Around this time last week Matthias Jaissle wore a sorrowful look as he spoke of his “disappointment” at the “negativity” surrounding a transitional young Newcastle side. Fast forward seven days and a team slightly unlucky to have been held to a draw at home by Liverpool last Sunday have now provided Jaissle with his first competitive win since replacing Eddie Howe as head coach. It is safe to say the doubters are being confounded.
Granted Newcastle’s passage to the third round of the Carabao Cup and an impending visit to Millwall was not exactly seamless against a very decent West Brom but it appears that Jaissle’s faith is far from groundless. It helps that he has been able to sign the £30m right-back Amar Dedic from Benfica. Dedic, who played for the German at RB Salzburg, shone here with his stellar crosses creating one of Harvey Barnes’s two goals and another for Bazoumana Touré.
As the stadium echoed to chants of “Nico, Nico,” the Spanish holding midfielder beamed broadly. When González’s new head coach first talked to Newcastle executives about succeeding Howe at the end of July, part of their pitch involved a spot of modern Geordie history. Jaissle was shown a video of 300,000 fans packing the city centre as Howe’s team brought the 2025 Carabao Cup back to Tyneside.
With the visiting Ousmane Diakité establishing himself as a key central midfield combatant, the Championship side grew increasingly confident. When they won a free-kick, Isaac Price curled that 25-yard dead ball around the wall and beat Ewen Jaouen at his near post. Jaissle’s second-choice goalkeeper, a 20-year-old Frenchman signed from Ligue 2 Reims, got a hand to the ball and arguably should have saved it.
Not that the 2,000 travelling fans perched high in the Leazes End were complaining. James Morrison’s team impressed while winning their first two second-tier games this season and, for a while at least, his fluid version of 4-4-2 confused Newcastle and subdued Nick Woltemade in equal measure. Then the 18-year-old Sean Steur – culpable for conceding the foul for the preceding free-kick – began re-asserting himself in the home anchoring role.
The former Ajax midfielder’s fine run and pass permitted Dedic to whip in a brilliant cross that Touré lashed in from close range under considerable pressure from Chris Mepham. As Jaissle raised a celebratory fist he could reflect that three exciting recent arrivals – Steur, Dedic and Touré – had combined seamlessly for that equaliser. As Touré, a Côte d’Ivoire left winger signed from Hoffenheim to replace Anthony Gordon, celebrated his first goal for Newcastle it appeared that there really might be life at St James’ Park after Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães after all.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
