𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Newcastle United fought back from a goal to overcome 10-man hosts Valencia and hand Matthias Jaissle a 2-1 win in his first friendly as their head coach.

The Spanish side took an early lead when Filip Ugrinic curled in from distance, but were reduced to 10 men when Jose Gaya went in dangerously on Anthony Elanga in the 35th minute. Elanga was worryingly taken off on a stretcher, much to Jaissle’s anger, though the early prognosis is that he has avoided serious injury.

In the 52nd minute, Yoane Wissa, on as a half-time substitute, capitalised on a defensive error to equalise. The DR Congo international also scored the winner with 20 minutes to go, tapping into an empty net after debutant Bazoumana Toure unselfishly squared to him, and, following a difficult first season on Tyneside, this was a really encouraging cameo for the former Brentford man.

Chris Waugh was there for The Athletic at the Mestalla, and these were the key takeaways…

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A first glimpse of ‘Jaissle-ball’

“Energy” was the word on everyone’s lips inside Newcastle’s training camp this week and the high-intensity, high-pressing, “vertical” nature of ‘Jaissle-ball’ was evident against Valencia.

Newcastle started both halves at lightning-quick pace, with their double-pivot midfielders tasked with playing the forwards in behind Valencia’s high line.

As he often did at previous club Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia, Jaissle deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Nick Woltemade as the No 10.

It was not your typical ‘heavy-metal football’ throughout, though. Newcastle did have spells where they were more patient in possession, when Jaissle encouraged his defenders to push high and squeeze.

On the touchline, the 38-year-old German barked instructions and clapped encouragement throughout. Rarely did he remain in his technical area, literally following the ball up and down that wing.

Having worn Newcastle’s grey club tracksuit for intense sessions at their La Manga training camp during the week, when he was also sporting a whistle and a stopwatch and sprinted around after his players, leading some staff members to joke they should have attached a GPS tracker to the head coach as well, Jaissle emerged at the Mestalla in a stylish white shirt, dark trousers and white trainers combo. There was also a black armband, as Newcastle continue to pay their respects to the late Kevin Keegan.

When a hydration break was called on the half-hour mark, Jaissle produced a tactics board and relayed clear messages.

“With a hard week behind us, the players did well in the camp, and they did well in the heat,” Jaissle told reporters later. “It was a friendly — we will not smash the locker room and celebrate a lot. We are quite balanced, and we still have a lot to work on.”

Almost 2,000 Newcastle fans (officially) were in attendance, and they were dancing in the streets of Valencia and up high in the stadium, chanting, “Oh Jaissle, I can boogie”.

The new coach’s Tyneside tenure is less than a week old, but already his ideas are discernible.

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Injury fears ease after tempers flare

For a player to be shown a straight red card in a friendly, they must have done something serious.

Gaya was not necessarily off the ground when he lunged, but Elanga had already jinked beyond him and, as Jaissle immediately gestured to the assistant referee, the Valencia winger appeared to go in studs-up.

The challenge riled not only Jaissle, but also his players. Will Osula, who is close friends with Elanga, sprinted across and confronted Gaya, who got a shove from Jacob Ramsey.

“I was in fear, definitely,” said Jaissle. “It’s just a bad challenge, especially in the context of a friendly. It was not expected. Fouls are part of the game, but that was really harsh.”

After a testing debut season under Eddie Howe, there are high hopes that Jaissle’s style can bring the best out of Elanga in year two, and he started the match promisingly, having a goal disallowed for a marginal offside and regularly getting in behind the home defence.

Fortunately, the early prognosis is that the Swede only suffered a painful contusion to his shin.

“It seems to be not bad, so we are blessed,” Jaissle said. “I hope it’s true and he can start next week (in the next warm-up game against Everton on Wednesday).”

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Thiaw’s birthday gift — or a permanent appointment?

Bruno Guimaraes’ £75million ($101.2m) move to Arsenal was confirmed earlier on Saturday, leaving Jaissle without arguably the club’s most important player of the Howe era.

Critically, the transfer means Newcastle’s new head coach is without a captain, and leadership roles are very much up for grabs. There is a feeling within the club that certain individuals have already stepped up, looking to assume greater responsibility.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Jaissle selected a fellow German to wear the armband for his first match. Centre-back Malick Thiaw was handed an extra present on the day he turned 25 as he was named skipper for the night (at least).

