Matthias Jaissle is stuck in a dangerous tactical limbo, and Newcastle United are in for an extremely bumpy ride
Matthias Jaissle’s tactical philosophy sounds great on paper, but it’s failing on grass. Shaped by his formative years under Ralf Rangnick at Hoffenheim, then refined in Austria managing FC Liefering and Red Bull Salzburg, and adapted to the idiosyncrasies of Saudi Arabian football with Al-Ahli. He won six trophies with the latter two clubs across five seasons.
At its core, his approach is aggressive, vertical football which places emphasis on the middle of the pitch. Rather than pressing opponents in horizontal banks, Jaissle likes his teams to stay narrow and tempt goalkeepers and defenders to play risky passes.
The instant his team cede possession, he wants the nearest players to swarm the carrier in a compact ‘cage’ where the ball can be won back in around eight seconds, an idea influenced by Rangnick.
Two passes
His fullbacks and central midfielders stay high when attacking, ensuring that defensive transitions happen 40–50 yards away from their own goal. But if they go wrong, as we saw at Everton on Thursday night, it leaves them open at the back. Very open.
The likes of Leeds, Coventry and Everton have proved it’s possible to break through Newcastle in as few as two fairly simple passes. One of those vs Everton came from Jordan Pickford.
At present, Jaissle’s Newcastle are a dream to play against. They fly out of the traps, create chances (which they tend not to take), then hit a lull. Opponents already have a blueprint to beat them: rope-a-dope until the lactic hits, and then pounce in the acres of space that emerge in the Newcastle half.
After 23 minutes on Thursday night, Jacob Ramsey diligently followed his manager’s instructions and counter-pressed into Everton’s far corner; Fabian Schar stepped out of defence to cover the midfielder, leaving Burn one-on-one with Thierno Barry high up the pitch. Everton don’t find the pass, but it’s a warning of how vulnerable Newcastle are.
Soon after, Hayden Hackney dropped into the back line to get on the ball and, in accordance with Jaissle’s tactics, Nico Gonzalez tracks him, leaving Ramsey to man the entire middle of the pitch alone.
Later, young winger Tyler Dibbling finds himself inside a Jaissle pressing ‘cage’ surrounded by four Newcastle players, but finds a pass to Merlin Röhl, who breaks into Newcastle’s final third where he makes a poor decision and lets them off the hook. Another warning sign.
Minutes later, Amar Dedic loses possession at right back. A tiring Nico Gonzalez is late to press, then a tiring Jacob Ramsey is late to the press, and James Gardner strokes home to the delight of watching Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Jaissle’s successful teams have had young, hungry, hyper-athletic players built for 90 minutes of non-stop sprinting; not many in Newcastle’s current squad fit that mould, and they look vulnerable at the end of halves.
On 45 minutes, Jacob Ramsey commits a foul; the ref plays a good advantage, then doesn’t have the legs to track Hayden Hackney, who scores. Ramsey didn’t reemerge for the second half.
Out of possession, Newcastle have absolutely zero control, but on it they are quite exciting. The idea is direct penetration; they rarely indulge in slow, horseshoe passing around the back. The objective is to break lines as quickly as possible and turn possession into a shot within seconds. They had 28 to Everton’s 11 in this game.
Jaissle has to somehow make Newcastle more solid in midfield, and offer the centre backs and goalkeeper more protection. Switching from two in midfield to three could help, but he doesn’t strike me as a man to row back on his principles after a dozen games.
After 69 minutes, the game is over when Thierno Barry applies a neat finish to a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall cross.
Newcastle have never felt in control and on top in a game for more than 30 minutes this season, which is an obvious concern. Nearly 8,000 Newcastle fans travelled to Merseyside to watch the team be carved open. Rarely has an away end emptied as fast, with less than 10% hanging around to clap/boo.
David Moyes wasn’t exactly gushing in his post-match press conference, aware that Newcastle dominated for the first 15-20 minutes of the game and Everton had to weather that storm: “I thought it was a tough game, and we got the goals at good times”.
Jaissle said, “It’s a bit shocking at the moment, because overall the game was not that bad. It’s a bit of the story of the season so far that in a situation where it really counts we lack the clinical approach to solve the situations.”
He can be quite robotic in his press conferences, which will do nothing for his approval rating on Tyneside. “It’s a learning process, but you don’t get the time. Especially with these young lads.”
Speak to anyone behind the scenes at the club, and they will reiterate that Jaissle is a long-term bet for the owners. Unless scorelines get seriously ugly, he will be given time to apply his methods.
Pointing to this game’s statistics (Newcastle had an xG of 2.14 vs Everton’s 1.67, 9 shots on target to their 5 and 38 touches in the box to their 19) hints at a flickering light in the tunnel of disappointing results. But the we’re-not-taking-our-chances defence will only work for so long. Managers whose players consistently don’t take their chances tend to lose their jobs.
