Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle retains full backing from the club's hierarchy despite back-to-back defeats to Everton. There is understanding behind the scenes, with Chronicle Live told that both CEO David Hopkinson and sporting director Ross Wilson will maintain patience with the 38-year-old, who is just three months into his debut Premier League season.
Alignment and accountability
The view from inside the camp is that everybody is accountable for the club's current situation, from Hopkinson, Wilson, head of performance James Bunce and head of strategy Jack Ross. The word "alignment" was used by Jaissle himself only last week, and he faces the media tomorrow at 2pm.
The fact that the squad is in transition was always factored into Jaissle's situation by the powers that be. The German head coach has effectively seen fit to stick with senior players he inherited like Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock and Yoane Wissa over younger summer signings like Sean Steur, Aladji Bamba and Bazoumana Toure.
Changes on the horizon
Steur did his case to start on Saturday at Fulham no harm whatsoever with a positive, arguably man-of-the-match performance against Everton, as he brought zest and energy into a flat midfield. Newcastle were booed off and booed on the lap of appreciation, but Toon chiefs took encouragement from a better last half-hour as Anthony Elanga was desperately unlucky to see the ball bounce off the post and spin across the line, while Wissa was denied by a decent save by Jordan Pickford.
However, that will have to be transferred into the game at Craven Cottage this weekend, and Steur may not be the only change against the London side. It is believed that Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Jacob Ramsey, before his red card against the Toffees, are eager to get another chance to impress the boss.
Having dropped both team captain Thiaw and Botman, Newcastle did not build on the 2-0 win at Crystal Palace and have now crashed to defeats against Everton, leaving Jaissle with food for thought. Extra pressure has now been heaped on to Saturday after United blew the chance to climb up to seventh on Monday night, and the run of games after the international break, with Arsenal (h), Brighton (a), Man United (h) and Sunderland (h) to come, means Jaissle needs to stop the rot.
Jaissle takes responsibility
Jaissle gave his take on the situation on Monday after the game and told Chronicle Live: "We need to analyse that now. We need to look at the detail. It is also clear that I have the responsibility, and I also take that responsibility as the manager of this club. And we need to do things better.
"There are many, many things that were not at the level we expect, out of possession and in possession. We want to press them (opponents) high and stress them out as soon as possible. We need to make a clear distinction that if the opposition overplay, we defend it in a compact block. We didn't see that much on the pitch (against Everton)."
It was business as usual on Tuesday morning at the KNOX, but there is a deadly serious tone to Newcastle's current predicament. Newcastle chiefs know that even considering changing managers so early will be a reflection on their judgement, just 90 days after Jaissle had been described as a "rock star" by CEO Hopkinson.
Cost of change and focus ahead
Of course, the Canadian was simply making Jaissle feel welcome when he made those comments back in August, and he was backing the choice of sporting director Wilson, who wanted to offer the ex-Hoffenheim player the job on the spot when interviewing him in a Portuguese restaurant after Eddie Howe's decision to quit.
Then there is the eye-watering cost that would need to be coughed up by PIF to change manager just months into his tenure. The Magpies paid £9.5m to release him from his Al-Ahli contract, are already effectively paying Howe who is on gardening leave, and would need to hand Jaissle and his staff millions after handing him a five-year contract.
At the moment, sources at the club say that patience is the watchword and getting the club through a busy period between now and the end of the year is the only focus. Newcastle sit slumped in 13th place ahead of Fulham, but a tightly-bunched Premier League means a win eases some of the tension at the club.
