The official reason Nico Gonzalez was forced off for Newcastle United at Leeds as double blow confirmed
Newcastle United injuries: Matthias Jaissle confirmed some fresh injury concerns for his side following the defeat at Leeds United.
Nico Gonzalez was an early withdrawal as Newcastle United lost 4-1 at Leeds United on Monday night.
The 24-year-old summer signing went down early on after the ball struck him in the head. After initially receiving treatment and playing on, Gonzalez was substituted off before the 20-minute mark with the score still goalless.
After falling to a heavy defeat at Elland Road, Matthias Jaissle said: “Of course, it didn't help that we lost Nico in the first half. We saw that the team became younger and younger, and this is something we need to be aware of.
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“I said that many times, especially when it's going to be tough, and it was tough, especially in the first half. Additionally, there were also unforced errors taking place before we conceded the goals, so you need to straight away find the right reaction on the pitch.”
Gonzalez was substituted with a suspected concussion which will likely keep him out of Saturday’s match against Hull City as the club follow concussion protocols.
“Yeah, with Nico, you know, as the manager, and also we as a club, have the responsibility,” Jaissle added. “He had that knock-out feeling, as you all saw. We were also responsible enough to take him off the pitch, even though he looked fine then, but there are also some rules, especially for that occasion.
“Independent of how important he is, and how important it is to win the match. We're all human beings as well, and we take that seriously, so therefore we made the decision to take him off the pitch.”
Gonzalez joins Anthony Elanga, Joelinton, Dan Burn, William Osula and Ewen Jaouen on Newcastle’s growing injury list.
“Anthony Elanga is obviously struggling with an injury, we need to further now investigate how serious it is but at the moment it doesn’t look too good,” Jaissle explained.
The Newcastle boss also added it ‘doesn’t look good’ for the chances of any players returning against Hull at St James’ Park this weekend. Jaissle’s side dropped to 12th in the table following their first defeat of the season but head into the match against an unbeaten Tigers side still searching for their first Premier League win at St James’ Park.