Matthias Jaissle has been speaking to Sky Sports.
The interview coming only days before the 2026/27 Premier League season kicks off.
Newcastle United taking on Liverpool this Sunday.
Thrown in the deep end, Matthias Jaissle has had less than three weeks to work with the Newcastle players and only the four friendlies to see how the team performs on the pitch. The final two friendlies largely a waste of time due to this daft idea (which looks even dafter this summer) by the Newcastle United hierarchy of forcing the manager to split the team/squad for matches on consecutive days, the weekend immediately ahead of the new season.
It emerged that Eddie Howe had told the club at the very start of pre-season that he was resigning but agreed to hold the fort until the new manager was ready to come in. It then took the Newcastle United owners and senior staff a couple of weeks to decide on Matthias Jaissle and reach agreement with him, only for Al-Ahli to delay his NUFC start by a further number of days (even though Newcastle United had met his £9,5m release clause) as they were far from happy to lose him.
So how is the new manager seeing the job now, as Newcastle United prepare for the competitive stuff to kick off…
Matthias Jaissle telling Sky Sports: “I tried [before coming into the job] not to over-think beforehand…I was aware of the challenge [at Newcastle United] and on such a journey there will always be stones along the path but we [just] need to get rid of them. We need to see the opportunities, we need to see the chance in all of these things. This is something we have mentioned already and I feel the players are committed towards these challenges in this transition period. I am really optimistic for the future.”
Ross Wilson and Newcastle United signed five players this summer before Matthias Jaissle started work and have lost even more players than that, since last season ended.
The new manager has then been instrumental in a sixth player signed, Amar Dedic who he managed at RB Salzburg.
Matthias Jaissle asked by Sky Sports about dealing with such a turnover in the squad and especially integrating the new signings: “You know that usually you need to have adaptation time [for new signings], you need to be patient with them, give them the time. It is always a process. We should not put too much pressure on them in the beginning. It is a goal of the club to work with young talent, to develop them, that is nice to see as that is a clear identity of the club. That is also the reason why I am here. I was used to working with young talents in my time in Salzburg and I also used to work with stars in Saudi Arabia, so it is a great fit and you can build on something.”
As always, the start to a Premier League season is frantic.
Once we get to Sunday, it will be six or seven games in total for Newcastle United in just short of four weeks, five in the Premier League and two in the Carabao Cup if United get past West Brom.
Matthias Jaissle fully aware of the new season set to impact: “We need to fix things in a short amount of time. The timing was not ideal but in football you can’t always have the perfect timing, so you need to make the best of it. In a short amount of time we need to be efficient and we need to implement our philosophy as much as possible, how the lads should enter the pitch and deliver the messages. The players are doing an amazing job so far, really committed and they learn fast, but it will be a process. We are for sure not [going to be at] one hundred percent against Liverpool but with the fans, with the support from the stands, we can do special things here at St James’ Park.”
Photo by The Mag
Less than two weeks until the transfer window closes at 11pm on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and Matthias Jaissle asked by Sky Sports how many more players Newcastle United need to sign by then…: “I would love to answer that question with a clear number but it depends on if players are leaving as well. There will be adjustments made for sure and the needs are clear. The management know about the needs [in this transfer window] and we are all aligned. We will use the remaining time [of the transfer window] in the best possible way but we also trust the players that are already here.”