Is the Carabao Cup a priority for Newcastle United this season? Well, it certainly is for Matthias Jaissle.
The head coach discusses that and a whole lot more in his pre-Everton press conference from the club’s Benton media centre.
Here’s everything he said…
Fitness update on Miley & Fernandez-Pardo
These two players are still doubtful. There are question marks if they can make it. So, we need to see step by step. Still two days to decide and if they’re able to be in the squad or not. So with both of them, we we don’t want to take any additional risk. Hopefully they’re getting back soon.
Elanga & Ramsey fit to start?
Both of them making progress day by day. You see the physicality is getting better and better. When there’s the time to start, I will not tell you right now, but the progress is obviously to see.
Tino Livramento fitness update
I don’t want to be there too much in detail, as I don’t want to put too much pressure on him, first of all, but also not on the medical department. This is usually my approach when it comes to injuries. I can just assure you that I see him every day with a great professionalism in the rehab, hardworking. So hopefully we have him back soon.
Will NUFC go strong v Everton?
Yeah, due to the history from the club in that competition, I have the same approach to play with the best possible line-up. This is clear. I heard now we’re getting huge support again in an away match. Really special. I think 8,000 fans with us, taking the journey to support us. That’s something which shows the importance about that competition and we will for sure also be aligned with that and go all in.
The fans have huge expectations. We do as well. They had the taste now with winning that competition, and we can just work on our best, even though the situation, the circumstances, are a bit different after what happened in summer, but we try our best, and that’s with a great support also in Everton with 8,000 spectators, so that shows just how much our fans love this club.
Jaissle on the appointment of transfer chief Tomas Amaral
It’s always good to improve things. Ross is for sure the responsible guy and he’s leading that department. But it’s always good to have experts to have fresh energy in the team and we are looking forward working together alongside with him.
Transfer decision making, who has responsibility?
Like it was at least in the in a couple of last days in the transfer window. It’s a pure and a clear alignment between everyone involved. This is important. I think we show that throughout that journey already. Now, it was a short journey, but really clear to see that we are aligned with everything. We’re a unit. As a coach you thrive for high expectations also when it comes to signings, of course, but there are different aspects also to consider. One of the last press conference conferences we talked about the financial fair play rules, for instance, so it’s not a wish list, but, back to your question, we’re really aligned and we always working together.
Palace a turning point?
We were doing the the the simple things a bit better in the second half. We emphasize, like, always in the halftime, the potential what we can improve in our game.
So the first half was, for instance, out of possession, quite similar, in the second half, but we could take much more reward out of it. We were more target orientated. We had more the offensive mindset after ball wins, and, that led then also to goals. Also the fact that we improved in possession, about our structure, and, now it’s time to build on that. We have shown a solid performance, a good performance in the second half - in my eyes, also we deserve then that win in Crystal Palace - and now we hopefully can continue and build on that.
Rotate goalkeepers?
We have still two more days to make the final decision, but, you can be sure that we want to go with a really strong 11 into that game.
It’s always a balance, right, to rotate, but also on the other hand to find still stabilisation.
Now we rotated, if you want to say so, in the centre-back and in general the back positions quite a lot. So now it’s also time to bring more stabilisation throughout the journey of more matches to hopefully also have consecutive wins. Therefore we need to find the right balance, and, you can expect not too many changes.
Is the cup a priority, as some managers say it isn’t?
We try to play every match to win. Every competition is important. So I don’t want to be distinct there and decide for one or the other. I have that approach, and I can not speak on behalf of my coaching colleagues, but within their honesty I think they also want to win these matches.
Mood in camp after Palace win?
The mood was excellent, and it felt a bit different because I think the press conference afterwards was the shortest one. So that’s something I’m aware of. If we win, then I get less questions.
But in general of course, wins help to have a confidence to have a better mood in the squad. But I said it also beforehand that the commitment and the belief was always there, also when there was a setback.
So this group, this is mature enough to stick together, also when it’s stormy.
Ten games in, is this now a Jaissle team?
It will still take time. I mentioned it last week here that sometimes we feel that it’s still summer of a pre-season when it comes to the training sessions to bring basics into the team. We had so many injuries, at the peak eight or nine. Then the weeks with the national teams where you can not really work in detail with the whole team. So all these aspects leading to the fact that we’re still in the progress.
Toure and Steur likely to get minutes?
Yeah, but again, what I mentioned, we take that seriously, that match really serious. So you can expect not too many changes.