Newcastle United players make their feelings clear on Matthias Jaissle as big calls pay off
Newcastle United’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace was massive for head coach Matthias Jaissle.
Newcastle United bounced back from successive Premier League defeats with a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
A flat first half sparked into life after the break, with goals from Will Osula and Harvey Barnes putting the Magpies in control before the hour mark. The final half-hour was relatively comfortable, as United held on to record their second clean sheet of the season.
Matthias Jaissle made five changes from the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, a bold move that paid off by full-time. A combination of experience and fresh legs helped the club climb to eighth in the table.
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Here are five key talking points to emerge from the win in South London:
Matthias Jaissle’s big calls pay off
Five changes, three of them in the backline. To be honest, there was a hint of desperation about Jaissle’s decision to turn to some of his most experienced players just eight Premier League games into his tenure.
The starting XI went from an average age of 25 against Aston Villa to 27 at Crystal Palace. They were big calls that needed to work, and they absolutely did.
Jaissle dropped both Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman at centre-back, turning to the old guard of captain Dan Burn and Fabian Schar for their first starts of the campaign. Burn’s return was expected, Schar’s less so, but both made a huge difference.
“For me it's always important to mention that Sven and Malick did a good job in the last weeks, but today we went for more experience,” Jaissle explained. “For leadership skills in particular, to give stabilisation for a young group, for a group who was shaking a bit with the defeats, and we're really glad that it worked out.”
Jacob Murphy was another selection call, although his inclusion was perhaps forced, with Matias Fernandez-Pardo out ill and Anthony Elanga not ready to start after only just recovering from injury.
The 31-year-old has been criticised to the hilt on the terraces of late, but he fully repaid his manager’s faith with a disciplined defensive shift and a cross straight onto Will Osula’s boot to open the scoring.
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(A)mar Dedic – look away Tino Livramento
Making his first start in five weeks, Amar Dedic can be forgiven for looking a little rusty in the first half. After the break, however, the Bosnian came to life, forming part of a right-hand side that carved Palace open twice.
Dedic picked out Murphy in the build-up to the opener, with Osula eventually prodding home the winger's cross. The 24-year-old then helped set up a second goal, delivering an intelligent cutback for Harvey Barnes to make it 2-0.
Remarkably, despite having played 101 fewer games than Tino Livramento, Dedic has already surpassed the England international’s assist tally, registering four in just eight appearances.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that a Matthias Jaissle signing looks right at home in a Matthias Jaissle team.
Nico Gonzalez is a class act
Nico Gonzalez, formerly of Barcelona and a £50million signing from Manchester City, is a class act. Who’d have thought it, eh?
As Newcastle collectively went on a downward trajectory against Coventry City and Aston Villa, Gonzalez went in the opposite direction. Fortunately, the two trends converged at Selhurst Park.
He played a key role in both goals, helping to work the ball out to the right on each occasion. Of all the tactical tweaks Jaissle made, pushing Gonzalez further up the pitch rather than leaving him sitting between the two centre-backs proved particularly effective.
The Spaniard rarely wastes a pass and is one of the few players in the squad capable of taking the ball under pressure. He brings composure, control and authority to the midfield. It was a commanding display in every sense of the word.
The players are behind Matthias Jaissle
This was just as important a win for Jaissle as it was for Newcastle, coming on the back of a week in which the German faced countless questions about his philosophy and tactics.
The 38-year-old has only been in the job for three months, but the patience he deserves had begun to wear thin after the second-half performance against Hull City and back-to-back defeats to Coventry City and Aston Villa. After the opening 45 minutes at Selhurst Park, it looked very much like more of the same.
But Newcastle came out fighting after the break, which must have been heartening for a manager under scrutiny. It was perhaps telling that, during the celebrations before Joe Willock’s disallowed goal, the squad celebrated alongside their gaffer.
“Yeah, that [togetherness] was never a question,” Jaissle said. “During the week we had a really good commitment, a really good feeling. They're believing. Trust me, that's a unit definitely to see, but wins and victories are helping, so we're happy that we got the three points today.”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves
If the opening months of the new campaign have taught us anything, it’s to expect the ups and downs.
As we all know, Newcastle are going through a major transition period. While the second half at Selhurst Park was arguably the most complete half we’ve seen under Jaissle, choppy waters remain.
That’s why next Monday’s home match against Everton, which comes after the trip to Merseyside in the Carabao Cup on Thursday, is so difficult to predict.