Newcastle United’s hierarchy is reportedly continuing to back Matthias Jaissle, despite the Magpies’ disappointing start to the season. Newcastle are lingering in mid-table and have won just one of their last five Premier League matches. That came against newbies Hull City, with Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa their third in four league outings.
It’s led to question marks surrounding the German, with talk that Newcastle could pull the plug early. However, as per the Daily Mail, there isn’t an appetite to cut their losses with Jaissle, and the young manager is continuing to be backed. The outlet claims the hierarchy is placing their energy into supporting Jaissle during what is an admittedly poor period.
Support despite poor form
The story did outline when that might change, for example, if Newcastle were to enter the bottom three and remain there for a significant period of time. But right now, the PIF decision-makers are backing Jaissle going forward.
There has been some chatter surrounding Kieran McKenna. It’s said that the Northern Irishman was explored as an option when Newcastle were looking to replace Eddie Howe following the Englishman’s abrupt exit in the summer. McKenna, much like Howe, left Ipswich in the off-season, and was said to be fancied by the Newcastle board. He could be an option for the North East outfit, should they decide to part ways with Jaissle.
Jaissle’s response to the slump
The former Al-Ahli boss was quizzed about Newcastle’s slump following the weekend defeat to Villa, with Jaissle continuing to put on a brave face. He said: "It was, in fact, a game where we were dominating, overseeing a team giving a response, we made many situations where you saw we were about to win that game until we conceded the goal."
"We need to be honest - we were shaking a bit until half-time, but we showed again a good response. Second 45 minutes, really aggressive from our lads. We won the duels, unfortunately we were not smart enough in the final decision-making in the opposition box, so that is something we need to work on."
"We need to threaten the opposition much more when we have the ball in the final third. We had occasions but in the end, the lucky punch was missing."
Upcoming fixtures
The fixture list does let up a little bit for Newcastle, given they travel to fellow strugglers Crystal Palace at the weekend. After that, it’s back-to-back matches against Everton, firstly away in the Carabao Cup, before welcoming the Toffees to St. James’ Park in the league just days later.
