Newcastle United supporters will love the word Adam Armstrong has used to describe their team

Armstrong and his Saints teammates left St James’ Park empty handed on the opening day of the Premier League season after a mistake by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy led to Joelinton scoring on the brink of half-time.

The Brazilian netted what proved to be the winner 15 minutes after the Magpies were reduced to 10 men as Fabian Schar touched foreheads with Ben Brereton Diaz.

Schar’s sending off galvanised the St James’ Park crowd and Eddie Howe’s side responded by grinding out a result. And Armstrong was very complimentary of Newcastle’s defensive work.

“He [Schar] got sent off and I’m not sure if that was a good or bad thing for us because I think we were playing quite well 11 v 11,” the former Newcastle youngster told Premier League Productions.

“Newcastle are a tough team to break down, they’re full of animals defending their box. It was hard to create chances and the ones that we did we didn’t really take, some great defending from them.

“We’ll learn from that massively. The Premier League is the best league in the world and you’re coming up against the best players so plenty of positives.”

Armstrong, however, did feel his side were deserving of at least a point. The 27-year-old, whose 24 goals last season helped fire the Saints back to the Premier League, saw a shot superbly cleared off the line by Lewis Hall.

He added: “It’s frustrating. Newcastle are animals. I’ve seen it for years being a fan myself. They defend the box so well. They had a few good blocks, one off the line and a few good saves. That is what you need at this level, you need to punish team.

“We didn’t quite do that today but I think the lads are very positive. First game, St James’ Park is a tough place to come so we’ll take plenty of positives.”