Matthias Jaissle given £244m reason to hit back at Newcastle United critics
Former Newcastle United winger Chris Waddle has sympathised with Matthias Jaissle.
Chris Waddle has sympathised with Matthias Jaissle over the state of his Newcastle United squad.
The Magpies had already sold Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali by the time Jaissle replaced Eddie Howe as head coach on August 5, before Bruno Guimaraes departed just days after the German's appointment. The sales combined were worth £244million.
Many of the club's incomings had also been completed before Jaissle arrived, with Amar Dedic, Nico Gonzalez and Matias Fernandez-Pardo the only players to join under his watch. All eight summer signings, including Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure, Sean Steur, Lukas Hornicek and Aladji Bamba, are aged 24 or under.
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Newcastle have picked up 11 points from their opening eight Premier League games, but heavy 4-1 defeats away to Leeds United and Coventry City, alongside a narrow 1-0 loss to Aston Villa, have led to scrutiny of Jaissle's tactics.
Chris Waddle sympathises with Matthias Jaissle
However, Waddle believes Jaissle deserves some sympathy given the significant changes to the squad he inherited.
"I like him because he sticks his chest out and he doesn’t avoid questions,” Waddle told The Gazette, via NetBet Casino. “This is a massive opportunity for him, but people forget that he’s come in at a hard time.
“Eddie Howe left for a reason. He probably looked at what was likely to happen in the summer and didn’t feel they were going to get any stronger.
“It’s an opportunity for the new manager to showcase what he can do with a squad that has undergone a lot of change and had its key players stripped out.
“Over the years with Kevin Keegan, Bobby Robson and Eddie Howe, Newcastle fans have gotten used to exciting, attacking football. He is obviously trying to continue that with what he’s doing.
“He is trying to do the right thing, but unfortunately the squad he’s working with is missing three key players from last season.
“They’ve brought in young players and a lot of them are still learning their trade. The Premier League is the most difficult league to do that in, and that has shown so far this season.
“They might be a success in time, but what Newcastle really needed was an immediate reaction to losing three of their biggest players. They needed to bring in three big players, but instead they went for five or six younger players with potential."
While Waddle has largely defended Jaissle, he has also identified a potential weakness in Jaissle’s approach, suggesting the team currently lacks a 'plan B'.
“When they lost to Aston Villa, I thought it was like watching an Eddie Howe side without as much quality on the pitch,” Waddle added. “They played on the front foot, came out the blocks quickly and went after Villa.
“What we’ve seen so far is that, at some point in the game, Newcastle are going to run out of steam. That’s exactly what happened against Villa. They weathered the storm, waited for Newcastle to be worn out and then took control of the game.
“Newcastle had another go at them for 20 minutes at the start of the second half, then the same thing happened again. You need to have a plan B, and at the moment it doesn’t look like they know what to do when they run out of steam.”