Much, much better from Tottenham in the last 10 mins or so and they are starting to dictate the pace of the game after weathering that early storm.
Nick Pope had made decent saves to keep out strikes from Sarr from just outside the box and there is growing pressure on the Newcastle backline.
They have stood up to it well enough so far with all the danger coming from distance but Newcastle’s front three of Barnes, Isak and Gordon has gone very quiet.
Not for the first time this season, the latter has not looked like his normal self at all. The home crowd have started to go a little quiet too.
Spurs will be pleased with the control they have got of the midfield battle in particular.
It has been a really strong start from Newcastle who have thrown themselves at Tottenham with some gusto.
You could even describe it as the unleashing of energy as the frustration of the transfer window is put behind them.
Alexander Isak’s effort may well have been a cross, after he robbed Son Heung-Min of the ball on the right touchline, but it beat Vicario who was relieved to see it come back off the crossbar.
Harvey Barnes was also very close to finding the top corner after a long ball to Anthony Gordon had exposed Spurs’ high defensive line.
Romero has put the ball in the net for the visitors, but he did so from a pretty obvious offside position.
Lloyd Kelly has also headed just over the bar from a corner, which came when Vicario struggled to deal with a cross and Emil Krath’s effort was fortunately deflected wide.
Spurs’ high line was badly exposed in the corresponding fixture last season and Newcastle are constantly looking to expose it again.
On the plus side for Spurs, they have an equally high Newcastle line to try and run in behind and James Maddison looks sharp as he tries to find the right pass from Son to run on to.
Failure is an emotive word to use to describe Newcastle United. As one of European football’s great underachievers, it is a word synonymous with far more painful periods in the club’s history.
Nevertheless, that is a word that can be used to describe this transfer window - and is - by frustrated supporters.
The Newcastle board failed manager Eddie Howe by depriving him of the players he wanted to improve his starting XI, leaving him to face a hostile press conference on transfer deadline day, trying to defend the club’s failure to sign England international Marc Guehi – or anyone else – from Crystal Palace after a month-long pursuit.
They failed the club’s supporters, who were led to believe that Newcastle, backed by the wealth of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, were unrelentingly ambitious; with a desire to be, in the words of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the “number one” club in the country.
Against that framework, this window has been a huge disappointment. Emotions are raw. There have been lots of pledges made, lots of nice words, very little action.
Click here to read the rest of Luke’s piece.
After a disappointing and divisive summer, the timing of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s visit to St James’ Park for today’s game against Tottenham Hotspur is interesting, to say the least.
Newcastle failed to sign a single player to improve their first team and manager Eddie Howe has appeared unsettled and distracted during a period of upheaval in the boardroom.
It is the first time that the club’s Saudi chairman has visited since January and it is the first time he has attended a home game since October last year - the 4-1 thrashing of PSG in the Champions League.
Telegraph Sport has been told that the visit was a pre-planned one and is supposed to be a show of support rather than a response to what has happened this summer.
But there are bound to be some interesting conversations going on behind the scenes given the club has attracted criticism for the way it is being run for the first time since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in October 2021.
On the pitch, Newcastle’s only free transfer arrival from Bournemouth makes the starting XI with William Osula on the bench.
Tino Livramento is preferred to Kieran Trippier at right back. Interestingly, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes both start on the flanks.
Hello and welcome to live coverage from the Premier League as Newcastle host Tottenham at St James’ Park.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has admitted some of his players are yet to return to the “optimum” fitness levels they need to play his high-intensity brand of football.
Howe’s team scrapped their way to a 1-0 home win over Southampton with 10 men before escaping from Bournemouth with a 1-1 draw and then progressing in the Carabao Cup by virtue of a penalty shoot-out at Nottingham Forest in midweek.
Asked about the intensity needed to play the high-pressing game which has proved so successful during the 46-year-old’s time at St James’ Park to date, he said: “It’s something you have to protect and work towards every single day because the players can’t just turn up and perform that way in isolation, it’s something we hone and work on continuously.
“It is related, of course, to our fitness. We have to be really, really super-fit to deliver that style of play for 90 minutes.
“That’s something, I think, we’re working towards. It’s no secret that we’ve got a group of players that probably aren’t at their absolute optimum fitness-wise. But very quickly, we’ve got to find our best physical levels to produce that style of play.”
Recent games between Newcastle and Tottenham have produced goals - 16 in the last three - and have been decidedly one-sided with the former winning 6-1 and 4-0 on Tyneside either side of a 4-1 defeat in North London.
Meanwhile, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has backed James Maddison to force his way back into England contention after being left out of the first squad picked by interim boss Lee Carsley.
“I think he’s started the season really well and had an impact in both games,” Postecoglou said.
“He was very close to getting on the scoresheet in both. His general play in both games has been really, really good.
“As long as he’s training well and playing well, then I’m sure he will be back in England reckoning and I guess it is a question for Lee for future camps.
“I know he desperately wants to get back into the England set-up, but if he continues to play like he does and makes more and more of an impact, like we know he can, then I see no reason why he can’t get back into the England side.”