However, something had to change.
Only Wolves and struggling Leeds United had scored fewer goals than Newcastle in the top flight before this match.
Record signing Nick Woltemade had been an isolated figure, with little to feed on, especially away from home.
Although Woltemade was away with Germany during the international break, Newcastle worked on different player movements around the striker, such as Barnes and Jacob Murphy, to try to get the best out of him when he returned.
Newcastle certainly created opportunities on Saturday for Woltemade, who was thwarted on three occasions by Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But while Newcastle were once overly reliant on Woltemade, others have started to step up.
Not least, Barnes.
The striker was guilty of a couple of big mistakes in the first half, including failing to hit an open goal, and said he wasn’t “the most popular man” at half-time.
But Barnes not only opened the scoring with a fine shot from the edge of the area in the second half, he took a step forward with a winner just minutes after Manchester City equalized through Ruben Dias.
Newcastle previously led against Arsenal, Brentford and West Ham only to lose.
But they did not crumble when Manchester City equalized or, indeed, after eight minutes of injury time were added.
This was a night where Newcastle won more tackles and aerial duels, and made more blocks than the visitors.
Although Manchester City dominated possession, which naturally distorts the figure, Newcastle stood up and made almost twice as many clearances (36) and limited the visitors to just four shots on goal.
That defensive effort did not go unnoticed by former Newcastle defender Jonathan Woodgate.
“Out of possession they were top-notch and made it very difficult when City tried to find those little pockets between the lines,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“In the second half I thought they were the better team, I kept catching City in transition and ended up scoring two fantastic goals from Barnes. What a game of football.”
