Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has revealed that England boss Thomas Tuchel did not need to warn him about the Premier League before he took the job at St James' Park.
Speaking at a round table event at the KNOX, Jaissle said he already knew what to expect from English football, though the atmosphere on Tyneside surpassed his expectations.
No warning needed
Jaissle and Tuchel first became familiar when the Newcastle boss was a youth player with Stuttgart, and the duo have stayed in touch ever since. Before Jaissle signed for the Magpies, he spoke with Tuchel about the role.
Jaissle said with a smile: "He did not need to warn me, I already knew! There was nothing that surprised me. I expected that level and that quality. I expected that small margins would determine games. Everything that I expected came true."
However, the 50,000 Geordie fans at St James' Park on a match day made a lasting impression. "He also told me about the atmosphere at St James' Park, but that exceeded my expectations. You have to be there to feel it. If you are part of the game, you see it, and you hear it. The banner for me was really special," he added.
Style of play
Jaissle has made a solid start to life on Tyneside but has also experienced the cut and thrust of English football, including the Lions' Den at Millwall and a 4-1 drubbing at Elland Road against Leeds United. He also saw his side go 2-0 down to AFC Bournemouth before fighting back for a point.
The German head coach, who wants to bring the Red Bull playbook to English shores after a successful stint with Salzburg, is convinced his brand of intense attacking football will work. He said: "The style will work anywhere. They questioned it in Saudi Arabia - can you play that style when it is 40 degrees outside? Can you play it when players are maybe not at the physical level that you have had before? We showed it is possible."
He pointed to Barcelona as an example, saying: "Look at Barcelona now, and the way they are flying. I would not say that Hansi Flick is from the Red Bull dynasty, but there are a lot of elements in the way he works that can be seen as from there. The players there might have been more used to playing in a tiki-taka style, but they have adapted and you can see it is working. I was listening to Rodri, and he was saying a lot about the physicality and the way they train now. It shows that it can be done in every league, in my eyes."
Influences
Tuchel is not the only big influence on Jaissle's career. The Newcastle head coach also worked with Bundesliga chief Sebastian Hoeness earlier in his coaching years and Ralf Rangnick, nicknamed The Professor in German and Austrian football.
Jaissle said: "Thomas Tuchel was a player under Ralf Rangnick at Ulm so he has inspired us both. There is always a link, or often a link to Ralf Rangnick. Thomas was also a player under Ralf Rangnick in Ulm, so that definitely inspired many coaches."
He added: "Not only the coaches worked closely with Ralf Rangnick, also other coaches had a huge impact on them, because he was an early mover in Germany for that style of play, and many coaches were inspired by him. He not only inspired me because I was a player under him, and I felt that it's working so well, but back then when you showed me the picture, first in the league with a team that just got promoted, then you start really believing this gaffer is doing something right. So that inspired me a lot, it was always clear. I used to say that often we as a player never had question marks in our head when we entered the pitch on the matchday. So that's something I like to, or at least I try to give the players as well, that they are so clear when we're on the pitch."
