IN the first half of Saturday’s game at Cardiff City, Kenedy became the first player in more than eight years to go through 45 minutes of a Premier League match without completing a single pass.

So it says much about the rest of the Newcastle midfielder’s performance that that wasn’t even the worst part of his afternoon.

Having been extremely fortunate to avoid a first-half dismissal for a petulant kick at Cardiff midfielder Victor Camarasa, Kenedy wasted an excellent chance to claim all three points for his side when he fired an 89th-minute free-kick into the wall. Still, though, there was time for things to get even more disastrous.

Stepping up to take a stoppage-time penalty, awarded after Sean Morrison handled a cross, Kenedy rounded off a pitiful performance by rolling an embarrassingly weak spot-kick much too close to goalkeeper Neil Etheridge. The shot was saved, Kenedy slumped to the turf, and Newcastle were forced to settle for a point from a game that could have resulted in so much more.

While Rafael Benitez was left frustrated by the Magpies’ lack of summer investment, Kenedy’s return from Chelsea was supposed to be a major coup. Perhaps, in the fullness of time, it will be. Not, however, that it looked that way on Saturday night.

“It was a poor penalty,” conceded Benitez, who was clearly in no mood to sugar-coat Kenedy’s display. “It will also not be good (if he gets a retrospective ban), but it is important that he stays focused.

“He listens to advice, and this group of players, they are quite good in the training sessions. They are keen to do and learn things. Sometimes they can do them, sometimes they cannot, but we have to keep working. Will he (Kenedy) learn from this? Yes. But I think all of us will learn from this game.”

Clearly, the first lesson is that Kenedy should move down the penalty-taking pecking order in the event of first-choice exponent, Matt Ritchie, being unavailable.

Benitez will also be scratching his head about other things in the wake of Newcastle’s opening away game, though, most notably what on earth he should do with Isaac Hayden.

Hayden has made no attempt to hide the difficulty of his personal situation, submitting a formal transfer request at the start of the summer in an attempt to move closer to his wife and young child, who have been forced to relocate to the South-West.

That request was denied, with Benitez repeating on Friday that there is no chance of the midfielder leaving on loan this month, but just 24 hours after his manager made those comments, Hayden played like someone who remains desperate to get away.

Admittedly, he was playing out of position as he replaced the equally hapless Javier Manquillo at right-back at half-time, but in his 20 minutes on the field, Hayden committed a series of fouls as he repeatedly found himself out of position and struggling to cope with the pace and movement of Josh Murphy.

The last of those fouls resulted in him receiving a straight red card, with referee Craig Pawson ruling that he was completely out of control as he clattered into Murphy from behind.

When asked whether Hayden’s personal problems might have affected his performance, Benitez replied: “It’s difficult to say. It is not his position, but his tackle was unnecessary. Hopefully, he will learn for the future and will be a better player for it.”

That is hardly a ringing endorsement of the midfielder’s ability to draw a line under his ongoing issues, and Benitez will have to decide whether there is any value in keeping the 23-year-old on Tyneside against his will.

To his credit, Hayden issued a public apology via social media on Saturday night, but if he is going to play as he did at the weekend for the next nine months, it might be better for all concerned if he is plying his trade elsewhere.

Hayden’s dismissal meant Newcastle had to play the best part of half-an-hour with just ten men, and while Cardiff’s limitations have to be factored in to an assessment of their overall performance, it is to their credit that they survived with precious few scares.

This was far from a vintage Magpies performance – goodness knows what the neutrals watching on Sky must have made of the standard of football served up by both teams – but after their defence creaked on a number of occasions against Tottenham, it at least featured a return to the kind of resilience, organisation and spirit that proved so crucial to Newcastle’s success last season.

Jamaal Lascelles was excellent at the heart of the back four, winning a succession of headers and challenges against Kenneth Zohore, and his partner, Ciaran Clark, proved equally obdurate as Newcastle repelled a series of Cardiff attacks.

Josh Murphy’s dribbling caused problems, particularly in the first half, but Martin Dubravka was rarely troubled as he claimed his first clean sheet of the campaign.

Ayoze Perez cleared a goalbound first-half header from Sol Bamba, and Zohore directed a free header well wide in the second half as he briefly found himself in space in the box.

On the whole, though, Newcastle’s defence never looked like being breached.

That is commendable given Cardiff’s considerable physical threat, but with matches against Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal coming next, a point was the absolute minimum Newcastle required, and aside from the moment when Kenedy stepped up in stoppage time, they didn’t really look like achieving more.

Joselu struggled in attack, Jonjo Shelvey’s raking long passes rarely found their target, and Mo Diame found himself having to focus on defensive duties rather than breaking upfield.

Etheridge made a good save from Ayoze Perez’s first-half volley, but Newcastle looked devoid of a cutting edge, which is a worry given the standard of opposition they will encounter in their next three games.

“We lost our first two games in the Championship and then won the league,” said Benitez. “We also lost the first two last year and finished tenth. So it could be positive for us to have one extra point.

"We want to win every game though, and especially against those teams who you know will be close to you because they are even more important.”