Newcastle left Murrayfield with a 3-1 pre-season defeat by Everton, but the bigger story came after the final whistle. Matthias Jaissle used the result to say the squad still has obvious gaps, and that more experienced players are needed before the Premier League starts.
Jaissle's warning after Murrayfield
"You all see the matches. You are also smart enough to see the needs in the squad," Jaissle said to bbc.co.uk. He added that Newcastle are "aware of what we need" and that there is "still some time" to address it.
His second point was even more direct. "It's a really young team at the moment so there are vacuums where players need to step up," he said. "We fill these positions we lost with the experienced players, but that's also the process."
That youth was visible in the line-up. Eight of Newcastle's starting eleven were aged 25 and under, which fits the picture Jaissle painted rather than softening it.
The squad change he pointed to
Jaissle also referenced four summer departures, naming Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier. He was not using the defeat to make a grand statement about Newcastle's season, only to underline that the group is still being reshaped.
The wider context is not hard to see. Newcastle finished 12th in the 2025 Premier League and ended with a -2 goal difference across 38 league matches. They begin the 2026 Premier League season ranked 17th in the standings feed, which makes this a squad that still looks like work in progress rather than a finished article.
There was at least one earlier friendly note to point to. Jaissle's first pre-season match ended with Newcastle coming from behind to beat Valencia 2-1, so the Everton result should not be read as a season forecast. It is a sharper reminder that the squad still needs bodies and experience before the window closes.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
