Matthias Jaissle Performs Well In His Press Conference
Matthias will be have been well aware of the negativity among fans and the media following three defeats in four games that included two 4-1 hammerings.
He will also have known what to expect in his press conference this afternoon - an uneasy ride that's for sure - and I have just watched the replay with keen eyes and ears to judge how Jaissle has performed.
And, I'm giving him a 9/10.
Right from the off there was a smile on his face and a confidence where his body language was saying "fire away" and that is exactly what I wanted to see.
There were times in pressers last season when Eddie was facing the same situation where he was visibly downbeat and clearly feeling the pressure - and at the time my view was that if he carried that into the corridors of SJP and onto the training ground it would be noticed and potentially lead to staff and players lacking leadership and motivation.
Humans need direction and leadership, it is ingrained in our psyche, no more so than when the going gets tough and the troops feel that the battle is in danger of being lost.
If they see a lack of confidence in the troop leader any perceived problems can quickly go from being concerning, to a full scale collapse in morale and attitude.
That's why today's presser was a big watch for me.
Jaissle not only projected exactly the right demeanour but he also spoke intelligently and as directly as he could when asked the obvious questions about, for example, the boos after the Villa game, the heavy defeats, Steur's absence and his formation and tactics.
This is a man who IMO is completely at ease with himself and confident that he knows what the issues are, that he expected them, that he won't overreact by deviating dramatically from the clear plan that he has to make the club successful, but at the same time he will listen to and take heed of the opinions of those around him and his squad.
A very interesting point that he made, that I have not heard before, was breaking the tactical play into three areas; our penalty area, the oppo's penalty area, and the area in between.
When asked what were the "slight improvements" he had seen he replied that it was in the 'area in between' where the team had shown more possession and control of the ball.
However, he then made the point that it was the two penalty areas where big improvements would be needed to affect results - defending better and especially taking shooting opportunities in the oppo's box when the opportunities arose.
That is exactly what most fans have seen in the last few games; more possession, but not resulting in taking our chances and a overplaying when a shot was on. As for the defence, we've seen far too much dithering along with too many individual mistakes.
The first thing you have to do to solve a problem is find and accept what is going wrong.
You then need the tools and ability to come up with a solution.
In terms of tools, Jaissle has had the experienced players with leadership qualities and a physical side to their game out for nearly every game this season.
They are now on their way back to fitness but he stressed that he won't rush them back or over extend their minutes on the pitch and turn a short term solution into a long term injury issue - how many times have we seen that at SJP over the past few seasons.
And lastly; he made the point that we need to see a different Newcastle performance against Palace on Sunday; the underlying inference being that both he and the players know that there can be no repeat of what we've seen recently.
I couldn't help but contrast Jaissle's performance in front of the media to another manager under pressure - Michael Carrick at Man U.
I've got more motivation watching paint dry than looking and listening to his washed up splutterings and fidgeting. No wonder his players are openly rebelling and clearly want him out.
So, our manager is definitely talking the talk, but he is spouting off hyperbole or predicting we are going to conquer the PL in double quick time.
His performance today tells me he is in control not only of himself but also of the squad.
That is encouraging...
All we need now is for the players to put the same performance in against Crystal Palace and come away with a win and three points.
What did you think about MJ's presser performance?
A bit of preparation for Jezza's Bingo entries against Crystal Palace:
The performances could or should be better , but we are 11th in the table which is as we were last season as it stands. No idea what everyone thinks this group of players should be able to achieve or how good they are , but it's arguably the weakest starting eleven jaissle has got since money started being spent on players near 5 years ago. I would say the squad is deeper,better overall , plus younger with more potential than it was 5 years ago but the starting eleven has nothing waw about it. We have the weakest set of strikers at the club easily in the last decade. We have 3 of the same CBs still at t…