Newcastle United's Bazoumana Toure takes on Strasbourg's Guela Doue at St James' Park (Image: Andy Commins/PA Wire)
Newcastle United's Bazoumana Toure takes on Strasbourg's Guela Doue at St James' Park (Image: Andy Commins/PA Wire)
TWO friendly matches, a draw and a defeat, and an end to Matthias Jaissle’s easing-in process as Newcastle United head coach. When the German returns to the St James’ Park sidelines next Sunday, he will do so amid the red-hot atmosphere of a Premier League game against Liverpool rather than the somewhat more subdued surrounds of the Visit Malta weekender.
Are Newcastle ready for the real business to begin? The simple answer is that they will have to be, even if this weekend’s performances, in a 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen and a 1-1 draw with Strasbourg, which was followed by a 3-2 loss on penalties, once again provided more questions than answers. Do the Magpies need more signings? Yes. Is the current squad good enough or deep enough to significantly improve on last season’s 12th-place finish? Almost certainly not. Will things be markedly different come the end of the transfer window? Who knows.
At least Jaissle can derive a modicum of optimism from today’s performance against Strasbourg, which was superior to the one delivered by a completely different Newcastle XI against Bayer Leverkusen 24 hours earlier and more in keeping with the win in Valencia that marked the start of his reign. It should also be noted, however, that Bayer Leverkusen are a superior side to Strasbourg, and even then, today’s French opposition scored and hit the woodwork twice.
Will Osula, who scored his first pre-season goal in the first half of today’s game, was the biggest winner from the weekend’s two matches from a Newcastle perspective, even if he was one of three home players to miss from the spot in the shootout along with Jacob Ramsey and Aladji Bamba.
Osula burst into life in the final month of last season, muscling ahead of Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade to establish himself as Eddie Howe’s first-choice centre-forward, and while Jaissle has been keeping his cards fairly close to his chest when it comes to the pecking order within his squad, there must be a strong likelihood of Osula starting against Liverpool next weekend.
The 23-year-old saved his best pre-season performance for last, bullying the Strasbourg defence in a display that highlighted many of his most exciting qualities. His goal was a classic striker’s one as he burst ahead of his marker to slide home a slick first-time finish from Jacob Murphy’s low cross, and he went close again just before half-time with a swerving 20-yard strike that was clawed away by Strasbourg goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.
Given that Newcastle are unlikely to sign another striker this summer, and that both Wissa and Woltemade underwhelmed in Saturday’s defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, Osula will almost certainly have to carry a lot of attacking weight on his shoulders this season.
At the other end of the pitch, Dan Burn and Fabian Schar both played for the opening 45 minutes of the Strasbourg game, with the former easing himself back into things after his World Cup exploits with England and the latter returning to action after recovering from the injury that forced him off at Bristol City in Eddie Howe’s final game. Malick Thiaw, who played the full 90 minutes on Saturday, will almost certainly start against Liverpool, presumably with Burn alongside him given that the Blyth-born centre-half was announced as Newcastle’s new club captain this weekend.
Who will start in midfield next Sunday? That is a much tougher call, with much probably depending on the fitness of Lewis Miley, who played the opening 45 minutes of Saturday’s defeat. If Miley is deemed fit enough to start against Liverpool, he will surely be in the starting XI, probably with Bamba alongside him. If Miley is named as a substitute after a shortened pre-season, Ramsey could find himself partnering Bamba after the pair dovetailed reasonably effectively in today’s game. Ramsey was at fault for Strasbourg’s second-half equaliser, though, losing the ball on the edge of his own 18-yard box to enable Giovanni Reyna to tee up his fellow substitute, Gessime Yassine, for a side-footed finish that flew into the top corner.
Saturday’s game saw a Newcastle side featuring both Lewis and Mason Miley lose 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen. Ibrahim Maza opened the scoring in the opening minute, curling a shot past Lukas Hornicek, with Newcastle equalising on the stroke of half-time when Thiaw looped home a header from Anthony Elanga’s corner.
Leverkusen restored their lead when Victor Boniface stroked home a low finish, with the Magpies failing to offer much of an attacking threat despite the presence of both Wissa and Woltemade in their starting side.
Newcastle (Saturday): Hornicek; M Miley (Pivas 80), Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Steur, L Miley (Finneran 46), Elanga, Woltemade (Neave 86), Barnes; Wissa.
Newcastle (Sunday): Jaouen; Shahar, Schar (Pivas 46), Burn (Johnson 46), Charlton; Bamba, Ramsey; Murphy (Neave 75), Willock (Finneran 87), Toure; Osula.