What can you tell us about Newcastle? Lee Ryder, Chief Newcastle United Writer, Newcastle Chronicle

Lee has appeared on Talksport, BBC Sport, BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports and Sirius XM - approaching 150k followers on X tells you everything you need to know about how he's thought of in the north east...

It’s been a well-documented tricky summer with players leaving – what’s the general consensus on where Newcastle are at the moment?

Lee: "There has definitely been an outside perception that it has been a bit of a crisis on Tyneside but I can only go off what I am seeing at close hand. Even if you go back to the end of last season the squad looked tired and the ideas on the pitch were failing, so Newcastle needed a reset. What was alarming was when the team came back for pre-season and those two games at Gateshead and Bristol City, 1-1 and 1-4, it looked like the squad had gone into decline a bit. But once the new manager came in and started implementing his ideas, you could see the players stand up and take notice. Even the club's top brass said that the time for change had arrived and there seems direction and purpose from Matthias Jaissle's first couple of games in charge. I'm not saying Newcastle are the finished article but the so called crisis mooted outside the city has been off the mark."

The manager has caught the eye – been spoken well of in media – what have you made of Matthias Jaissle?

Lee: "It's still early days of course but I think he is concise and straight to the point. His early press conferences have resulted in a real change of style and while Eddie Howe would get his points across and dedicate up to two or three minutes per answer, Jaissle has been happy to use one or two words if he's sees fit. That has been the big difference off the pitch, and on it we are seeing Jaissle spend a lot of time on his feet, cajoling the team through games. He reminds me more of Rafa Benitez in that way and he must have a decent level of fitness to keep that going. Let's see where that takes us going into the first few months but the level of performances have been strong and I think he's capable of leading the team to decent things. As ever, managers are always judged on results not words in press conferences."

Tactically, how does Jaissle like to set up?

Lee: "It's been a variation of 4-3-3 in essence but the team are adopting a counter-pressing style. It will be difficult for Spurs to fathom out many patterns of play at this stage because there was a lot of experimenting in pre-season and many players used, including a lot of youngsters. Even this game, with William Osula out injured, it will be a hard call to name who will lead the line as Newcastle have Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in contention to be a no.9 and Joe Willock as an option as a 10. It looks like Nico Gonzalez will be making his debut but it remains to be seen whether that's from the start or not."

How do you think Newcastle will approach it on Saturday?

Lee: "I think there's no doubt they will be going for the jugular and aiming for three points at Spurs. They were unfortunate to draw 2-2 with Liverpool, while West Brom put up a good fight (Newcastle won 3-2 in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night). Newcastle will go into it with plenty of confidence and I'd expect them to come out of the traps quickly at Spurs.  The stadium has been a happy hunting ground for Geordies over the years and Jaissle will want to maintain that decent record."

Finally, who should our fans look out for?

Lee: "Nico Gonzalez is definitely one to watch if he starts, but winger Anthony Elanga looks in the mood to cause some damage and show that last season's up and down form can be improved on. The big bonus for me has been right-back Amar Dedic who has been an attacking threat with a hand in a goal against Liverpool and two assists against the Baggies. Dedic will be looking to pile on the agony for Spurs again down the right on Saturday evening."

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