What we have seen thus far in the Premier League and the Carabao Cup has given Newcastle United fans a lot to be positive about going forward, but there have also been some concerns too.
The most prominent of those has come in the form of a pretty damning statistic. The Magpies spend the most time in the entire Premier League in a low build-up phase. Simply put, that means progressing the ball rarely happens when it isn't courtesy of a fast break or turnover.
Now, there are a few reasons this has been the case, many of which have already been discussed in various articles on this site, but there is one less obvious possibility that I am yet to see discussed by anyone in detail.
That is that Newcastle's centre-backs may simply not have the right attributes to play the vertical football Matthias Jaissle is looking for.
All stats in this article are courtesy of DataMB, great platform.
The Botman & Thiaw partnership
For the sake of this piece we'll keep it strictly to the partnership between Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman as that is where we have the most to go off, and we all know about the art that is Fabian Schar's ball playing ability.
To this point, neither of the two have looked particularly comfortable in possession. In fact, shaky is probably the most suitable word. But we must note that both of them are being asked to do a lot more in possession work in build-up than has ever previously been the case.
That is partially because they now have a goalkeeper behind them who is willing to play out from the back (no shade, Nick Pope, I promise) but also because Matthias Jaissle wants them to split in that low build-up phase which leads to them often receiving under pressure with an expectation of playing forwards.
As of yet, I think it's safe to say we haven't seen the best of them playing that role. Of course, we have to give it time, but how much time are we willing to give it before maybe trying a different combination at the heart of the backline, especially when the statistics go some way towards confirming the sentiment.
The stats and what Jaissle demands
The problem is a little more nuanced than simply labelling either player a 'poor passer'.
Sven Botman's numbers in particular tell us that, during the 25/26 Premier League season, he ranked in the 88th percentile among centre backs in Europe's top seven leagues for forward pass completion, which suggests that playing forward accurately isn't beyond his capabilities.
The problem comes when we look at how progressive those passes are.
Botman ranked in only the 25th percentile for progressive passes completed, whilst his progressive carrying ranked in the 0th percentile (yes... 0th). This shows us that whilst Botman does have the ability to find teammates further up the pitch, his first instinct certainly isn't to progress the ball or break lines.
In the case of Malick Thiaw, the German's profile is almost a polar opposite to his Dutch partner in crime. Thiaw was in the 67th percentile for progressive passes last season and in the 60th percentile for progressive carries. But Thiaw is in the bottom half of centre-backs in Europe's top seven leagues for passes completed.
This shows us that he is a better progressor than Botman, but he has less responsibility when Newcastle are in possession and therefore we don't see it as much as we possibly should, especially given the amount of time the Magpies spend in low build-up
Jaissle's system does not simply require the centre-backs to retain possession and wait for the obvious passing lane to open up, but it does require quite a lot of output in terms of the passes they do play.
That means that receiving the ball under pressure is only half the job. They have to recognise when to carry, when to play through or when to retain the ball for a bit longer all while stopping the buildup from becoming stagnant.
The issue is Newcastle don't currently have a starting centre-back pairing where either can do both well, it is one or the other with both Botman and Thiaw.
That leaves Newcastle limited, a sentiment that has been obvious in a good few moments which have seen a reluctance and hesitation to make the right decision from the aforementioned players.
That is not to say that either of the two are bad footballers, we've seen enough of them in a black and white shirt to know that much.
Instead, the right question may actually be whether they are the right type of centre-backs for Matthias Jaissle's ball-playing demands.
There is, though, some indication in both statistics and eye test that the ability to play vertical football may be there from both of them, it's just whether it can be unlocked before it starts to become a bigger issue.
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