Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle spoke after being beaten by Everton for the second time in five days
Matthias Jaissle reacts during the match between Newcastle United and Everton at St James' Park on November 2, 2026
Matthias Jaissle reacts during the match between Newcastle United and Everton at St James' Park on November 2, 2026(Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
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Under-fire Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle admitted his side didn't make it hard enough for Everton as David Moyes' men defeated them 1-0 at St James' Park to overcome the Magpies for the second time in five days.
The victory, that shot the Blues up from 14th to seventh in the Premier League table was their fourth over the Tyneside outfit this calendar year after another Premier League win at St James' Park (3-2) on February 28, a 3-1 triumph in a pre-season friendly at Murrayfield on August 12 and 3-1 success in the Carabao Cup at Hill Dickinson Stadium last Thursday.
The brace of defeats to Everton have seen Jaissle's odds to be the next Premier League manager to go cut from 20/1 to 15/2 and the 38-year-old whose previous post was with Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia insisted he picked up on the frustration and anger within the stadium from home fans.
Jaissle said: "I was aware of that and it was the same in the locker room. There's big frustration, big disappointment because we couldn't transfer what we saw during the week. The team was really training on a high level in the approach of how we actually wanted to play today.
"Then since the referee started the game, not much was seen. The fans, they're frustrated like we are."
The German added: "We played with a double six today who should hold our centre-backs and also to break the first line.
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"Like with many occasions, where we were in Everton, we couldn't bring them in the game. We were not brave enough, not courageous enough to break that line to play on the ground as well.
"We need to, of course, analyse that now in detail. It's also clear that I have the responsibility and I also take that as a manager of this club.
"We need to do things better like I just mentioned, there were many, many things not only in possession, which were not on the level we expected to see, also out of possession. We wanted to press them high, we want to stretch them as soon as possible.
"Then there was also clear distinction if that was overplayed from the opposition team that we defended in a compact block, but nothing between. So, again, it was not seen much today on the pitch."
Everton scored the only goal of the game with a Thierno Barry tap-in on 49 minutes after home keeper Lukas Hornicek allowed an effort from Tyrique George to slip through his hands. The error was in contrast to the rest of the home keeper's performance as he kept his side in the contest and in truth, the Blues should have triumphed more comfortably.
Jaissle admitted his side did not do enough and said: "In the second half also, even if you lack in confidence, then you should be able to bring the ball fast enough in the box because then you make the defenders from Everton defend, and make them have a more difficult job, a more difficult evening. But also that was in the end not good enough.
"We were not brave enough to challenge them, to go for the process then and penetrate the last line. So, we played too much around against the low block and this is something we need to work on to find that even more solutions like we did actually at Everton much better.
"We need to find solutions to break the first line and then also be more target oriented. Then you're getting more shots, then you force them to make mistakes.
"We talked about it already in the pre-season, we have clearly got an identity of how we want to play football. It means, especially here at home, stretch the opposition high on the pitch and 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. Also 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. But again, it was not much to see today in these 90 minutes, and that is something we need to work on."
Jack Grealish (Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)
Jack Grealish (Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)