Kieran Trippier’s stunner for Newcastle leaves Lampard’s Everton in trouble

Eddie Howe welcomed five new players to Tyneside last month but as impressively as three of them performed here Newcastle’s manager received a reminder that Allan Saint-Maximin remains the brightest light in his attacking firmament.

The French winger’s extraordinary powers of improvisation and incision turned Frank Lampard’s Premier League debut as Everton manager into an uncomfortable night which leaves the Merseysiders on the edge of real relegation trouble.

Thanks not only to Saint-Maximin but excellent performances from Howe’s new full-backs, the outstanding Kieran Trippier and Matt Targett, Newcastle won their third game of the season, hauling themselves out of the bottom three and up to 17th. Ominously for Lampard, Everton sit only one point and one place higher.

The nights may be starting to get a little lighter but, whenever Jordan Pickford, touched the ball it felt as if the clock had been turned back to pantomime season. To Newcastle fans, villains do not come bigger than Everton’s former Sunderland goalkeeper and they subjected to him to some pretty relentless high-decibel booing. By way of variety, there were repeated, rather rude, choruses referring to his Wearside heritage but Pickford simply responded by reminding everyone that his kicking is very good indeed.

Bar picking the ball out of the back of his net, Lampard’s goalkeeper did not have too much to do during a somewhat scrappy first half low on fancy footwork. If competitiveness and commitment were most certainly not lacking, the game cried out for a couple of central midfielders capable of controlling the tempo and shaping the play. It would have been wonderful to see Lampard roll back the years and show his Everton players precisely how to do it but