Newcastle United manager Matthias Jaissle will lead his team into a first competitive match under his management next weekend. Liverpool will visit St James’ Park for a 4.30pm kick-off on Sunday 23 August.
What happened?
Ahead of that, Newcastle United has two final pre-season friendlies. This brings an extra complication that Matthias Jaissle could have done without.
Why it matters for Newcastle United
Thrown in at the deep end, the new manager has had a couple of weeks to work with the players on the training pitch, plus two friendlies, a 2-1 win over Valencia and a 3-1 defeat to Everton. The only problem is that these two friendlies are on consecutive days. I have long since thought it was a bit daft this idea of a St James’ Park double header, a week before the season kicks off. Newcastle United have never had a large enough squad to put out two strong teams across a weekend.
What comes next?
Fans turning up on Saturday and Sunday will of course all be expecting to see a certain level of team on the pitch, so what can the new boss do? On Wednesday, with only 11 days until the new season, Matthias Jaissle put out a team in the first half that many fans assumed was what he considered his strongest available: Newcastle United (first half): Lukáš Horníček, Leo Shahar, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman, Lewis Hall, Joelinton, Aladji Bamba, Bazoumana Touré, Anthony Elanga, Yoane Wissa, William Osula. Then after the break all ten outfield players were changed… Newcastle United (second half): Lukáš Horníček, Mason Miley, Henry Johnson, Miodrag Pivas, Dylan Charlton, Sean Steur, Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock, Jacob Ramsey, Harvey Barnes, Nick Woltemade. Mark Gillespie, Aidan Harris, Rory Finneran and Sean Neave were unused subs. For this weekend it is expected Dan Burn will make a playing return in one of the two friendlies but Tino Livramento won’t play. It is expected that Ewen Jaouen, Lewis Miley and Fabian Schar are fit enough to be involved. Interesting to see what Matthias Jaissle does against Bayer Leverkusen and Strasbourg, the squad evenly split over the two matches, or what looks his first team and then a much weakened side for the other?
