Matthias Jaissle took charge of Newcastle for the first time on Saturday as they faced Valencia in a pre-season friendly at the Estadio de Mestalla. Kick-off was at 8pm BST, with the match shown live on newcastleunited.com and the official Newcastle United App.
For readers searching Valencia Vs Newcastle today, this was the first chance to see how Jaissle would set up a team he inherited midway through the summer, after Eddie Howe parted ways with Newcastle. The appointment brought a new voice to a squad that was already changing, and the friendly in Valencia was the first live test of that reset.
The line-ups underlined how much both sides had to work around. Newcastle were without Lewis Miley, while Fabian Schar and Will Osula were doubts because of groin injuries that were being managed. Valencia also had long-term absentees in Diego Lopez and Sergi Canos, with Dimitri Foulquier, Luis Rioja and Umar Sadiq on the sidelines, and Alberto Mari recovering from a hamstring problem that may have left the game too soon for him.
That made the match a sharper examination than a normal summer outing. Newcastle had already beaten Darlington 3-0, drawn 1-1 with Gateshead and then lost 4-1 to Bristol City, so Jaissle arrived at Mestalla with one eye on control and another on recovery. He was also working with a different Newcastle squad from last season after the departures of Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Kieran Trippier.
The teams named for the game reflected that stop-start preparation. Valencia XI was listed as Dimitrievski, Monferrer, De Haas, Tarrega, Gaya, Rioja, Ugrinic, Rodriguez, Guerra, Sato and Danjuma. Newcastle XI was listed as Jaouen, Murphy, Botman, Alex Murphy, Hall, Ramsey, Steur, Willock, Elanga, Neave and Barnes.
After Valencia, Newcastle were due to face Everton, Bayer Leverkusen and Strasbourg, giving Jaissle three more pre-season matches to shape the side before the Premier League campaign begins in earnest. For now, Mestalla was the first checkpoint, and the first glimpse of what Newcastle look like under him.
