Matthias Jaissle watched his Newcastle United side lose to Everton at St James' Park (Image: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Wire)
Matthias Jaissle watched his Newcastle United side lose to Everton at St James' Park (Image: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Wire)
MATTHIAS JAISSLE has accused his Newcastle United players of failing to carry out the instructions they were delivered ahead of their home game with Everton.
Having crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of the Toffees last Thursday, the Magpies suffered a quickfire double tonight as Thierno Barry’s second-half strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park.
Newcastle’s attacking play was aimless for much of the evening, with a series of unsuccessful long balls being easily dealt with and cleared by the Everton defence.
Jaissle insists it was not the plan to be so direct, but has suggested his players failed to carry out the gameplan that had been prepared for them prior to kick-off.
“It’s a big frustration and a big disappointment because we couldn’t transfer what we saw during the week, a team that was really training on a high level with the approach of how we actually wanted to play,” said the Newcastle boss.
“As soon as the referee started the game, not much was seen. That’s difficult to understand, and of course the fans were frustrated like we are.
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“That was the frustrating part. We played with a double six today, who should have supported our centre-backs to break the first line. But we couldn’t bring them into the game.
“We were not brave enough or courageous enough to break that line, to play on the ground. It looked really good in the training session, but there was almost nothing to see from those aspects in the game.”
Jaissle was especially critical of his side’s attacking play, insisting that the lack of creativity and cohesion was not a reflection of the way in which he had set up his team to try to break down the Everton defence.
“We have a clear identity of how we want to play football,” he said. “It means we want to, especially here at home, stress the opposition high on the pitch, bring them into a stressful situation.
“Today, you saw that we were not brave enough to really go all the way to make the last steps and force them to make mistakes. In possession, it was not the plan to shoot the long balls. We spoke about patterns, how we can create problems, how we create two-versus-one situations on the pitch.”
While Jaissle was clearly unimpressed by his players’ efforts in their latest home defeat, he accepts it is ultimately his responsibility to turn things around.
“We need to analyse things now,” he said. “It’s clear that I have the responsibility, and I take that as the manager of this club. We need to do things better. There were many, many things in possession that were not at the level that was expected. Out of possession, we wanted to press them high and stretch then as soon as possible, but there was not much of that to see on the pitch.
“We are all in the same boat. We need to analyse it. But I am responsible to make it work, to make sure the players find their belief and their confidence.”