And breathe! Newcastle United dug deeper than we’ve seen for a long while to hold off a Hull City siege at St James’ Park and claim a vital three points.

With three weeks ‘til the next game, it draws a positive line under the first stanza of the Matthias Jaissle era - but who has been the player of it, so far. You can make a case for a few, but this man, due to the unexpected nature of his rise, takes the crown for me.

Your Inside NUFC player ratings below.

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An Elland Road horror show. The night the chickens came home to roost or just a bad evening at the office?

A naïve Premier League display from Newcastle United saw them dismantled by Leeds United at a canter. And it’s fair to say the Inside NUFC ratings reflect that - with some very low marks.

And here they are…

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They’re through! And ultimately that’s all the matters in cup football. Again, it was less than convincing from Matthias Jaissle’s Newcastle United in terms of performance - but they dug deep and produced a later winner to progress.

That’s now five unbeaten to start the season - hard to argue with that, in reality. Joe Willock was the matchwinner on the night.

So, who shone - in truth there were few - and who didn’t. One NUFC player put in all-timer one to forget. Here’s your Inside NUFC player ratings from the 1-0 Carabao Cup win at The Den.

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Newcastle United remain unbeaten - and while this was one was far from perfect, this looks like a team loaded with character, much like their manager.

The Magpies went two goals down before sparking into life, when a Harvey Barnes cracker halved the deficit before a late equaliser from substitute Jacob Ramsey.

Who performed well - and who was far from their best (there were a few). Here’s your Inside NUFC player ratings from St James’ Park.

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It’s been a summer of change at Newcastle United - I think that’s an understatement. The head coach, ambitions, the mood, players - very little has remained the same at St James’ Park.

Even in a tumultuous summer the biggest turnaround still isn’t anything to do with the staff, feeling or results - it’s come from within.

Yoane Wissa couldn’t hit a barn door last season. He even looked like he was playing with his legs tied together a times - I jest. In fairness, the lad had just come off the back of a major injury.

However, this season, he’s a man on fire. In a summer searching for fresh legs and energy, Wissa has delivered.

“I am very happy, to be part of the team and part of the club,” said Wissa.

“The fans love their club and love the players and what they want is us to give them what we have. They never stopped singing or shouting so that is for them today.

“I am not injured and I feel confident now. I trust myself and I trust the manager and even though I didn’t play last year I have trained a lot with the players and they know my movements.”

This improvement has not gone unnoticed at Newcastle United. There has been a sense from behind the scenes that this was the time for a fully fit Wissa to really start to show the kind of value that saw the Magpies shell out £55million for him last summer.

Undoubtedly, the Congo forward has been like a new signing. But the 29-year-old admits the best deal the club have done this summer is no player, but the manager.

Wissa said: “Of course we lost so many players but the club worked well. It is challenging and we need players to step up, like me for instance, I didn’t play last year, and now I have a chance to play. So many players have to step up and enjoy the challenge and with the fans behind us nobody can stop us.

“Eddie Howe did a top job and the new manager [Matthias Jaissle] came with a new identity and that [first goal] is something we have been working on. Every part of the game we are really precise.

“He is a really dynamic manager, so we have to give everything and I think he is the best signing of Newcastle so far.”

Two quite brilliant finishes from Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa ensured Newcastle United left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points.

Was it deserved? Well, in the end, yes. For 62 minutes this looked like a one-way street, with the home side knocking on the door, but a resolute United held out and produced a quite clinical attacking performance, picking off the home side at well as the game wore on.

Matthias Jaissle’s unbeaten start to life on Tyneside continues.

But who was the star man for the Magpies? Below is the NUFC ratings - with a defender, unsurprisingly, stealing the show.

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No one said it was going to be easy, eh? This is Newcastle United we’re talking about here.

The Magpies left it late to edge past Championship outfit West Brom to seal their spot in the third round of the Carabao Cup. They now face Millwall (a) for a place in the last 16.

Here’s your Newcastle United player ratings from an entertaining night at St James’ Park. And while a handful of players really shone - a select band of others left a lot to be desired.

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Matthias Jaissle is everything Newcastle United fans ever wanted - he just now needs to prove he’s got the minerals to be a Premier League manager.

