We must improve, says Ayoze

The Magpies, who produced a solid first half display at St. James’ Park, were reduced to ten men just after the break when Jonjo Shelvey was dismissed.

Subsequent goals from Dele Alli and Ben Davies won it for Spurs, and the Spaniard said that the afternoon turned into a deflating experience, after what had been a positive first 45 minutes.

“The feeling was great (before the match) – everyone was waiting for this moment. I thought the team did well, played really good football and they (Tottenham) were uncomfortable, to be honest – for three quarters of the game they couldn’t make a lot of chances," Pérez told nufc.co.uk.

“We had some chances with the counter-attack, and that was our gameplan. We knew they would be good on the ball.

“In the second half, that detail (the red card) that made a massive difference. It changed the game, but we need to learn from this.

“It’s really disappointing. We did a great first half but what is true is at the end of the game, we lost.”

Rafa Benítez’s side fought valiantly following the red card, but Pérez admitted it was an uphill struggle from that point.

“It was really, really tough. With this team moving the ball as they do it, it’s hard when you are one man down,” he said. “We still tried until the end, and we tried to push a bit and make chances but they have great quality, and we knew a goal could come at any time.

“But we have to learn from this, take the positives and we have to improve a lot of things. Let’s move on to the next week, and keep fighting.”

United travel to another newly-promoted side, Huddersfield Town, next Sunday (1.30pm kick-off).

David Wagner’s Terriers enjoyed a fine start to the season, beating Crystal Palace 3-0 away from home on Saturday, and Pérez – who acknowledged the need for Newcastle to learn the lessons of Sunday's defeat on their return to the top flight – says his side must focus on making sure they do their own jobs when they travel to the John Smith’s Stadium.

“The feeling at half time was that anything could happen in the second half. They were having the ball, but without an end product. We lost the game in the end, and we need to improve a lot of things, adapt again to the Premier League, and we know it’s going to be tough,” said the 24-year-old.

“It’s going to be tough, but every single game is, we have no doubts about that. We have to think about us and doing our jobs, and we must improve, as we need to work on a lot of things. There is a lot of work to do, we have to make sure we prepare for the Huddersfield game properly, and that’s it.

“Mentally, we have to be stronger, we have to be better, and now we have to start getting points.”