Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has dismissed talk of pressure building on Crystal Palace counterpart Pierre Sage, insisting he is focused solely on his own team's response after a difficult week.
The Magpies travel to Selhurst Park this afternoon aiming to return to winning ways following a 4-1 defeat at Coventry and a 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa. Those results have increased scrutiny on Jaissle's tactical set-up and his side's performances this season, though his job is not under the same threat as Sage's.
Sage under pressure after Brighton thrashing
Sage cast doubt over his future after Palace were beaten 5-0 by fierce rivals Brighton and Hove Albion last Sunday, heaping pressure on the former Lens head coach following an indifferent start to life in South London. Palace have collected seven points from their opening seven Premier League matches and sit one point behind Newcastle heading into the clash.
Asked whether he believes he will still be in charge to turn Palace's fortunes around, Sage said: "I don't know." He went on to apologise to supporters, adding: "We are not at the level we expected, and I'm really sorry for that. I just want to apologise to the fans because it's not normal to show this face."
Jaissle focuses on internal improvements
Since that defeat, Palace bounced back with a 2-2 draw away at Besiktas in the Europa League. When asked if Jaissle would look to exploit Palace's situation, he chose to concentrate on what he can control internally rather than external factors.
"I am way too far away to judge the situation there," Jaissle told Chronicle Live. "We just focus on what we have here right now and what we can do, what we can influence coming out of that period and that is a lot at the moment."
"So it will be good if we are doing that and if we just focus on our things. I am really optimistic now, as I saw the lads during the week, to show a great performance."
