Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has acknowledged the club is facing a leadership 'vacuum' following the departure of several key players, and he is taking his time to decide who will be the new captain.
Leadership void at St James' Park
With Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon sold, and Kieran Trippier released on a free transfer, the squad is short of experienced leaders. Jaissle handed the armband to Germany international Malick Thiaw in the 2-1 win at Valencia, but he will hold further talks with Dan Burn, while Fabian Schar, Joelinton and Sven Botman could also be in contention for leadership roles.
Speaking at a press conference, Jaissle said: "Obviously, we are in that transition phase. Everyone knows the players that left the club. They were great characters, great players, experienced players. This is now a vacuum as you call it."
"But that just means that other players have to step in. Either we have to adjust something in the squad by signing these profiles of players, or other players need to step up and fill these positions and these leadership roles."
Optimism and ball retention
Jaissle expressed confidence in the squad's ability to adapt, adding: "I am quite optimistic that we can work with both scenarios, and my job is to do the best out of it all. Without saying too much, we are aware of what we need and the squad that we want. Internally, everyone is aware of that, and we are working on the solutions."
When asked if he had made his mind up on the skipper, Jaissle answered simply: "No!"
During the press conference at St James' Park, Jaissle also stressed the importance of better ball retention. After a season of throwing away points and leads, he reflected: "Football is really complex. It's not only out of possession, really intense, high press, at one point, why are we doing it?"
"To have the ball also. We want to win the ball and then we need to have solutions as well."
"Then you need to be smart, you have to have your identity, how we want to play - vertical, target-orientated, we want to score goals - but it also depends how our opponent is playing, this is an adaptation as well."
"You need to be smart with what the opponent is giving you, use their weaknesses and use our strengths."
