If football had a script, and indeed, there are moments of magic in this wonderful game that sometimes suggest it does, then Newcastle United are not adhering to it.

The 2011/2012 Premier League campaign was supposed to be a season of struggle for the Magpies, predicted pundits. The upheaval would continue behind the scenes, new players would not gel quick enough to prevent United from stagnating in mid-table, and Alan Pardew would surely be sacked and replaced by some bizzaro world name from yesteryear. Paging Joe Kinnear.

But wait. While Mike Ashley's chubby fingers have well and truly found their way into the St. James' Park pie once again, Demba Ba is third in the goalscoring charts. Not bad for a free transfer. Gabriel Obertan is finding his feet on the right side of Newcastle's midfield. Yohan Cabaye is proving himself to be one of the most integral parts of United's side in recent seasons. And Alan Pardew has been linked with the England job.

While United's detractors find new ways of eating their words on a weekly basis, save perhaps for Mark Lawrenson who must surely have money on the Magpies being relegated if his predictions on the BBC Sport website are anything to go by, Newcastle have found themselves at the halfway point of their season having done a very good impression of a side hungry to establish themselves in the upper echelons of the Premier League once again.

Smells like team spirit

In fact, it wasn't until November that Pardew's men actually lost a league game, going down 3-1 to multi-millionaires, and current title chase leaders, Manchester City. No-one saw that coming, least of all Newcastle's fans, who have taken great delight so far this season in rubbing their success in the noses of those who assumed they would fade into mid-table obscurity. And who can blame them? After the recent, multiple and farcical issues that have plagued Tyneside in the past few seasons, it is tough to begrudge this side some semblance of success.

But what's behind United's fantastic first half of the season? Cynics will point to what quickly became a haggard phrase as the Magpies swept teams aside - "they haven't played anyone yet". Well, save for Liverpool, United have actually played everyone in the division, losing just four times in the process. And they've looked a close-knit unit in doing so. Gone is the supposed over-reliance on any one player - though Ba's goals have obviously stood out - and in its' place is the kind of spirit where every player is a moving part in the SJP machine.

Newcastle's players work as hard as possible for each other. They want to play football and they want to play it well. For the first three months of the season, Alan Pardew didn't change his back five, which led to the kind of cognitive defending that fans on Tyneside could only dream of in recent years. Ryan Taylor made the left back spot his own, despite the arrival of Davide Santon from Inter Milan and the fact that Taylor is, by trade, a right sided midfielder. Cabaye and Cheick Tiote quickly established a key partnership in the centre of midfield that was heralded by many onlookers. United's team understand each other. This has not been the case in recent years.

Create to accumulate

Goals, said many critics, would also be hard to come by for Newcastle this season. While they have not scored on the level of the two Manchester clubs, who have 100 between them already this season, the Toon have blown that prediction out of the water quite comfortably.

Demba Ba has been a revelation up top at St. James' Park. Though he started slowly, something attributed to the Senegalese striker's fasting  and subsequent loss of strength during Ramadan, the former West Ham man now has 13 Premier League goals. Only Robin Van Persie has more goals in the calendar year of 2011. And only the Dutchman and Sergio Aguero have scored more in the first half of this campaign. Ba has the strength, pace, vision and finishing prowess to make himself a constant threat in and around the opposition's penalty box and beyond.

2010/2011 was the season, or at least, the six months, of the Joey Barton/Andy Carroll link up. Time and time again these two would combine for a goal for the now-Liverpool striker. This season, assists have come from all over the pitch. Leon Best, Tiote, Obertan, Gutierrez, Cabaye and even Ba himself have chipped in to help United to some big results already this season. Though Obertan has come under fire from some quarters of Newcastle fans, unnecessarily so, he continues to keep his head down and work hard for the side, and has turned in some exciting performances.

Gutierrez has not been as influential going forward as some would've hoped, but has made key contributions defensively in helping out Taylor at left back, doubling up on big-name wingers when necessary. The return from injury of Hatem Ben Arfa should also see United create a lot more chances in the coming months, and with the Frenchman expected to deploy his technical skills in behind a lone striker, there could be more goals too.

Give youth a chance

This season has also seen somewhat of an emergence of younger players at St. James' Park. Tim Krul, of who there'll be more spoken of in a moment, is perhaps the key name, but overall the squad has a fresher, hungrier feel to it.

Sammy Ameobi has earned his spot in the first team set-up after some stellar performances in pre-season(who'll ever forget the pitch invasion at Darlington) and some impressive cameos in the League Cup( that wonder goal against Scunthorpe), and Shola's kid brother has taken his opportunity well, proving to be an unpredictable entity when brought on to run at defences from out on either flank.

Haris Vuckic is another name that has been on the lips of Magpies' supporters as of late. The Slovakian had been tipped to break through into the senior set-up for the past 18 months or so, but injuries have conspired against the youngster so far. That changed recently with injuries and suspensions affecting United's midfield, and Vuckic was handed his first Premier League start at home to West Brom alongside Tiote. Though United lost the game 3-2, Vuckic was impressive with his creativity and running from the centre, and the former NK Domzale man even found time to see one 30 yard blockbuster crash off the bar and have another excellently saved by Ben Foster.

