You should never read too much into pre-season friendlies, but they can also be extremely informative and Newcastle United’s shortcomings are real and they are obvious.
The 3-1 humbling at the hands of Everton at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, in Scotland on Wednesday came less than a fortnight into Matthias Jaissle’s tenure and evidently the squad were fatigued and stretched, with two different outfield sides fielded in each half.
Yet Newcastle are chronically short at full-back, have a leadership “vacuum” as Jaissle himself terms it, defensive errors continue to haunt their game, while there is an alarming shortage of goals within this squad.
So how close are Newcastle to actually making a breakthrough in the market? Will experience be signed and, if so, will that be prioritised over quality? And how confident is the Newcastle hierarchy that Jaissle can extract far more from this squad in time?
Chris Waugh is on hand to answer your questions about all things Newcastle United in a live Q&A from 2pm-3pm BST (9am-10am EDT).
