Matthias Jaissle has admitted he risks Premier League fines after criticising referee Stuart Attwell for a "soft call" that denied him his first win as Newcastle United head coach. The German was seconds from his first top-flight victory in English football when a late penalty decision changed the outcome.
Late penalty denies first win
Jaissle had thrown on Fabian Schar as a late change, extending the game to the 99-minute mark. In that additional period, Lewis Hall's knee-to-knee challenge on Victor Munoz led to a spot-kick, which Dominik Szoboszlai converted at the death to make it 2-2.
Goals from Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock had looked to have sealed a 2-1 win until Hall's challenge proved costly. Jaissle held an immediate debrief with his players after the match and emerged for his press conference almost an hour later.
Jaissle's dressing room message
Reflecting on what he told his players, Jaissle said: "I can't repeat everything. Because I will get in trouble and have to pay some fines. Overall, I told them I am really, really proud over what I saw over 90 minutes. It is a top starting point and a foundation we can build on."
He added: "We were there for each other, but something went wrong. There is frustration but these are the challenges. We had pre-season with a transition phase. Today, somebody threw some stones away; we need to take that out to be successful."
Reaction to penalty decision
On the penalty that denied him his first win, Jaissle said: "It was a really soft one. If you give that, there will be so many penalties in the future. I am not a fan of that, I have to say."
He continued: "Hard luck, I would say. I'm really, really happy with the performance after such a short amount of time. The guys were fighting till the end, they put their heart on the pitch and this is something we said that's not negotiable. That's the standard. And together with the crowd, it was, in general, a really good performance. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the full three points."
Jaissle acknowledged the mood in the camp: "The heads are a little bit down, but they're also realistic; they know that we had many mini challenges already. There's a huge transition phase at the moment. But we tried already, and encouraged them that this is another part where we got some challenges to overcome. Someone was throwing some stones on the way. I need to be careful, not to get fined."
