Jaissle concedes work remains after Newcastle lose 3-1 to Everton at Murrayfield

Matthias Jaissle watched his Newcastle United side lose 3-1 to Everton at Murrayfield in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday, less than two weeks before the new campaign starts. The defeat offered the new head coach a clear appraisal of the squad ahead of the opening fixtures.

The stadium announcer at Murrayfield — the home of Scottish rugby — told supporters to "Expect passion and world-class football from the very first whistle," before kick-off. Jaissle, who took charge of his first Newcastle training session last week, described the match as a useful exercise and said the result underlined work still required on the training pitch and in the transfer market. "You all see the matches," he said. "You are also smart enough to see the needs in the squad. "I will be always consistent with my approach. We handle these things internally. We are aware of what we need. Let's see now. There is still some time."

New signings and youth were prominent in the opening stages: Bazoumana Toure drew attention with his pace down the left while eight of Newcastle's starters were aged 25 or under. Despite a bright start, Newcastle failed to convert several chances and grew more vulnerable defensively as the first half progressed.

Everton opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Thierno Barry raced clear after a long ball from James Tarkowski unsettled Newcastle centre-back Sven Botman. Lewis Hall's recovery tackle only diverted the ball to Harrison Armstrong, who then picked out Barry to finish past goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek from inside the box.

A few minutes after the opener Iliman Ndiaye doubled Everton's lead from the penalty spot after Joelinton was adjudged to have fouled Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall inside the box, prompting chants of "going down, going down, going down" from Everton supporters. Tyrique George made it 3-0 with a drilled effort in the 73rd minute, after which a number of Newcastle fans began to leave before Harvey Barnes reduced the deficit by slamming home Jacob Murphy's cross at the back post.

The starting XI looked markedly different from earlier in the summer; Joelinton and Yoane Wissa were the oldest starters at 29 while several key players remain absent. The club expects the return of Dan Burn, Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento, though the trio are "unlikely to all feature in the season opener versus Liverpool," and sporting director Ross Wilson was among those watching at Murrayfield.

Jaissle twice referenced a "vacuum" following the departures of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier earlier this summer, noting the current squad is "a really young team at the moment so there are vacuums where players need to step up." "You cannot change things really quickly," he added. Newcastle remain in the market for a right-back, an older central midfielder and, depending on Jaissle's assessment of the squad, potentially another addition beyond that before the window shuts on 1 September.

There are still a couple of friendlies to play before Liverpool visit St James' Park next week, and Jaissle warned that late signings can require time to settle. "If you make new signings at the end of the transfer window, they usually need time," Jaissle added. "Usually it takes time to adapt to the Premier League. "Those are all things we consider, but we are all still positive. We all want to go in the right direction. "We have these goals and there's many stones along the way thrown in that path, but we need to get rid of them."