Thomas Tuchel announced his England squad today and, for most Newcastle United fans, seeing Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento included should have been a proud moment.
Instead, I suspect a fair few will have had exactly the same thought: “Just don't get injured.”
That says quite a lot about the state of Newcastle's full-back situation right now with Tino and Hall marking the only fit senior full-backs in the entire squad. With that being said, it does feel as though this international break could become a horror movie very quickly for Newcastle United.
Watching with bated breath
With Amar Dedic out injured, Newcastle's full-back depth has become non-existent and, with Tino Livramento not even fully match fit yet, it marks a serious concern going forward.
I mean, it would be a massive concern absent of the international break, but add in that needless extra jeopardy and the Magpies will be watching England over the next three weeks shivering with anxiety and praying their two full-backs make it back to Tyneside safe and sound.
An injury would be catastrophic. It would leave Jaissle either needing to choose one of the academy lads to step in, Mason Miley perhaps, or requiring a big reshuffle which could see someone like Malick Thiaw playing as a makeshift right-back.
It isn't just the prospect of injuries
Not only is the possibility of injuries very real, but this international break also causes problems for Jaissle as it marks three weeks of uninterrupted training time that he is losing with two big parts of his squad.
The German has been very open about the fact he is still implementing his style and the players are getting used to what is expected of them. Having two important parts of his defence away from the squad for the best part of a month could put a bit of a spanner in the works of Jaissle's progress.
Not to mention the fact that the defensive third is where the Magpies have looked most shaky so far this season...
A problem Newcastle should have addressed
Unfortunately, though, this actually just highlights an issue that the Magpies should have addressed over the summer.
There wasn't a back-up to Lewis Hall last year, which saw Livramento have to slot in there at times, and the club lost the experienced figure of Kieran Trippier on a free after his contract expired.
That left Newcastle short in those wide defensive areas, which was addressed with Amar Dedic, but still probably needed at least one more body to ensure enough cover for unprecedented situations.
There is a plausible argument that Dan Burn, who is also injured, is considered the back-up left-back, but Burn got injured with ample time left in the transfer window to address that - clearly the club just didn't think it was an issue, which may well be about to come back to bite them.
The Irony of the call-ups
There is no doubt that Hall and Livramento deserve to be celebrating their England call-ups, and nobody at Newcastle will begrudge either player the opportunity to represent their country. But from Jaissle's perspective, the timing could hardly be worse.
Newcastle don't need their two full-backs to prove themselves to England right now and neither do the players themselves. It isn't like there's some big tournament on the horizon that they need to impress for.
In fact, from Newcastle United's perspective, there aren't many positive outcomes that can arise from this international break.
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