And so it continues. Another game, another defeat.

Newcastle United were beaten 1-0 by Everton at St James’ Park last night, but in truth the Toffees could – and probably should – have had more. This was a limp, lifeless performance from the Magpies.

The only goal was scored by Thierno Barry, and it came courtesy of a couple of Newcastle mistakes. But should it have counted?

Here are a couple of talking points from the game.

Are the Players Listening to Jaissle?

The pattern was set from kick-off. Everton looked like the home team – they were disciplined, organised, and controlled the game well. Newcastle looked lethargic and quickly ran out of ideas.

Everton were quite happy to sit in their low block and draw Newcastle out, before hitting them on the counter; not that Newcastle’s powderpuff attack caused them any real problems.

They only had two shots on target, and the first of those didn’t come until the 88^th minute.

The Magpies spent much of the game punting the ball forward hopefully, where it either drifted out of play, or they lost possession and it came straight back at them.

There were so many misplaced passes. According to ESPN, Newcastle only made 332 accurate passes out of a total of around 420, which frustrated Jaissle and the crowd. The German barked orders at his side, but it didn’t make any difference. It felt like the players weren’t listening to him.

But is that the case? A telling moment came near the end of the game. Bazoumana Touré came on in the 86^th minute carrying a piece of paper with details of the formation Jaissle wanted them to play.  He gave it to Fabian Schär, who glanced at it and then discarded it.

The game went on for another ten minutes but nothing changed, apart from the team being reduced to ten men when Jacob Ramsey was sent off.

More worrying were Jaissle’s comments after the game. He accused the team of not following his game plan, saying:

“It wasn’t the plan to shoot the long balls, it’s important to say that. It was not good enough and it was not brave enough to penetrate the last line.

“They [the players] have trained on a high level in the build-up, but when the ref started the game you couldn’t see that.”

So why couldn’t the players transfer what they were doing on in training on to the pitch. Is it just a lack of confidence, as Jaissle suggested, or don’t they believe in the 4-2-3-1 formation? Maybe it’s a combination of both?

Whatever the reason, Jaissle needs to find a solution quickly because Newcastle have a tough run of games after the international break.

Should Barry’s Goal Have Stood?

There was some controversy around Barry’s 49^th minute goal, but there’s no denying that Newcastle made a hash of it.

Everton won a free kick outside the 18-yard box, and Amar Dedić and Anthony Elanga both failed to spot Tyrique George’s run down the right. He cut inside and took a shot which slipped under Lukas Horníček and was swept home by Barry virtually on the goal line. The Frenchman will never score an easier goal.

To be fair to Horníček, the ground was extremely wet, so the ball was slippery, but he should have done better.

There was a call for offside, but VAR checked and cleared that, even though it was very tight.

The real question is whether Barry fouled Schär before he scored. He clearly hit Schär in the face, but he wasn’t looking at the Swiss as he went to take the shot, so it was clearly accidental, but it was one of those that can go either way.

The Newcastle players’ reaction wasn’t great. When the goal was confirmed, there was almost a collective shrug. There was a late flurry of attacks from the Magpies, but Everton were comfortable.

Jaissle and his players have a lot of soul-searching to do before they play Fulham on Saturday.