Newcastle United manager Matthias Jaissle is under growing pressure after a difficult start to his reign, with defeat by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park potentially intensifying scrutiny of the 38-year-old German.
Newcastle have lost three of their past four matches at the ground, and another defeat could shift attention away from the problems inherited by Jaissle and towards his own position. The club are 11th in the Premier League, but their underlying performances are causing greater concern than their league position suggests.
Newcastle sold key players who moved to Barcelona and Arsenal during the summer and spent £175m attempting to replace Alexander Isak. Their replacements have so far struggled to match the quality of those who departed.
Against Aston Villa last Saturday, when Newcastle lost 1-0 at home, three players started in positions they would not regard as their strongest. Among them was £51m signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who arrived with the intention of becoming a striker. After three starts without scoring, the 21-year-old was moved to the wing, on the opposite side to the one he mostly occupied at Lille.
With no recognised No 10 available, midfielders and forwards have continued to fill the role. Late in the Villa defeat, centre-back Dan Burn was pushed into a centre-forward position – a move he had previously experienced while England were pursuing a World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
The decision was criticised, but it reflected Newcastle’s lack of alternatives. For Jaissle, the justification for his tactical choices can only last so long, particularly if another defeat follows.
The former Red Bull Salzburg manager, who joined Newcastle from Saudi Arabia after a successful spell in Austria, has spent the past fortnight addressing his team’s problems with the players. After last week’s 4-1 defeat by Coventry, he discussed difficulties in applying his “vertical football” approach. His preferred 4-2-3-1 system has repeatedly left Newcastle vulnerable in midfield.
Following a 4-1 loss at Leeds last month, Jaissle concluded that the performance was not caused by his tactics. He felt his players had failed to compete for first balls, let alone second balls, and had been physically overpowered. Working with about a dozen analysts in the club’s training-ground war room, he decided that abandoning his strategy would not solve a problem he believed was primarily one of application.
Newcastle’s commitment against Villa was harder to question, bringing renewed focus on their shape, preparation and game plan. Critics have compared Jaissle with Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou, coaches accused of remaining too rigidly committed to their preferred styles.
Jaissle remains convinced his methods can work. He has referred to a recent interview with Barcelona midfielder Rodri about the intensity and physical demands of training there, which are reproduced in matches. He also admires what fellow German Hansi Flick is achieving at Camp Nou with a 4-2-3-1 formation and wants Newcastle to show similar energy and attacking sharpness.
However, Newcastle rank too highly for critical ball losses and unforced errors, while their “Expected Points” figure places them in the bottom three. With Palace representing the kindest fixture in the calendar, another setback could make patience the first casualty.
