Matthias Jaissle’s mad first fortnight as he tries to stabilise Newcastle
Matthias Jaissle’s mad first fortnight as he tries to stabilise Newcastle
Luke EdwardsSun, August 23, 2026 at 7:00 AM UTC
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Matthias Jaissle has been handed the task of navigating Newcastle United’s rebuild - Andy Commins/PA
Matthias Jaissle does not lack confidence. He has complete conviction in his methods and ability to bring out the best in players and teams. He has no fear of failure because he has never experienced it as a manager.
This has been apparent to everyone who has spent time with the 38-year-old since his appointment as Newcastle United head coach just over a fortnight ago. He is impressive in stature, but also in deeds.
He has paid almost as much attention to support staff, analysts and the medical team as he has to his players.
He has also not sugar-coated anything. Jaissle knows he is up against it. Time is the enemy, given how late he arrived in pre-season and he understands the size of the task ahead.
These are early days, but the energy and purpose he has brought to the job have impressed everyone at all levels of the club. Clear communication is at the heart of everything. He explains what he expects, what he needs and what has to be done, no matter who the conversation is with.
Jaissle chats with his backroom staff during Newcastle’s pre-season victory over Valencia - Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The optimism and positivity he has injected into the club following the painful departure of Eddie Howe is about to collide with the brutal reality of a Premier League campaign, starting at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
There are plenty who believe Newcastle are going to suffer a period of damaging decline on the pitch. But in just two weeks, Jaissle has taken control of the football side of the club and begun to shape it in his image.
The size of the task
Jaissle is not overwhelmed by what he has walked into. Which is just as well, as he has taken on one of the toughest jobs in the Premier League at Newcastle United, trying to pull together a squad that has lost four of its best players, and has replaced Howe, the club’s most successful manager for 70 years.
Howe quit three weeks into pre-season as he no longer believed in the project led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and its ability to fulfil its stated ambition to be among Europe’s elite clubs by 2030. He was exhausted, drained and deeply frustrated by the club’s financial constraints.
Perhaps more pertinently for Jaissle, having seen the club miss out on a succession of their first-choice transfer targets this summer – and having realised captain Bruno Guimarães was going to force his £75m move to Arsenal – Howe no longer felt he had the tools to do the job.
Newcastle have replaced the goals, quality and experience of Guimarães, Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali this summer with young players from across Europe. They have potential, but very little experience of senior football and no body of work to prove they can flourish in the Premier League.
That would have been enough to scare off many potential successors, but Jaissle did not flinch when he was offered the chance. His self-belief is ironclad.
Those at the club believe their new manager is the right man to rebuild the team following Eddie Howe’s departure - Pablo Morano/Reuters
In his interviews with sporting director Ross Wilson and chief executive David Hopkinson, carried out in secrecy as they fought to keep news of Howe’s desire to quit private, Jaissle impressed them with his vision for the future.
He was bright and articulate, speaking fluent English, having worked hard on perfecting the language during his three years in charge of Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli. He was full of energy and brimming with ideas. He explained in great detail what his football philosophy was, how he wanted to play and why it would work at Newcastle. They wanted to offer him the job immediately.
As one well-placed source told Telegraph Sport: “He is going to be elite, he is absolutely perfect for what we need.”
Another could barely contain their excitement, insisting Jaissle would prove he “is in the top one per cent of managers, someone who will soon be talked about as one of the greats of the new generation”.
Whatever your view of the appointment of a young manager who has achieved success in Austria and Saudi Arabia, but has a CV that lacks experience in Europe’s top leagues, those comments capture the mood behind the scenes.
Jaissle had also done his research. He has read extensively about the club before and after he was appointed. He read many of the tributes to club legend Kevin Keegan and what made him so successful at Newcastle as both a player and a manager.
He has watched Amazon Prime’s We are Newcastle United documentary made shortly after the takeover by PIF and he has spoken to Howe, too, to get his thoughts on what makes the club tick.
For Jaissle, there is a comparison he has made to a club in Germany: Schalke. Based in a one-club city, a working-class, former industrial centre with an obsession with football; where the club are at the heart of everyday conversations and life. Football matters to people and they want to be entertained on a match day. It is a decent comparison, not least because the city of Gelsenkirchen is twinned with Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Nobody wanted to lose Howe, but Wilson had been compiling a shortlist of potential replacements since the spring and had three weeks to identify, interview and secure Jaissle. It was not, despite perceptions outside the building, a decision made in panic.
They are thrilled to have him and excited about what he is going to do.
Jaissle will oversee a club going through a period of change - Lee Smith/Reuters
That optimism is not universally shared. Many supporters are alarmed by what has happened this summer and fear for the future, but internally, Jaissle has made a huge impression in a very short period of time.
How Jaissle teams play
So what can we expect to see from the German’s team this season? The style of play will not be a huge leap away from Newcastle under Howe, even if Jaissle’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation is a departure from his predecessor’s 4-3-3.
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At their best, Newcastle’s swarm press, physicality and speed were a nightmare to face. Jaissle will bring many of those things, too. He wants Newcastle to play intense, front-foot, attacking football. The new buzzword in football analysis is “vertical”. Translated, this basically means Jaissle wants his team to be bold, to pass the ball forwards, quickly and at every opportunity.
