Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has been speaking to the media ahead of the Magpies’ Premier League clash with Hull City at St James’ Park on Saturday
Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle(Image: News Images/NurPhoto)
Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has firmly dismissed suggestions he should adopt a back three system against Hull City to mirror the way their opponents line up at St James’ Park.
City make the trip to St James’ Park on Saturday having remained unbeaten in the Premier League since securing promotion from the Championship last season, and arrive on Tyneside currently occupying a place in the top four.
In contrast, Newcastle suffered their first defeat of the campaign in a crushing 4-1 reverse to Leeds United on Monday night at Elland Road, and there is significant interest in how Jaissle’s youthful squad will bounce back from that disappointment.
The Tigers also deploy three centre-backs and a back five when defending, and given Newcastle struggled to handle Leeds who employed a similar approach on Monday, Jaissle was questioned on whether he would contemplate replicating the Tigers’ system and departing from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.
“No, No. No. Absolutely the wrong approach,” Jaissle responded. “We’re really clear in the way we want to play with our principles behind that. That gives the players a clear framework. The formation is not too important.”
One of the crucial aspects of Saturday’s match will be whether Newcastle can penetrate a side that deploys a deep defensive block. This was something Eddie Howe’s Magpies notoriously found challenging last season, and when questioned about his confidence in finding solutions this time around, Jaissle believes his squad possesses the quality to trouble the Tigers.. “I can’t speak about last season but as you know Hull is doing an excellent job this season and not many teams are finding solutions against them,” Jaissle told Chronicle Live.
“That shows already how difficult it is so we have a clear approach, of course, of how we want to create chances, how we want to score goals. That will be a key element.
“Not only talking about the intensity, the aggressiveness in the phase out of possession, we also need to stress them and to have the intensity in possession. To constantly penetrate their last line, to stress them there and I am optimistic we have the quality on the pitch.
“So that will be the elements where we will focus on and there will be a reaction.”
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