Newcastle United boss Matthias Jaissle is understood to be ready to crank things up to phase two of his managerial reign at St James' Park in the next few weeks. With his honeymoon period as boss now behind him and the long-winded international break, the German head coach is believed to be ready to roll out more of the key elements and managerial principles.
Jaissle has made a solid and sturdy start as head coach and guided Newcastle to ninth in the Premier League in his first two months in charge. It is believed that Jaissle has been monitoring the characteristics of each of his new signings and the players that he inherited from Eddie Howe. The former Hoffenheim player has been identifying personality traits of his stars, such as how they respond to criticism and how they react to more honest feedback in front of their team-mates.
Building rapport before tweaking tactics
Jaissle wanted to build up the rapport and strengthen the bond between his squad before getting too deep when it comes to improving the team he took on in early August. One of the things that Jaissle is keen to do better is for his United team to stop giving the ball away so cheaply in games, while he is also eager to ensure his team is better at winning duels.
Jaissle has been urging his players to try to think a couple of seconds ahead of opponents in battles on the pitch. A big observation by Jaissle's staff and analysts was the way Newcastle started so timidly against AFC Bournemouth at home in August and went 2-0 down to the surprise of the crowd, only for a bit of tweaking and positive encouragement for Newcastle to turn the tide in the game and battle back for a point.
Game management concerns
But just as concerningly, Newcastle then stormed into a 2-0 lead against Hull City in the last home, missed a penalty through Yoane Wissa and were left hanging on with game management in both home matches a cause for concern. After the 4-1 loss to Leeds, Jaissle stated to his players that they need to start to "take it personally" when they lose a duel on the field.
With Premier League rivals now facing European games as fixtures start to pile-up, Newcastle have a number of weeks in which they have just one game to prepare for. And should Newcastle bank another decent haul of points away to Coventry, at home to Aston Villa and then away to Crystal Palace, they have every chance of being in the top five or six in the Premier League.
Upcoming fixtures and Dan Burn update
Ahead of the Saturday night game with Aston Villa on October 17, the second city side will have just a couple of days to prepare after their UEFA Champions League group game with Fenerbahce at Villa Park. And before the trip to Crystal Palace on October 25, the Eagles will still have a trip back from Turkey in their system after facing Besiktas in the Europa League.
Newcastle are set to make a call on whether Dan Burn will be in the squad for Monday night's trip to Coventry City. The 6ft 7in star has not been spotted in training on any of the club's video packages in recent days after declaring he would be back after the international break. Burn is believed to be edging closer after missing all of the season so far with an ankle injury sustained back in August.
His last competitive appearance was for England in Atlanta during the World Cup semi-final when he came on as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Argentina and suffered heartbreak in the US. However, despite not being sighted Chronicle Live was told on Friday by club sources that he had not suffered any setback and his return date remains in line with the expectations of the backroom team and Matthias Jaissle.
Sell out at Selhurst
Newcastle were allocated 3,030 tickets for the away clash at Selhurst Park this season, the scene of a bit of a horror show last April. That day Newcastle tossed away a lead given to them by William Osula before Palace struck twice in the final 10 minutes through Jean-Philippe Mateta, who won it with a 94th-minute penalty. It was a result that had big implications for Eddie Howe with some of the crowd appearing to lose patience as the head coach's chances of getting the team into Europe took a major dent.
The encounter on October 25 will see a refreshed United show up under Matthias Jaissle as he looks to continue his habit of winning in London. He's already beaten Spurs and Millwall and he will be hoping to make it a hat-trick in the capital. As usual, he has the support of the Toon faithful behind him, with another away day sell out in store after every ticket was snapped up this week.
