This is where Newcastle United are going wrong.

It is so obvious.

Change this and Newcastle United will be fixed.

No more woes.

How can’t Matthias Jaissle see it?

This is what I am increasingly seeing from a fair number of Newcastle United fans and indeed those in the media.

To be honest though, it is nothing new. The very same people were frothing at the mouth like rabid dogs with Eddie Howe across much of last season.

Eddie Howe had a small squad of players and this squad hit by so many injuries, having to deal with a 2025/26 season of 58 matches. That was irrelevant though for his rabid critics, if only he changed to these tactics, to this formation, everything would be fine, Newcastle United would be winning every match and never concede another goal.

Now we are seeing Matthias Jaissle getting similar treatment and in certain cases ridiculous abuse.

How can the German Head Coach not see these things that are so obvious to so many expert Newcastle United fans and those in the media?

You know the type of thing….

How can Matthias Jaissle not see that he needs to play three in midfield?
How can Matthias Jaissle not understand he needs to play 4-2-1-1-2, or surely 3-5-1-1, or definitely 2-2-2-2-2?
How can Matthias Jaissle not comprehend that this Newcastle United player has to play as an inverted six, eight, ten, or is seven and a half?

And so it goes on…

Yes tactics, formation and so on play a part, BUT in 99% of cases it is all about the players. Jacob Murphy is still Jacob Murphy wherever he plays, Joe Willock is still Joe Willock, Sven Botman is still Sven Botman, same for the rest.

Newcastle United DO NOT have a vast squad of superstars that are being badly misused by Matthias Jaissle. There is always room for improvement in everything and that includes how a manager/head coach uses his players BUT you only have what you have to work with.

Photo by The Mag

I find it amusing that those who were the loudest critics of these certain players last season and indeed beyond that in many cases, now slaughter Matthias Jaissle because the likes of Willock, Elanga, Botman, Murphy and others aren’t coming together to form a brilliant all conquering invincible team. The new United boss (who only started work at NUFC 18 days before the season kicked off) has also inherited a squad that lost most of its top rated players in the summer and then has a Sporting Director leading on player recruitment who has taken Newcastle United in the direction of targeting mostly very young inexperienced players from weaker overseas leagues.

All of this to deal with and then on top of it all this small Newcastle United squad having nine injured players unavailable for the Hull match and then for Coventry only Nico Gonzalez from those nine was in a position physically to be considered for the starting eleven on Monday.

This Coventry City match is absolutely perfect when it comes to some of the nonsense spouted by some Newcastle United fans and those in the media. Perfect in terms of exposing how stupid so much of the criticism is when it comes to ‘obvious’ flaws in tactics, formation and so on.

There has been much frothing at the mouth of the rabid Newcastle United fans since the 4-1 at Coventry. The criticism ramped up to crazy levels as to what supposedly Matthias Jaissle is getting so obviously wrong.

When you look at what exactly happened in this defeat, the over the top criticism of tactics, formation and so on is pathetic.

If you honestly think tactics and formation were why Newcastle United lost 4-1, then you clearly know nothing about football, you can’t comprehend what you are watching. You act like you just see the scoreline and want to invent a narrative that is basically full of lies.

What did tactics and formation have to do with Lukas Hornicek making a bizarre double blunder that gifted a goal inside four minutes when needlessly giving away a penalty?

What did tactics and formation have to do with Lewis Hall and Joelinton both gifting possession with individual blunders that led directly to the third Coventry goal.

What did tactics and formation have to do with the shocking refereeing that saw United down to ten men when Coventry scored their second goal, when somehow Willock was sent from the pitch for a minute despite having been clearly the one fouled and yet the ref giving Coventry the ball?

The actual truth of this match was that Newcastle United (and the referee) gifted Coventry their first three goals due to individual blunders.

For the first 80+ minutes it was a case of Newcastle United pretty much completely dominating this match, dominating all the stats with far more shots (19 v 9), far more corners (6 v 2), far more touches of the ball in the opposition box (36 v 16), far more possession (67% v 33%).

Newcastle created enough clear chances to win three matches but the likes of Fernandez-Pardo, Willock, Barnes and others proved incapable of putting the ball into the net. Botman the exception with ironically the toughest chance of all from distance.

If Matthias Jaissle had used different tactics and/or formation would Newcastle United have had even more clear chances to win this match?

Nobody knows that for sure either way. What we do know is what we watched and that was individual mistakes gifting the first three goals to the opposition whilst loads of great chances were created at the other end of the pitch but couldn’t be converted.

Matthias Jaissle, same as me, must have watched on and wondered how on earth have Newcastle United not won this match based on chances created and general play, never mind somehow end up losing 4-1.

The new Head Coach has faced a near impossible job and has done incredibly well to manage for wins, two draws and only two defeats. He will be learning from every match that goes by and may well change formation, tactics and so on at times.

However, it is the level of players who he is able to put on the pitch and how they perform that will overwhelmingly dictate results.