“It was a small birthday gift,” Jaissle said, with a smile. “I still have time to make the final decision, but there is not only one captain; there (will be) a leadership group.”

It is a move which makes sense. Although Thiaw is hardly the most vocal of players, he is a consistent performer, level-headed and likely to start most matches this season.

The suggestion is further captaincy trials will follow — Jacob Murphy, who had replaced Elanga, was given the armband when Thiaw was withdrawn in the second half — but bringing in more experience during the closing weeks of the transfer window is also on the agenda.

Marseille’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, a 31-year-old Denmark international who has played over 250 Premier League games for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, is among around half a dozen midfielders who are under consideration.

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Trio make their bows — and Wissa thrives

Newcastle paid just over £25million this week to bring Lukas Hornicek to Tyneside from Portugal’s Braga and the early indications are the 24-year-old Czech international will be Jaissle’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Nick Pope has been at the club’s week-long training camp in La Manga, but was not named in a matchday squad today which featured three goalkeepers. Mark Gillespie, the 34-year-old who has been at the club since summer 2020 but not made a senior appearance since that September, and Aidan Harris, 19, were selected instead.

Following Hornicek’s arrival, the expectation had been Pope, also 34, would depart after four years with Newcastle in search of first-team football. “We wanted to give the new signing 90 minutes,” Jaissle said. “I had a talk with Nick. I really appreciate what he did in his career so far, and he knows exactly his situation right now, and we need to deal with it in the best possible way.”

There was no Ewen Jaouen, either, as the 20-year-old summer signing had a small injury issue.

For Hornicek, this was a decent introduction. He displayed reasonable distribution and made a few good saves, as well as showing sweeper-’keeper skills.

There were early communication issues with his centre-backs, mind. Thiaw and Sven Botman tried to clear lofted balls forwards which Hornicek should have been claiming, with the latter almost heading into his own net on one occasion.

Aladji Bamba, meanwhile, started as part of the double pivot, with the 20-year-old making his first appearance since joining last month for a fee potentially rising to €40million (£34.3m; $46.2m). The defensive midfielder partnered Ramsey and the pair were tasked with getting the ball forward quickly.

Bamba has a languid style and his passing is sometimes erratic, but he carries well and looks to be ideally suited to the Premier League from a physical perspective. He was withdrawn at half-time.

Toure came on at the interval for his debut, too. A direct, left-footed left-winger, he initiated the press which forced the mistake to allow Wissa, who was also a half-time substitute, to equalise.

The DR Congo international seems likely to thrive on the sort of service Toure is able to provide. The 20-year-old Ivory Coast international already has an assist to his name after one half in a Newcastle shirt, albeit in a friendly, and offers a different kind of threat compared with the right-footed Harvey Barnes.

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Full-back concern only grows

Murphy deputised as a right-back in the previous friendly away to Bristol City in midweek and Leo Shahar, 19, has started three of the four warm-up games overall. Now Miodrag Pivas, a midfielder or centre-back by trade, is providing cover at left-back.

The primary reason why the 21-year-old was asked to switch across to that position is Newcastle are desperately short of full-backs in general — never mind fit ones.

Tino Livramento, the first-choice at right-back, is still being nursed back from the groin problem that stopped him playing in the World Cup and it may take the 23-year-old weeks yet to reach full match sharpness.

The loss of his fellow England international Lewis Hall for this game due to a knock provided Jaissle with a headache. The 21-year-old flew back to Tyneside on Friday — as did Fabian Schar and Lewis Miley — after picking up a very minor injury, though he is due to train on Sunday and may feature against Everton, at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, on Wednesday.

Miley filled in at right-back last season, but he too is unavailable at the moment, though his 17-year-old brother Mason is also able to play there and has featured at full-back in recent weeks. Dan Burn is yet to rejoin his team-mates following his World Cup exploits with England. Dylan Charlton, 20, came on for Pivas at left-back tonight.

Newcastle have needed to sign at least one full-back all summer and, although Jaissle is still assessing his squad, it is evident he requires a minimum of one new wide defender, if not more. Full-backs are integral to the way he wants to play and Newcastle are still alarmingly short of senior options there, with the season opener at home against Liverpool two weeks away (Sunday, August 23).

As Jaissle put it: “Our squad is not complete.”