‘We need time, but the Premier League doesn’t give you any’: Jaissle’s assistant defends Newcastle’s young squad

Engin Yanova, one of Matthias Jaissle’s assistants at Newcastle United, has asked for patience after a difficult start, admitting the coaching staff need time that the Premier League simply does not give them.

The German-born Turkish coach, who works with Newcastle‘s strikers and wingers, spoke to the Turkish newspaper Sabah during the international break. He covered the summer exits, the lack of a proper pre-season, the leadership question and the Turkish players he believes could thrive in England.

Newcastle sit 12th after ten games with three wins, three draws and four defeats. That leaves them on 12 points, only four clear of the relegation zone, and the pressure on Matthias Jaissle has grown in recent weeks.

Why does Newcastle’s staff say they need time?

Yanova was asked how the staff balance patience with results after the departures of Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali. His answer was blunt.

He said: “For us, the most important thing right now is time. We need time, but the Premier League doesn’t give you any, because you have to get results every week. When we came, we were aware of the departures. But we joined the team a bit late. We couldn’t have the pre-season we wanted. The Premier League started two weeks after we arrived.”

He added: “We are trying to get to know the team, and we think we have made good progress. The squad has become very young. The average age is very young, but we see that as an opportunity, because the players who were signed really are made of good material. We are now trying to develop them within a good concept and a good strategy.”

That is a fair point about the timing. Jaissle arrived late in the summer after the club parted ways with Eddie Howe, and the staff had barely a fortnight before the opening game. It also explains some of the chaos fans have seen, like the night Jaissle said his players ignored the game plan against Everton.

Do Newcastle lack leaders?

The big criticism of this young side is that nobody grabs a game by the scruff of the neck. Yanova does not accept it.

“We have experienced players like Dan Burn and Fabian Schar. We have an experienced centre-forward like Wissa,” he said. “There are two kinds of leaders: one through performance, and one through character. Right now, for example, you have to watch Lewis Hall. He has been called up by the national team again. Despite his young age, he takes responsibility, and his performances really please us. He will certainly have a bigger say in the future.”

Hall’s England recall backs him up. But Burn and Schar cannot carry a dressing room forever, and a side that went into the break off the back of a 1-1 draw at Fulham still looks like one missing the voices it sold in the summer.

Who is Engin Yanova?

Yanova was born in Berlin and started coaching at 26 after injuries ended his playing hopes. He worked as a head coach in the Bavarian Football Federation and with youth national teams before joining Jaissle at Al Ahli, where the pair won the Asian Champions League twice.

He was Jaissle’s only assistant in his first year in Saudi Arabia. Now there are two more assistants alongside him, plus a goalkeeper coach and analysts, and his own job at Newcastle is to work with the attacking players. He also revealed that he once spoke with former Fenerbahce president Ali Koc about joining Domenico Tedesco’s staff, but nothing came of it after the club’s election.

The Turkish stars he thinks could play in the Premier League

Asked which Turkish players he would like to see in England, Yanova named five, without linking any of them to Newcastle.

“Kenan Yildiz is perhaps one of the closest to the Premier League right now, with his pace, his physical strength and the football education he has had,” he said. “I have followed him since Bayern Munich. He was 13 when I first met him. I am proud of his development.”

He called Arda Güler’s creative profile one of the rarest in world football, said Ferdi Kadioglu was doing very well at Brighton, and backed Ozan Kabak to return to the Premier League on his form at Hoffenheim. He also said Merih Demiral, whom he coached at Al Ahli, could play for any team with his warrior mentality.

He was full of praise for the Toon Army too, saying Newcastle supporters are every bit as passionate as Turkish fans. The tribute to the late Kevin Keegan before the opening game against Liverpool, he said, gave him goosebumps.

Can Jaissle buy the time his staff are asking for?

Yanova is right that the timing was against them. A late appointment, a two-week run-in and the loss of Gordon, Bruno and Tonali in one summer would test any coach.

But time in the Premier League is earned with points, and four clear of the bottom three is not much of a cushion. Newcastle need a run of results straight after the break, otherwise the patience Yanova is asking for will run out long before the young players he believes in are ready.