They will not be afraid to go direct, even though Newcastle lack a physical and aerially dominant centre-forward who can leverage long balls in the air. They will not necessarily look to control possession, they will want to force a territorial advantage and they will be, in theory, relentless in their desire to attack and win back the ball. The wide players will be particularly important, the wingers pushing high, trying to pin the opposition full-backs.
Wide players, such as Harvey Barnes (right), will be fundamental to Jaissle’s plans - Craig Brough/Reuters
These are all things Jaissle sold Newcastle when he was interviewed and Wilson and Hopkinson believe this is the identity supporters want to see in their team. Interestingly, the players signed earlier this summer for Howe fit a similar profile to those that would have been chosen by Jaissle.
A dressing-room source told Telegraph Sport: “The manager has made it clear he wants players who show their passion and their fight. He wants a team that shows its emotions on the pitch, individuals who give their heart to the team and the supporters. He thinks this is very important and especially at a club like Newcastle.”
In training, this has already been drilled into the players. The physical demands are ferocious, but there have been specific segments of sessions where backward passes are banned in designated areas. The idea is to have an offensive mindset, pass progressively, take risks and be bold.
There has been an intense focus on patterns of play in the final third, how to create overloads and triangles to play up the pitch. The speed at which Newcastle intend to play this season will be rapid, even by English football standards. Without European football to contend with, Newcastle’s schedule is a kind one in which to implement Jaissle’s blueprint. Whatever happens, Newcastle plan to be in the face of every opposition team this season.
There is, however, an acceptance that it will take time. We are not going to see the best version of Jaissle’s Newcastle for several weeks. It may not be until after the international break in September that his ideas and methods are understood and implemented properly.
Pre-season hurdles
Through no fault of anyone, pre-season has been an issue. There have been too many games – a schedule designed for Howe – and not enough time on the training ground for a new manager fighting against a first Premier League fixture deadline.
Recruitment has also been a challenge. The new manager had to assess his squad quickly. The signing of full-back Amar Dedic was lined up before he arrived, but the fact he had previously worked with the 24-year-old at Salzburg made it an easy agreement.
The next priority – and one Jaissle has not been afraid to forcefully stress in meetings with Wilson – is the signing of an experienced central midfielder. It is a non-negotiable request. The term experienced does not automatically mean a player in their late 20s or early 30s, but Jaissle wants a Premier League-ready player who can slot straight into the side.
A move for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was made and aborted when the former Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton player was shocked to discover Marseille wanted to sell him. Despite being subsequently stripped of the Ligue 1 side’s captaincy, it has not progressed. A deal for Bayern Munich’s João Palhinha was considered, but contrary to reports, nothing advanced because of the player’s personal situation.
Newcastle’s interest in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has cooled despite tensions between the player and his club Marseille - Thibaud Moritz
Spurs’ Lucas Bergvall and Brighton’s Carlos Baleba have been discussed but nothing more than that. There are some doubts over the viability and suitability of both. Jaissle has had his own input, but the longer the wait for a new midfielder goes on the more anxious he will get. It is the glaring hole that needs to be filled following the sale of Guimarães.
A dose of realism
In his first address to staff in La Manga, Jaissle warned that it would be difficult. That nothing about the situation was ideal. But they could not use any of it as an excuse. Everyone had to make the best out of the situation. Those who look for excuses will not last long.
Sources have talked about a more open approach. Howe was a brilliant manager and a successful one, but he had his inner circle and did not easily trust anyone outside of it. Not even at boardroom level.
Jaissle has tried to make everyone feel important and involved. New managers always bring a sense of possibility; a fresh start.
The dressing-room dynamics have already changed. New leaders have emerged, with Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Yoane Wissa becoming far more vocal following the departure of senior players this summer. The latter, in particular, has taken the youngsters under his wing as they settle in, helped by the fact he speaks so many languages fluently.
Yoane Wissa (left) and Malick Thiaw (right) are among those who have stepped up as leaders in the Newcastle dressing room - Serena Taylor/Getty Images
Jaissle also had a strong idea of who he wanted to replace Guimarães as captain from the moment he got the job.
Dan Burn was given an extended break after his role in England’s World Cup campaign, but Jaissle had already singled him out as a candidate to take the armband.
Jaissle and Burn spoke immediately after he returned to training last week and the decision became a straightforward one. He had been told when he got the job that it was likely that Guimarães would be sold and, although they spoke in La Manga before the Brazil international left, there was no attempt to persuade him to stay. You cannot miss something you never had and Jaissle already felt he had the ideal person to replace his leadership.
“Dan Burn understands the football club and the city,” a source close to Jaissle said. “He knows better than anyone what is required to play for Newcastle United and that is so important.
“There are a lot of new players and they need someone who can show them how to behave, train and conduct themselves inside and out of the club. There was nobody better to do that than Dan.”
Newcastle are stepping into the unknown. They have a new manager and a new team. They have lost their best players and look weaker as a result. The mood in the fanbase is angsty. There is already some anger around; genuine concern that the squad is ill-equipped to cope this season.
But mainly there is a nagging sense of anxiety; the fear of a once ambitious project faltering and stalling. It could be a volatile season but Jaissle has done everything he could to calm things down internally and focus on what needs to be done to get up to speed.
Now he needs to win some football matches.
Source: “AOL Sports”
