Newcastle United manager Matthias Jaissle has suggested his players disregarded his tactics, which he said left striker William Osula without service in the home defeat to Everton.
Jaissle said he was surprised his side could not replicate their training performances on the pitch during a difficult evening at St James' Park. The Magpies managed only two efforts on target across the match, with boos echoing around the stadium at both half-time and full-time.
Jaissle: Long balls were not the plan
In his post-match press conference, Jaissle indicated his squad had not followed the instructions given before kick-off and said the group must return to basics.
He said: "Long balls was not the plan. It's something we need to work on. We lack confidence; to come out of that, we need to stick together. We need to make a fast learning curve in the right direction."
Asked why Osula struggled, he said: "We could not bring him into situations. We need to jump the first lines with clear balance on how we want to play football. Just playing long balls is for sure not the sign he (Osula) prefers. And it was not the plan; that is something you clearly need to mention. This is now the next step to clearly analyse it in-depth, and ask why we could not start the game as we originally planned."
Fans' frustration acknowledged
Addressing the jeers directed at him during the evening, including from a section of supporters during the lap of appreciation, Jaissle said: "I was aware of the anger. Big frustration, big disappointment because we couldn't transfer what we saw in the week.
"The team was training at a high level, but since the ref started the game, not much was seen. It's difficult to understand. Of course the fans are frustrated, like we are. Unfortunately, we couldn't deliver. Actually, over the whole 90 minutes, it was not our game and our style of playing. That is something we are very frustrated and disappointed about."
He added: "If you cannot deliver when it counts, then you don't deserve to win. We were not brave enough in possession, too many long balls."
Second consecutive home loss
Jaissle championed "vertical football" at the outset of pre-season but feels his squad are failing to demonstrate it as they slipped to a second consecutive home loss. Newcastle have lost five of their last seven games.
The Toon head coach said: "The performance today, you didn't see our playing style and that can't happen. It's not easy to explain as it looked so good during the week [in training]. The lads looked committed and the confidence was there. Today from the start the confidence was missing. We need to improve really fast."
He continued: "We have to encourage them that they are able to do it, that they have the potential to play in that way. We should have created even more moments. It was not good enough. To concede a goal like that also was not good enough. It's almost like a negative spiral [on the elements of the goal]. I'm not happy with the referee decision. For me it's a clear foul on Fabian Schar."
Jaissle concluded: "It's a difficult period. We also know you can only overcome that as a unit."
