We were all made very aware when Matthias Jaissle was appointed that we would once again be privy to a high, intense press under the German gaffer.
But, whilst Newcastle United have shown that will be the case, it hasn't exactly worked every time the Magpies have stepped on the field.
Now, of course, it's early days and we all expect it to take time for the system to be fully implemented, but Newcastle's desire to squeeze the opposition, whether successfully or not, is quickly arising as one of the most correlating factors to how much success Jaissle will have this season.
Jaissle's football is built around pressing
In a pressing sense, Jaissle has a very similar ideology to that of his predecessor Eddie Howe.
The German wants his Newcastle side to put pressure on the opposition in their own half, look to force high turnovers and win the ball back in dangerous areas rather than dropping off and defending their own box.
That goes for both the phases of opposition build-up and also when Newcastle lose the ball in turnovers and try to counter-press quickly.
And the statistics back up that the players are embracing that philosophy, but not necessarily that they are executing it well all of the time.
The statistics
So, according to DataMB, Newcastle United have allowed just 9.8 passes per defensive action so far this season, which puts the Magpies in the elite bracket when compared with teams in the top seven leagues across Europe.
That tells us that Jaissle's men are among the most aggressive pressing teams in world football, which is exactly what we expected when Jaissle took over and suggests that, in many ways, the press has been implemented this season.
However, when we look at the shots on target against statistic, Newcastle have allowed 6.50 per 90, which is a massive number and puts them at the lower end of the range previously mentioned.
Now that isn't a direct determiner that the press is ineffective, but it does raise some question marks about whether the aggression is actually translating into defensive control and whether the press is causing the Magpies problems by being beaten too often.
So what is causing all these shots?
Let's use Liverpool as the example because, although it was a little while ago now, that game provides a really good contrast of both what can happen in a positive sense when the press goes well, but also the negatives when it gets picked apart.
The Magpies really stepped on to Liverpool, especially in the midfield areas. Wissa was tasked with following Gravenberch, Liverpool's deepest midfielder, Miley jumped and got tight when Szoboszlai picked up the ball and Steur shadowed Wirtz for the majority of the game.
That is brilliant when it works, as it did against Liverpool, Spurs and the first half against Hull. Newcastle win it high, have players bursting into forward areas with a disorganised opposition and serious transition opportunities arising.
But when it doesn't work, as against Leeds, some of the Liverpool game and largely the Bournemouth game too, it causes some rather prominent issues.
Players are out of position, the central areas become stretched and the defensive unit is immediately put under pressure, especially when facing teams who also like to play on turnovers.
The most prominent examples of that came against Leeds. Farke's men were constantly creating plus one situations, often using James Trafford as that man in early build-up. That meant that, when Newcastle tried to press, there was always a man unaccounted for as everyone tried to step man-for-man.
Leeds were then excellent at exploiting those spaces, especially in their willingness to play direct into Calvert-Lewin's feet and get bodies swarming the space whilst Newcastle tried to recover centrally. Jaissle never really got to grips with it and, as we know, the game ended in a 4-1 drubbing, which may well have been needed in all fairness.
The numbers becoming a pattern
Obviously, not every shot Newcastle face can be blamed on the press. But the Magpies have faced a ridiculous 96 shots this season across the first five Premier League games, suggesting that there must be too much space being exploited somewhere on the pitch.
During the Hull game, the visitors had 35 touches in the Newcastle box, compared to just 15 for Newcastle in Hull's box.
Bear in mind that is a newly promoted side coming to St James' Park and putting copious amounts of pressure, mainly in the second half, which was interestingly when Hull began to find ways out of Newcastle's press more often (barring the final 15 minutes of course).
Can Newcastle make the press work?
Of course we can.
The issue isn't the philosophy. In fact, we watched it work for Eddie Howe for years. The problem right now is the execution.
As we know, it is going to take time for everything to click and Jaissle to implement his style sufficiently in every phase of play. As the German continues to drill his principles into the players on the training ground, I have no doubt we will see the press become more effective and more dynamic depending on who we are facing.
This is a very young, energetic but naive side right now and they will only continue to grow and develop as the season progresses. Something which might actually play into Matthias Jaissle's hands as he moulds them into the players he wants in his side.
The question for Jaissle isn't whether Newcastle should press. It's whether they can become good enough at it that the risks are consistently outweighed by the rewards.
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