Hull City travel to Newcastle this afternoon to face a club in transition. Their most successful manager for decades has departed and along with Eddie Howe a stream of high-profile names have left St James’ Park. There is much change in the north east, so what can the Tigers expect when they face the Magpies this afternoon?
We asked Newcastle Chronicle football editor Stuart Jamieson to give us the lowdown on what to expect from the team today.
It felt like a decent start to the season until this week’s hammering at Leeds. Do you feel that defeat has significantly altered the mood and how should we reflect on Newcastle’s start so far?
Despite a positive start in terms of results, the Leeds defeat was on the cards. Newcastle were poor against Bournemouth and Millwall and while they won at Spurs, they were still under considerable pressure in the first half. The result at Elland Road, coupled with the current injuries, has meant much of the optimism after the first few games has dissipated, and fans encouraged by the performance against Liverpool have reined in their expectations.
However, they were being written off as relegation candidates before the season started, and they have shown enough to banish any thoughts of a battle at the wrong end of the table. It’s just a question of making some adjustments to make them more robust.
What has Matthias Jaissle brought to the team that is different to what we saw under Eddie Howe and are there signs it is working?
There are more similarities with Howe than difference, with Jaissle keen to play high pressing, front-foot football with pace. The difference is Howe had more top-quality players to work with.
Jaissle has spoken about ‘vertical football’ which seems to be about getting the ball forward quickly. When it works, such as in the draw with Liverpool, it means a quick transition into attack, but at Leeds it was long, aimless balls upfield.
Jaissle is certainly more animated than Howe on the touchline, but he has made a positive early impression after inheriting a hugely difficult situation just three weeks before the season started.
Newcastle have injury problems at the minute so what sort of line-up can we expect and given the summer absentees, will there be a few names in there some fans will not have heard of?
Newcastle signed eight players over the summer – not quite Hull levels, but a significant change. They focused on very young talent, with the eldest signings being Nico Gonzalez, Amar Dedic and goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, who are all only 24.
But while much of the talk has focused on the new strategy, it’s only really those more experienced trio who have featured regularly so far. That will have to change this weekend, with Gonzalez and Dedic injured joining Jacob Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Dan Burn, Joelinton and William Osula on the injury list.
There is a lot of excitement about 18-year-old Dutch midfielder Sean Steur, who has looked very promising so far, but we’ve yet to see much of Ivory Coast winger Bazoumana Toure and central midfielder Aladji Bamba. Toure has actually scored twice in very limited minutes so far, while Bamba has been restricted to late cameo roles. Steur will probably start alongside Lewis Miley (20) in what will be a very young midfield.
Many fans would like to see Bamba in for Jacob Murphy, with Harvery Barnes switched the right, but Jaissle is likely to stick with some more experienced players.
Finally, £51m deadline day signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo made his first start at Leeds but looked lost up front. He could drop back to the bench this weekend, but there is plenty of excitement over what he can offer once he gets up to speed.
What is the biggest strength of this Newcastle side which Hull City are going to have to overcome?
It should be pace, but Newcastle’s aim to build a side who can be electric in transition has been badly impacted by injuries. They still have two of the best full-backs in the Premier League in Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, and if they are allowed to get forward, they can be a real threat.
Their attacking mindset allows Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy to move inside to offer support to the frontmen, which can be a potent weapon.
Yoane Wissa is enjoying a new lease of life up front, and there’s a feeling Fernandez-Pardo will explode into life soon. Until Leeds, Newcastle have scored at least twice in every game so far . . . so don’t expect a goalless draw.
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