Even with my black and white eyes I could not find any argument to defend that Newcastle United performance on Monday .
They were quite simply beaten by a better team, in no area were they a match for Leeds United.
Only Lukas Hornicek and Lewis Hall from the starting eleven were able to leave Elland Road with their heads held high.
From an encouraging start to the season the wheels certainly came off at Leeds, to the extent that a large proportion of passes were woefully misplaced throughout the game and we spent the evening being easily outmuscled and outfought.
I’m sure that some prophets of doom are already doubting Matthias Jaissle and declaring that this group of Newcastle United players are not good enough. Both statements are a long way from the truth.
The reality is that the the club changed direction in the summer, bringing in mainly very young players with a high ceiling when it comes to their potential. Only four of the nine summer signings were older than 20, a 21-year-old Matias Fernandez-Pardo and a trio of 24-year-olds.
A lot of experience left the Newcastle United squad and with Al-Ahli delaying his appointment, Matthias Jaissle only officially appointed on Wednesday 5 August. Which gave the new Head Coach only only 18 days before the opening match of the season.
Moving from an experienced physical side to a far younger side with additional pace will cause issues in the Premier League with so time to gel.
Those who expected this team to beat everyone in the league were dreaming but the side will grow in every sense of the word, The potential to become a very good team as they progress with time and gaining experience, allowing for natural squad changes.
One final point to make about Monday is that a big issue was the way we were bullied (hopefully other teams were not watching). If Dan Burn and Big Joe had been available would Newcastle United have been so easily bullied? I don’t think so!
We are still early in the season and I am sure things will improve.
In the meantime, I think if pre-season you’d have been offered to sit where we are now after three wins, two draws and one defeat, many NUFC fans would have happily taken it.
No need to panic and while I was and still am a great fan of what Eddie Howe achieved, I think that in Matthias Jaissle we have another potentially very good manager.