Newcastle manager Matthias Jaissle has tempered expectations around his side this season in his first press conference after taking over from Eddie Howe.
Jaissle has inherited a tricky situation on Tyneside following a succession of high-profile exits. Howe walked away after nearly five years in the hot seat, while Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes were sold and Kieran Trippier also departed.
Newcastle banked nearly £250million from those transfers, but have opted to sign young unproven players with potential as replacements. Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure, Sean Steur, Aladji Bamba and Lukas Hornicek have arrived to work under Jaissle.
Transition phase
The 38-year-old German was hired from Al-Ahli and is under no illusions over the task facing him. "We are in that transition phase," he said. "The players who have left were great characters, great players, experienced players. This is now a vacuum.
"We have to adjust something in the squad by signing these profile of players, or other players need to step up and fill these positions and these leadership roles.
"We are aware of what we need and the squad that we want. Internally, everyone is aware of that, and we are working on the solutions."
Transfer window and ambitions
Newcastle saw a move for Marseille midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg fall through recently and remain on the lookout for experience in the transfer window.
The Magpies finished a disappointing 12th in the Premier League last season under Howe and Jaissle has refused to state their ambitions this season. "This will not happen overnight, especially when you now have such a big transition phase," he said.
"You need to have a clear goal of where we want to go to. Then, if you have that synergy with the fans, the players and the staff to go there, then I’m pretty sure it will be a successful story. But we need time now. We can only do our best day by day, breaking it down with the goal long ahead.
"We are ambitious. But it makes no sense to promise you anything, because I don’t know how things look in half a year or one year. What we can control, we will control.
"Cutting the tasks down on a daily basis, doing the best job, and then we go in the right direction - and that is going to be successful."
Touchline style
Jaissle will be a contrast to the reserved Howe on the touchline, with his animated style likely to come to the fore. "I will not change my style because that's my personality," he said.
"On the touchline, I am emotional, but I need to respect the box [technical area] a bit more. I'm a bit scared. I hope in the beginning the referees can maybe close their eyes here and there a little. I need to learn that.
"I had a long touchline in Saudi Arabia, so I think the GPS would be quite high if I had worn it!"
