Matthias Jaissle has explained the brave decision to totally revamp his Newcastle United central defensive partnership.
Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman had started every single Premier League game this season, but Jaissle switched it up at Crystal Palace, throwing in skipper Dan Burn and Fabian Schar.
It worked, with the Magpies keeping a clean sheet and running out 2-0 winners at Selhurst Park. Burn was particularly impressive in the victory.
And Jaissle has revealed he took the decision to sure up the group, after admitting his young squad were ‘shaking’ a bit after a bruising few weeks in the league.
“For me, it’s always important to mention that Sven and Malik did a good job in the last weeks, but today we went for more experience, for leadership skills in particular, to give stabilisation to a young group, a group who was shaking a bit with the defeats, and we’re really glad that it worked out,” said Jaissle.
“It’s just due to the experience, the natural effect. They’ve had so many matches, and then they also have the capacity to coach others, to communicate on the pitch.
“This is really closely linked to being a bit older. I’m really happy.
“The only problem is that they killed us with the average age of the starting XI, but other than that, they did a great job.”