is altogether another thing which usually arrives with legendary status. Woltemade will get better and not score. Get better and score twice. He is a work in progress but we are thankful he came among us. Ta already!
Nevertheless with Wissa set to sit idle for a while United are still needing a guaranteed sustained cutting edge over an hour and a half. The top performers weren't in the 18-yard cage where in-fighting is effective and hugely necessary. They were outside - Sandro Tonali with a brain as sharp as a razor is a class apart, Murphy an assist king, and Dan Burn of the bear trap last-ditch tackle a spirit raiser.
If United are to occupy and vaguely worry Barcelona they will need more than they showed here. Luckily Anthony Gordon will be back for the ineffectual Barnes, Tonali will be there to produce the nous, and Woltemade will have had another few days of training with mates and getting used to tactics not to mention improving fitness levels (cramp) required for the way United play and his physicality for a he-man league.
Newcastle rise to nights under the lights when the likes of Barca swagger into town - think of PSG - but, my, they will have to or else.
What is pleasing is that defensively United are bolting the back door - three clean sheets from four matches is a sound return. BDB is the keeper of the keys. A true leader of men with a heart as big as his frame. If Fabian Schar provides the finesse Burn provides the muscle and bloody minded defiance.
Football is a team game and we require many heroes, lots of big hearts, quality in quantity. May this just be the start.