Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has insisted he will remain calm at the centre of the storm ahead of the Magpies' mini crisis on Tyneside. Jaissle heads into the weekend trip to Fulham with the heat very much on his team after back-to-back defeats to Everton in the Carabao Cup and Premier League.
The aftermath of the 1-0 loss to the Toffees - which included words from the head coach that players had ignored instructions - have also resulted in reports that the United dressing room are unsure what they are being asked to do. Jaissle is understood not to have had any visits from any of the squad complaining about tactics and insisted he is prepared to listen to any concerns from his stars.
Open door policy
Jaissle said: "The door is always open. If anything is unclear, they are more than welcome to talk about it. It is also good (everybody is together) to see that when you start training in the process, you start before the next match. That is the fundamental thing we can really count on, we have that balance."
"We have open doors, we listen a lot, it's never just talking and for me in my leadership style it is always important you listen to the players. We offer them the open door, if anything is unclear they will drop in and they have the chance for that. It is like in life and in football, sometimes you want to do your best but there are days where you just can't, that was the case against Everton, we could not show things we wanted to."
Players want to react
When asked by Chronicle Live to explain the mood around the camp since Tuesday, Jaissle said: "You don't see the happiest players but you see players in their faces that they obviously want to show a reaction. They also are giving me the feeling that they want to be responsible for that, so we addressed that (Everton) within, and they addressed that they want to show that within, which is good, they want to step up in all the things we can influence, training sessions, using every situation and doing the small details better, because small details decide games."
When asked if players are following instructions, Jaissle said: "It is not to point any fingers. Not at all. Sometimes you are willing to do something and keen to do something, and on that day it doesn't work. That was the case, we spoke about that clearly, we analysed in detail and engaged with the group. The togetherness, the unity was obvious to see."
Club support and focus
Speaking about meetings with the likes of sporting director Ross Wilson and CEO David Hopkinson, Jaissle said: "Everybody is aware and realistic about the journey and where we are now. So as I try to not follow the things that are written, but of course here and there you get some comments, but the nice part is that I got even more the feeling from within the club how committed they are, and that's something really important in a week where there are speculations or rumours."
"This is something we cannot influence, so that was good. Good to know. Good to feel. But I try again, also in these aspects, not being distracted." When asked if he was dealing with the pressure and noise, on the back of reports of unrest, Jaissle said: "I try to focus on the things I can influence. That is not rumours and speculations, and that is not things that aren't true. So it is something I am really consistent with in my approach, I try to handle the things I can handle or influence and try to stay calm in the eye of the storm, there is a lot of storms at the moment, if you are within, you don't feel it at this level. You can improve what you can improve, at the moment we have aspects of things we can do better."
