Matthias Jaissle saw his Newcastle United team win at their first attempt, against Valencia.
Only a friendly of course but so important for NUFC to start building some momentum and confidence with the Premier League season only two weeks away now.
With Matthias Jaissle thrown in the deep end and such a turnover in the Newcastle United squad, so important for the new boss to see encouraging signs he can build on.
Going behind after only four minutes away from home against a team who finished top half of La Liga, no doubt plenty of Newcastle United fans feared the worst.
However, the Matthias Jaissle era saw the team show plenty of character to bounce back and win 2-1 with two second half goals from Yoane Wissa. Indeed, United could have been ahead by the break as Elanga had a goal disallowed that replays suggest wasn’t offside and then Osula denied what looked a clear penalty.
Reflecting on the match and result Matthias Jaissle wanting to keep everybody grounded: “We will not smash the locker room down and celebrate a lot, we are quite balanced. We know what this is about, it is pre-season and we still have a lot to do. We don’t want to hang victories higher than they are and we also don’t want to place losses lower than they should be. Next week there are things that we need to work on definitely but we did well in the camp [at La Manga] and in this friendly win.”
A ridiculous challenge/assault by Gaya on 35 minutes saw Anthony Elanga stretchered off and the Valencia captain sent off.
Everybody fearing a needless serious injury in a friendly but reassuring words from Matthias Jaissle: “It was a shocking challenge and I was in fear [it was a serious injury], definitely. But now I’m more relaxed because the medical department are almost showing green lights that it is nothing serious. We are blessed. Hopefully he can be back in the next week. Anthony seems to be okay, that’s the most important thing, that there is no serious injury as it looks right now.”
Matthias Jaissle talking more about the team performance: “Winning games always helps to gain confidence and we also knew that we had a hard week behind us. The players did well and there was a huge commitment in each session, so they really deserve two days off and then we start again. Time is the key, they are young lads. It’s never going to be easy in football, especially at the highest level, but we’re here to do that.”
Nick Pope was part of the week’s training camp but missing from the matchday squad against Valencia. Now that Lukas Hornicek has arrived and Ewen Jaouen as cover, it is expected now that Nick Pope will be allowed to move on.
Matthias Jaissle commenting on the NUFC keeper: “I had a talk with Nick. I really appreciate what he did in his career so far, [but] he knows exactly the situation right now and we need to deal with it in the best possible way. But I always appreciate the player and the human being behind.”
Newcastle United schedule:
Saturday 18 July 2026
Newcastle United 3 Darlington 0 (Willock, Osula, Neave with the goals)
Saturday 25 July 2026
Gateshead 1 Newcastle United 1 (An own goal giving United the draw)
Wednesday 29 July 2026
Bristol City 4 Newcastle United 1 (Harvey Barnes getting the NUFC goal)
Saturday 8 August 2026
Valencia 1 Newcastle United 2 (Yoane Wissa with two second half goals to see NUFC from 1-0 down)
Wednesday 12 August 2026
Newcastle v Everton pre-season friendly with 5.15pm kick-off at Murrayfield.
Saturday 15 August 2026
Newcastle United v Bayer Leverkusen friendly at St James’ Park, 3pm.
Sunday 16 August 2026
Newcastle United v Strasbourg friendly at St James’ Park, 4pm.
Sunday 23 August 2026
Newcastle v Liverpool 4.30pm – United’s first Premier League match of the season