Vuckic is an exciting option for the future of United's midfield, as are the likes of Dan Gosling and Mehdi Abeid who have also stepped into the breach when required so far this season. Gosling is another player who has had his share of bad luck with injuries since joining Newcastle from Everton back in the summer of 2010, but stepped in to cover for the injured Tiote against the likes of Norwich and Manchester City, bagging a late consolation goal against the Citizens. Abeid may have to take note of Gosling's patience before he establishes himself in the first team squad under Alan Pardew. Shane Ferguson is also returning to the manager's thoughts after injury.

Krul the world

So goals don't seem to be a problem for United so far this season, but as any football fan will tell you, it's no use attacking if you can't defend a lead. This has been an area the Magpies have been poor in for many, many years but wait! Drop everything now! This is the new and improved Newcastle United. This is an SJP outfit that can actually defend. In their first ten games, United conceded just seven goals, and Alan Pardew's men were boasting one of the best defences in the Premier League at one point.

Yes, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor and Danny Simpson have been in some of the best form of their careers, but behind this back four has been Tim Krul. Having fought off the challenges of Fraser Forster, who was loaned out to Celtic once again, and Steve Harper, who joined Brighton for a brief loan spell, Krul has firmly established himself as Pardew's first choice between the sticks.

The young Dutchman has been in fine form throughout the first half of the season, becoming visibly more confident in the process as he continues to play behind a relatively unchanged defence. A commanding, brave presence but at the same time extremely agile, Krul has constantly impressed with some match-winning saves. Though his distribution is questionable at times, Krul has more than deserved his place in the Dutch national side's squad, where he will no doubt push current number 1 Maarten Stekelenburg all the way for a starting place at Euro 2012.

United have been blessed with several fantastic goalkeepers in the past decade, and with Krul's tender age, there would be few foolish enough to bet against Tim being placed in the same category soon enough.

Meddling Mike

So there's been a lot to celebrate at St. James' Park so far this season. League position, team spirit, individual performances, character-driven displays - all good stuff. But, as ever, it can't all be rosy in the Newcastle United garden. There have been blots on the copybook from the owner. Again.

Though still refusing to give media interviews, Mike Ashley continues to hover in the background on Tyneside, occasionally making his sizeable presence felt. His first act of the 2011/12 season was to make Joey Barton the SJP outcast, making the former Manchester City man available on a free transfer to a massive outcry from United fans. Barton, livid with his treatment, demanded to be sold to a top 4 side, but with only Arsenal showing tentative interest and the transfer window drawing to a close, the midfielder joined QPR.

Whilst Newcastle fans bemoaned the departure of such an influential figure at the club, that particular move would eventually prove to be not that big a deal on, or off, the pitch. Barton's controversial comments on Twitter and outspoken media style are now Neil Warnock's problem, and the Magpies certainly haven't missed Barton on the pitch thus far.

The renaming of St. James' Park was another Ashley masterstroke that riled up the masses. Taking a lead from Manchester City perhaps, Ashley decided that the plastering of SJP with Sports Direct advertising wasn't enough and instead decided 119 years of history didn't mean that much at all. Cue the "Sports Direct Arena" becoming Newcastle's home. Fans were livid, claiming Ashley was taking a whiz on the legacy of the club. Anger eventually subsided, and by now, most people have reverted to calling it St. James' Park again. Panic over.

Depth chart

Ashley aside, there haven't been too many concerns for United fans this season. One niggling issue appears to be a lack of depth in some areas of the team however, a problem perhaps best issued by Newcastle's recent injury problems in defence. These problems have been alleviated by the return of Mike Williamson to the side against Bolton for his first game of the season, but against Norwich, Alan Pardew was forced to pair right back Danny Simpson and right back/defensive midfielder/sacrificial lamb James Perch in the centre of defence.

Hardly a choice conducive to solid defensive work, and indeed, United lost the game 4-2, the most goals they've conceded in a league game to date. A disappointing result no doubt, and one that has seen Pardew's men linked with defensive re-enforcements in January, the manager himself having since suggested he will strengthen at the back when the window opens. Liam Ridgewell and Jan Vertonghen are two names that have been linked.

Another striker also appeared to be on Pardew's shopping list, not least because top scorer Ba, along with Tiote, head off for the African Cup of Nations in just over a week. However, the Newcastle boss has since gone on record to state that a new centre forward won't be arriving at SJP in January, the focus instead remaining on strengthening at the back. As at this time last year, the onus will once again fall on Best, Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands, along with Ben Arfa, to pick up the goalscoring slack, at least while Ba is away with Senegal.

Is that a case of the club having no ambition? No desire to press on and improve their current league position? Or is Alan Pardew simply confident enough that without Ba, Newcastle have enough firepower to build on their good work so far? Time will tell.

Keep it going

18 games down, 20 to go then. This Friday sees United take on Liverpool at Anfield, in the process bringing the curtain down on what can only be described an eventful 2011. This season, so far, has exceeded expectations in the eyes of many Newcastle fans, and perhaps the team themselves, but there's no way that means Pardew's men should rest on their laurels in 2012.

The Magpies have built themselves an excellent platform in the first half of the campaign to go on and push for a Europa League place, providing they can refrain from selling key players in January and then maintain the combination of defensive restraint, team spirit and attacking potency that has seen them into 7th place in the Premier League. The real crime would be for United to undo their good work and finish in a similar position to last season.

With a few choice additions to the squad and the continuation of Alan Pardew's fine work in the dugout, Newcastle can keep surprising people and proving their critics wrong. 2012 could yet be the year of the Mag.