THREE months into Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa's Newcastle United career, and it's safe to say things are not quite going to plan.

As one of five French players to have arrived during the January transfer window, Yanga-Mbiwa was supposed to be part of the overseas legion that would lead the Magpies to safety and ensure a trouble-free end to the season.

Instead, Newcastle were in 16th position when the 23-year-old moved to Tyneside from Montpellier, and they remain in 16th position now, floundering to keep their collective head above water as the relegation battle intensifies.

The second half of the season was always going to be something of a damage limitation exercise domestically, but you can bet the dream that was sold to the likes of Yanga-Mbiwa, Mathieu Debuchy, Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran did not include a protracted and painful battle against the drop.

With that in mind, and to copy a famous phrase from the days of Kevin Keegan, has the reality of life at St James' Park failed to live up to what was written in the brochure?

“No, not at all,” said Yanga-Mbiwa, whose English lessons are coming on apace, but who still requires the aid of a translator to communicate with the press. “I've experienced a lot of goodness and kindness from the people in this area and the club.

“Newcastle have shown me that they want to get back up there with the very best, the elite. There are also a lot of other things that give me confidence for the future.

“I can see that Newcastle have a really strong strategy and a real project to move forward in future seasons. First of all, we have to make sure that we can get back up into the top seven or eight.

“Next season, if we can be really motivated from the outset and start the season well, there's no reason why we can't challenge the top three or four.”

Be that as it may, the future will continue to seem a long way off until Newcastle secure the three or four points that should guarantee their Premier League survival in this most testing of campaigns.

Today's game against Liverpool provides an opportunity to move to the 40-point mark, and the absence of Luis Suarez, who is beginning a ten-match suspension following Sunday's bizarre biting incident with Branislav Ivanovic, should increase Newcastle's chances of repeating the results of the last two seasons, when Alan Pardew's side enjoyed successive two-goal home wins over their rivals from Anfield.

Pardew marked his St James' Park debut with a win over Liverpool, but the manager's most recent memory of the ground will not be a happy one given that his side's last home outing resulted in a damaging 3-0 reverse to Sunderland.

That result cast a shadow over the whole of Tyneside, and since crossing the Channel, Yanga-Mbiwa has been intrigued by the way in which football touches each and every corner of English life.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, was passing judgement on Suarez's disciplinary record, and while it must be challenging to be the centre of attention in such a football-mad city as Newcastle, Yanga-Mbiwa claims he would much rather be experiencing English passion than the more passive approach which is often prevalent in France.

“This country really loves its football,” he said. “It seems like it's one of the biggest things in life here and there's obviously a lot of attention placed on football, whereas in France perhaps it's a bit more of a minority who take football that seriously.

“It's a massive change to come from a country where there's not quite as much interest to one where football is so massive. People live for football here, and that's a huge change.”

The other big change to Yanga-Mbiwa's position on Tyneside came in February when Fabricio Coloccini sustained the back injury that has kept him sidelined for more than two months.

Suddenly, instead of being a Premier League substitute who was expected to start a handful of European matches, Yanga-Mbiwa found himself as Newcastle's first-choice centre-half alongside Steven Taylor.

He has gradually found his feet in the role and grown accustomed to the increased physicality of the Premier League, to the extent that Coloccini is no longer regarded as an automatic first choice as he completes his return to full fitness.

“At the beginning, I arrived here to form part of a squad and help out whenever I was needed, so I wasn't sure that I'd definitely be starting,” said Yanga-Mbiwa. “It was unfortunate that our captain picked up an injury, but the manager called on me and asked me to come into the team. I've tried to go out there and do my very best to meet his expectations.”

Today's expectations relate to a Newcastle success, and while Wigan will close to within three points of the Magpies if they beat Tottenham in an afternoon kick-off, Yanga-Mbiwa insists no one is panicking about the drop.

“I'm not worried,” he said. “We've got some fantastic players and a lot of confidence, we haven't lost any of that. We work hard in training and we're serious out there.

“It's important we stick together until the last match (against Arsenal) and even if we're playing against one of the best five teams in the league, we'll still be confident we can go out and get a result.”