Jaissle made wholesale changes which paid off in a huge 2-0 win for Newcastle at Crystal Palace

All eyes were on 12:45pm on Sunday and how Matthias Jaissle would change things up as he looked for a big response from his Newcastle United players after a difficult week.

The Magpies suffered back-to-back defeats against Coventry City and Aston Villa and it led to major question marks over Jaissle's tactical set-up.

The 38-year-old has had to suck up that criticism this week but spoke passionately and eloquently in his pre-match press conference about finding solutions on the training ground this week.

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While Jaissle was never going to abandon his principles, Chronicle Live understood heading into their trip to Crystal Palace that not only was he prepared to make some tweaks, he also retained the backing of his senior players, with the dressing room remaining fully aligned with the former RB Salzburg and Al-Ahli head coach's vision.

But while the inclusion of captain Dan Burn wouldn't have caught many people off guard, the fact Jaissle made five changes to his starting XI was an eye-catching decision.

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Dropping both Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw to make way for Burn and Fabian Schar was a bold call. It was a brave call to drop two senior players but the pair of them have dropped below their top level in recent weeks and Newcastle instantly looked more solid with their two elder statesmen in the heart of defence.

Jaissle described his leadership group as an 'extended arm' on the pitch to deliver his message and it felt telling that Burn, Schar, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Amar Dedic came into the starting XI.

But perhaps the biggest decision was Will Osula's recall up front, which saw Yoane Wissa drop out of the starting XI. Newcastle looked tepid in front of goal against Villa and explaining his decision before the game, Jaissle's explanation could well have also been attributed to Thiaw and Botman's exclusion from the side.

"Always in football you have some ups and downs for a player in a season and currently he dropped a bit," Jaissle replied when asked about Wissa dropping to the bench. "We count on him and he is a huge player for us. I have praised him and always praise him in the future. Maybe he gets his chance again from the bench and maybe he can deliver again."

But to be as bold to make five changes, it simply had to work - particularly off the back of a challenging week. At half-time, with Newcastle looking deeply uninspiring, it felt like Jaissle's side were just going to offer more of the same.

But then it spectacularly clicked into gear in a blistering 15-minute spell at the start of the second half. Murphy's inclusion drew inevitable criticism after an underwhelming start to the season but Jaissle fought to keep the 31-year-old this summer in spite of Nottingham Forest making two transfer bids.

He repaid that faith with a stunning cross from the right-hand side as his arrowed delivery was simply asking to be put away and Osula, who gambled and made a run, gratefully obliged, stabbing the ball past Walter Benitez in the Palace goal.

Joe Willock thought he had doubled the lead as he latched on to Joelinton's through ball before whipping the ball beyond Benitez, only for VAR to adjudge he mistimed his run by half a second and he was flagged for offside.

Thankfully, Newcastle didn't have to wait long before they did have a second goal. Nico Gonzalez did well to control the ball in the air, hooking the ball past his marker before finding Murphy out wide. He fed Dedic down the right channel on the overlap and he cut the ball back for Harvey Barnes to whip the ball past Benitez.

It lifted United up into the top half of the table and now the season has taken on a whole different complexion heading into Thursday's trip to Everton in the Carabao Cup fourth round.

It would be a surprise to see the starting XI change on Merseyside and it has not only set the challenge on those out of the team to Jaissle's mind, the 38-year-old has now shown a ruthless streak that he will make decisive changes when necessary.

That surely will sharpen the focus for a Newcastle squad getting slowly back towards full health and they now have an opportunity to give themselves a really positive platform heading into next month's international break.