Harvey Barnes has revealed the key differences between Matthias Jaissle and Eddie Howe, insisting the new Newcastle United head coach is not as intense away from the touchline as he appears on matchday.
Barnes came on as a half-time substitute on Wednesday evening and scored twice to inspire the Magpies to a 3-2 win over his former side West Bromwich Albion in the Carabao Cup second round.
Isaac Price had given the visitors a first-half lead before Bazoumana Toure equalised just before half-time. Barnes replaced the Ivorian on the left-wing at the interval and made an instant impact, firing United ahead three minutes into the second half.
Barnes' brace seals first win under Jaissle
Price then grabbed his second of the evening from the penalty spot after Lewis Hall was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area before Barnes swept home the winning goal from Amar Dedic's cross in front of the Gallowgate End.
It meant Newcastle won their first competitive game under new head coach Matthias Jaissle and they continued on the positive momentum gained from their performance in Sunday's 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool.
It has been a summer of change at St James' Park as experienced players like Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier have all left the club.
Newcastle's new-look squad responds to 'negativity'
Newcastle have made seven signings in their place, all aged 24 or under, and that led to a lot of pundits citing their lack of experience as a reason for United to set up for a season of struggle.
But Barnes feels they have defied that outside 'negativity' with their unbeaten start to the season and has credited Jaissle with quickly finding a synergy between him, the players and the fans.
"It's just over three weeks now," Barnes said. "He's not been here a long time anyway, so of course we know who's playing, he knows the players, but we're still not fully prepared yet."
"I have seen some of the energy going into the pitch, and we have positive mindset amongst the players and the manager."
"You've seen what he is like on the side of the pitch, he's full of energy, he gets the crowd going, and that's been a big sort of emphasis from himself - to get the crowd going."
"I think there's been a lot of negativity around the club, and I think you've seen in the first two games how positive the players and the fans have all been together, and I think it's exactly what you need so the players have no negativity going into games."
Jaissle's style compared to Howe's
Jaissle has set up his team to be intense, aggressive and front-footed, much like Eddie Howe's best Newcastle team was at the peak of their powers. But Barnes believes there are subtle differences between their playing style under the new manager and the way they set up under Howe.
"I think there's obviously differences and there's some similarities as well, we want to press. These are all things that we've done before, but there's obviously tweaks, so every manager is different."
"Maybe we're on the turnover a bit more direct and we want to attack quick central. I think you saw that maybe with the first goal the other day, where it's a quick counter-attack. We've got a lot of pace and direction in the squad."
"You want to use it to the best qualities that you can. So far, the players have bought into it and done really well with that. I think it's been a really good start to the season."
"I think there's a real energy from him and real high demands, which the players know, if you're not doing it, you're not going to play a so he is ruthless in that sense, which is good."
"Everyone knows that they've got to be on board and got to be putting in performances week in, week out to play in this team and it's going to set really high standards."
Jaissle's touchline demeanour has proven popular with Newcastle fans with the 38-year-old kicking every ball and lambasting every decision in his technical area. When asked if he is that intense all the time, Barnes laughed and replied: "A little bit, but I think that's good."
"You want that energy in training, you want to feel that, you want to push the standards that high and I think he's doing that. You see him on the side of the pitch, he's not like that all the time, not when he's around the training ground."
"I think he's been really good, you've seen how quickly the lads and everyone's bought into what he wants to do and I think that's really important."
