Newcastle United and Matthias Jaissle are defying the critics.
Champions League form and into the last sixteen of the Carabao Cup.
What, “The season is less than three weeks old”, I hear you shout.
So what.
You should absolutely get your kicks where you can.
The first duty of any football fan is to dream, to have hope, that is what Matthias Jaissle and his Newcastle United players have given us.
The experts were all predicting (hoping for!) a disastrous start to the 2026/27 campaign for Newcastle United and indeed, an entire season of misery. Maybe the latter will still become the reality but NUFC are confounding our enemies so far.
Put it this way, just imagine if Newcastle United were now pointless and out of the Carabao Cup?
Our enemies, the pundits and in the media generally, wouldn’t be saying this is very early days and nothing can be read into these early results in the opening three weeks of the season. They would be going for the jugular and declaring Newcastle United now a broken club and team, having appointed a clueless new manager who has no idea about the Premier League and this is only the start of a very rocky road to ruin.
The fact that instead Matthias Jaissle has Newcastle United in Champions League qualifying form (five points from three games is an average that would deliver 63 points over the course of a full 38 match Premier League season and Liverpool qualified for the Champions League on 60 points last season), whilst the new NUFC boss has also navigated two early tricky rounds of the Carabao Cup which has seen United for a fifth season in a row reach the last 16 of that competition.
The fact is as well, all of our enemies were rubbing their hands with glee due to Newcastle United handed such a tough trio of opening Premier League fixtures, up against Liverpool and Bournemouth who finished top six last season, plus Tottenham away who after their ridiculous net spend this summer had all the experts predicting they would be Champions League qualifying contenders this season.
Nobody is claiming that this Newcastle United season is going to be plain sailing and United sweep all before them.
However, Matthias Jaissle after only five weeks in the job has conjured up a minor miracle and got a very encouraging tune out of a much-changed squad who are clearly responding very positively to his management style.
Who knows exactly how realistic Champions League qualification and/or cup silverware will prove to be this season.
However, one thing for sure, the silence of Newcastle United’s enemies in the media speaks volumes.