What is going on at 'chaotic' Newcastle?

Perhaps it was meant to lift spirits after Newcastle’s underwhelming start to the season.

On Tuesday, the Magpies reminded their 2.8 million followers on X that it was 30 years to the day that Kevin Keegan’s swashbuckling team crushed Manchester United 5-0 at St James’ Park to sit top of the Premier League.

It was a flashback to one of the all-time great Newcastle performances, with the social media post coming the same week their new German boss Matthias Jaissle is still trying to figure out why his class of 2026-2027 have yet to fire.

Last weekend’s home loss to Aston Villa, which was greeted by a chorus of boos from the stands at the final whistle, means Newcastle head into Sunday’s game against struggling Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park (14:00 BST) looking to end a run of three defeats in four games.

That sequence includes back-to-back 4-1 away defeats at Leeds United on 14 September and Coventry City on 12 October.

“The pressure will seriously be on if they don’t get a result at Palace,” Charlotte Robson from the True Faith Newcastle United podcast says.

Supporters have voiced concerns about the team’s lack of identity under Jaissle, while questions remain about why, almost 14 months after leaving for Liverpool in a British record £125m deal, Newcastle have struggled to replace Alexander Isak.

“One result can change a lot – all it needs is one good win and all of a sudden you’re back on track – but Matthias Jaissle seems very set in his ways at this moment in time,” former Newcastle defender John Anderson told BBC Sport.

Chris Sutton, a Premier League winner with Blackburn in 1994-95 – who watched the defeat by Villa at St James’ Park for BBC Radio 5 Live – says Newcastle appear “chaotic” under Jaissle.

“There is not enough in the final third in terms of creativity and they have a vulnerability at the back,” adds Sutton.

The season is still young but after five years of Eddie Howe, who landed the club’s first major domestic trophy since 1955, will the alarm bells be ringing for Jaissle and Newcastle if they lose at Palace?

‘Challenging times ahead’

Alan Shearer predicted it three months ago.

“Speaking purely as a fan, I think we have to get ready for a tough season and some very challenging times ahead,” the Newcastle legend told BBC Sport after the long-serving Howe stepped down at the end of July.

Newcastle had already sold England forward Anthony Gordon to Barcelona in a deal worth more than £69m and midfielder Sandro Tonali to Tottenham in a deal worth up to £100m.

One week after Shearer’s words, Bruno Guimaraes joined Arsenal for £75m.

“You cannot keep on selling your best players and then hope to be in contention at the top of the table,” added Newcastle’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Seven games into the Premier League season, Shearer’s gloomy prediction is so far proving correct, with Newcastle on eight points after winning just two top-flight games, away at Tottenham and at home to newly promoted Hull City.

It has been a muddled start with suggestions Newcastle have lacked leadership and experience, with England defender Kieran Trippier, 36, also departing this summer.

“If you had said at the end of last season Newcastle would lose Gordon, Guimaraes, Tonali and Howe, you would probably get this [eight points from seven games],” Rory Smith, football correspondent of the Observer, told BBC Radio 5 Live’s The Monday Night Club.

Newcastle spent about £250m on signings during the summer transfer window, with many of the new signings aged 21 or under. Two of those players – Ivory coast winger Bazoumana Toure and French midfielder Aladji Bamba – have yet to start a Premier League game despite being available.

Another young recruit, 18-year-old Sean Steur, impressed after starting against Hull in September, but has not played a minute since.

“The profile of the players Newcastle signed in the summer, and it may well bear fruit in time…they went very young and relatively inexperienced,” adds Smith.

“They didn’t go out and sign a load of established Premier League players.”

‘Fans right to be concerned’

Newcastle paid Al-Ahli £9.5m in compensation to get Jaissle after he had led the Saudi club to consecutive Asian Champions League crowns.

Expectations were high when the former Red Bull Salzburg boss arrived on Tyneside shortly before the start of the season with a strong record of success at his previous clubs in Saudi Arabia and Austria.

Yet Jaissle, 38, is very much unproven in the Premier League.

Seventy-nine days into his reign, it is fair to say the former Red Bull Salzburg boss is still trying to put his own stamp on the team after Howe’s long tenure.

Jaissle has issues to solve at both ends of the pitch.

Newcastle are without a home clean sheet in each of their last 16 games in all competitions – the longest run in their history. They are leaking an average of two goals per game in the Premier League – only Crystal Palace (17) and Ipswich (15) have conceded more than Newcastle (14).

Meanwhile, they registered one attempt on target against Villa – their least in a Premier League home match since August 2024. Worryingly, that solo attempt came from defender Sven Botman, while Jaissle used centre-back Dan Burn, a substitute, up front when he was sent on.

There is an argument Newcastle are even yet to adequately replace Callum Wilson. He left the same summer as Isak. Yoane Wissa was technically his replacement with Nick Woltemade the Isak replacement.

Woltemade, who joined in a club-record deal worth up to £69m in August 2025, is now on loan to Juventus, while Wissa has struggled for consistency since returning from injury.

“Newcastle fans have every right to be a little bit concerned,” adds Sutton. “They didn’t look like scoring against Villa and that is what really concerns Newcastle fans.”

Robson believes patience is needed after a summer of upheaval.

There is certainly no panic inside the club right now, with David Hopkinson, the CEO, and Ross Wilson, the sporting director, both applying an air of calm.

But for how much longer?

It has by no means been a terrible start by Jaissle, who is expected to be given time to get it right. That said, fans want to see an improvement in performances – starting on Sunday.

After the weekend, Newcastle visit Everton in the last-16 of the Carabao Cup next Thursday, host Everton in the Premier League on 2 November and then visit Fulham five days later before the next international break.

Jaissle will not want to go into that without a win in six league and cup games.

“There are more questions being asked now,” adds Robson.

“At the start of the season it was made clear in interviews we wanted to be an aggressive attacking team. We are not there yet, we’re still working it out.”