In his latest Reporter Notebook, Sky Sports News' Keith Downie looks into what is going wrong at Newcastle United.

Matthias Jaissle's side have lost three of their last four Premier League games to slip to 11th place in the table and making Sunday's trip to Crystal Palace - live on Sky Sports - absolutely crucial.

What are the key issues and how does Jaissle fix them?

Newcastle are right at the bottom of the table when it comes to shots against and xG against and that must be a concern for the manager.

Yes, it's still early in the season and there is plenty of mitigation given how late he and his staff arrived in the summer, but unless that improves, it's going to be a very difficult season for the St James' Park club.

The 'vertical' style of football will work anywhere given time, the German claims, but the Premier League is punishing and Jaissle is having to learn as he goes. For me, he is trying to put square pegs into round holes to put a team together within his identity. But I'm not certain he has the players at his disposal to play the way he wants at this moment in time.

For example, Yoane Wissa has been used as a No 10 and in the last 10 minutes against Aston Villa last weekend even as a No 8. Joe Willock has also been deployed deeper as a 6 and new £51m signing Mathias Fernandez-Pardo has played largely as a No 9.

For me, all three of those are playing out of position and it has shown in performances. In recent games, Newcastle appear too easy to play through, the two-man midfield is overrun, and the defence are exposed. It's totally understandable that he wants to give his style a good go, but a more pragmatic approach may help stabilise things to get through the current choppy waters.

Jaissle hasn't been helped by an early-season injury crisis that has seen Dan Burn, Joelinton, Anthony Elanga, Amar Dedic, Tino Livramento and Jacob Ramsey, among others, all on the sidelines. But some of those players have now returned and he needs to work them back in while they are still getting up to speed.

The lengthy injury list was the last thing he needed when he was already chasing his tail after a turbulent summer. Newcastle are clearly missing the experience of Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon, and it is a much younger and inexperienced squad Jaissle has inherited from the one that finished last season under Eddie Howe.

That has to be taken into account.

Why are they conceding so many goals?

It's the set up and it will take a while for the players to get used to Jaissle's ideas and plan. I think he needs to play an extra midfielder [Newcastle have the players for a 4-3-3 from the Howe tenure] to make the team a bit harder to beat.

The Geordie faithful were bewildered as to why Sean Steur [arguably their best player this season] and Aladji Bamba were left unused on the bench on Saturday, when Jaissle pushed Wissa back to a midfield role and threw Burn on up top.

An extra midfielder may give them a bit more control of games. As good a signing Nico Gonzalez is [£50m from Man City], the 23-year-old needs support in the engine room, and at times in recent games he has looked engulfed by opposition midfielders. You have to feel for him a bit.

Defenders Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw are coming in for criticism of late, but they have had very little protection from a threadbare midfield and have their work cut out.

The fact Newcastle conceded four to newly promoted Coventry, who had only scored one in their opening five Premier League games up until that point, tells its own story.

Have any of the new signings impressed?

Steur has probably shown the most promise, but he has been used in fits and starts and Jaissle has mentioned his age [he's 18] a number of times when asked why he isn't starting. He looks like a top talent though and someone who doesn't hide when things are not going well. It was one of the reasons Newcastle signed him from a struggling Ajax team in the summer.

Amar Dedic also started the season on fire, but the injury he picked up last month has curtailed his progress and he is now battling to get his fitness back. I would expect him to come back into the starting lineup for the trip to Palace on Sunday.

Gonzalez I think will go on to be a good Newcastle player, but he needs support in midfield, and Fernandez-Pardo looks to be struggling with confidence. He has made it clear to the Newcastle hierarchy that he wants a chance to play as a central striker, but he looks like someone who would be more comfortable playing off the left of a 4-3-3, so they need to try and get the best out of that situation.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag for goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek so far, with a few top saves and a couple of costly mistakes, but there is great faith in him within the St James' Park recruitment team. Bazoumana Toure and Aladji Bamba have yet to start a Premier League match, and Newcastle need them to get up to speed quickly. They are not in a position where they can have £70m worth of players sat cooling their heels on the subs bench.

Yes, it's a transitional time on Tyneside, but Newcastle need players for now.

Is the new playing style and move to younger players showing any promise? And what's the mood of the fans?

It certainly looked like it was in the first matches of the season. The opening-day draw against Liverpool should have been a win and the follow-up visit to Tottenham was a win. Two excellent performances had the Newcastle fans singing the new manager's name.

But things have turned a bit in recent games and there were audible boos at full time on Saturday as Newcastle slipped to a rather tepid defeat to Villa. The visitors looked comfortable and controlled much of the game, so there were raised eyebrows within the media room when Jaissle said afterwards that his team had dominated.

Some supporters feel that Jaissle deserves the time to get his ideas across and it has always been the feeling from within the club that it may take time given the vast change we saw over the summer. Others though are worried about the future and think that the style of play is unsustainable.

Only time will tell. But despite the solid start to the season with those opening few performances, it feels like Jaissle needs a couple of wins to quieten down the noise in certain areas on Tyneside.