And on Sunday afternoon, with the eyes of the footballing world glued to his opening game in the English top flight, he passed his early test with flying colours.

Gone is the calm radiating from the NUFC dugout, in its place is a jumping Jack, ball of energy, ready to throw every ounce of his being into every call, every decision, every tackle. It is the antithesis of Eddie Howe - not that this shows he cared any less, he really did care - it’s just different, and the perfect tonic right now for a fanbase desperate to cling on to any semblance of fight.

Jaissle not only set his team up to frustrate Liverpool, but also blitz their creaking backline. And his tactics deserved more than the point his team gained, but for a soft penalty decision in added time against Lewis Hall.

The head coach erupted off the touchline like a firework, his coaches soon followed, matching the energy of 50,000 others alongside him. He thinks the officials got it wrong, so do I.

He said: “If you give it, it’s a really, really soft one and then you have to give many, many penalties throughout the game and throughout the season. I’m not a big fan of the decision.

Jaissle continued: “In the end, I am a bit disappointed. We were so close to getting the three points, for sure. But there is also some brightness, because the guys were doing an amazing job for over 90 minutes.

“We are a young squad, and they really left their hearts on the pitch and this is something we can build on.

“I’m proud, we are proud to see a unit on the pitch. The guys were trying to do it in the intense way that we want to play; to be front-footed and vertical in our approach.

“After such a short amount of time, I’m really happy. That is our philosophy. It depends on the opponent, but we have a clear idea of how we want to play and today we saw quite a lot of that.”

So, it’s early days, but St James’ Park won’t take too long to warm to Jaissle, and it seems the feeling is mutual.

On the atmosphere and crowd, he said: “This is special, it’s going to be a really cool season with big challenges as well. We’re realistic, but we will get there.

“I heard many things, but I felt the goosebumps straight away. You get energy from the stands, and you just want to deliver it on the pitch. This will be something special.”

Wow, didn’t expect that, did we?

I certainly didn’t. Not after the trials and tribulations of a rollercoaster summer, and Newcastle United’s patchy-at-best pre-season offerings.

That was some shock to the system - even more than Alexander Isak being garbage!

Here’s Inside NUFC’s official player ratings - and it’ll be no shock to anyone who took the man-of-the-match award.

Let us know in the comments who was your star player.

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Matthias Jaissle has called for fans, club and players to ‘stick together’ in what’s he’s described as a ‘challenging’ moment for Newcastle United.

This summer has seen unprecedented change at St James’ Park with the loss of three key players, including the captain, and the manager. It has also seen the implementation of a new transfer strategy, too. This is key executives Ross Wilson and David Hopkinson’s first true summer in the role and transition is the order of the day both on and off the park, with the team largely looking unrecognisable from the one that only a year and a half or so ago lifted the Carabao Cup.

In that sense, Jaissle has not only walked in on a clean(ish) slate, but also with lots of work to do to get things right for when the real ball comes out.

And after watching his side labour in a 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the Visit Malta Cup at St James’ Park, the head coach has called for unity at NUFC.

“I was so happy to see the atmosphere right now so I can’t even imagine what it will look like against Liverpool when the stadium is full and we get the whole support,” said Jaissle.

“That will be the message. We need to stick together. With these challenges now, this transitional moment, we need the fans together with the players and the staff.”

While it was a far from vintage watch for the 39k-plus crowd on Tyneside, it was not without some positives. The short-term may well be fraught with concern, it was etched on the face of Jaissle at times on the touchline, but there’s reason for some positive feeling about the longer term.

One of the players, among many used, who has stood up from the youth ranks this summer has been Mason Miley, younger sibling of England cap-bound Lewis.

While his path to the first-team may well take time to open up, the 17-year-old, who limped off with cramp, was a shining light v Leverkusen.

Jaissle was impressed: “This is the attitude we need. Really suffering until the tank is empty.”

The head coach does not like the line of questioning at the moment, but it’s fair game for all attending press conferences, especially at this time of year - transfers, transfers, transfers.

On the subject, he added: “It’s important that there will be something done in the transfer market. I think everyone is aligned on that.”

Inside NUFC expects Newcastle United to tie up at least three deals before the close of the window - one of which will be Amar Dedic, with a midfielder and forward also seen as a priority.