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Think English teams will dominate for a while, but we weren't a million miles away from an Eintracht Frankfurt v Bodo/Glimt and Lyon v Athletic Bilbao Semi-Final this year which on paper sounds about right for the Europa.

Fair point, all the permutations and numbers messed up my maths But agree with the general view that scenario happening is unlikely Let's just win and enjoy this season

Last August winning the League Cup and Europa league would have been deemed as a successful season by most. Perhaps it should still be, but with a home win against Everton between us and an even more successful season yes it's the worst thing that can happen to us, as things stand today. Personally I just don't want the Thursday/Sunday gig next season, but more importantly the club needs CL qualification to move to the next level and cement our place at the top of English football.

Still mind boggling that 😂

I feel like signing both Mbeumo and Guehi wouldn't be worth all the inevitable spelling errors.

I feel like if we do have stripes on the back people will just complain that they're not perfectly aligned with the ones on the front or something. Until we see the kit on the players and as ever, 'one of our worst kits in years' becomes 'eh, that's alright'.

Oh definitely agree with you on that. My comment was directed at everyone involved in the discussion.

Yes it is the worst thing. That's also a positive.

Yeah, we would need to lose by 4 in order for Chelsea to pass us, but you initially said 'plus we'd need to lose by 4 more than Chelsea', i.e. if Chelsea lost 0-1, we'd have to lose 0-5 (and that bit extra buffer), which isn't the case. If Chelsea lost 0-1 then we'd have to lose 0-4, so just 3 more than them. It seems you knew all the permutations, but didn't come across as clear.

Because it’s too defensive? Doesn’t have to be if you get the wing backs up and press into midfield with the CBs.

*Jim Reaper

Short term I'm sure he's not happy. He bought his stake in the club at a price of $33 per share. It's currently $13 per share after Wednesday night.

If it's picked on form could argue Barnes should be ahead of him.

Madness not to have Tino in there. Henderson. PFFT. Same old shit, different day.

As a business decision, has Ratcliffe totally fucked up here ?

I love 3-4-3 anyway, but I think it matches up really nicely against a defensive 4-2-3-1 where you need to dominate the ball and create chances.

If this game is anywhere near as dramatic as that was, I’m not sure I’ll survive.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11659629/newcastle-3-2-everton-ayoze-perez-scores-twice-to-cap-superb-comeback

Can't see a world where Isak doesn't start tbh, even if 50% fit. 1 more game.

I'm not sure I'd play 3-4-3 at home to Everton mind.

Not sure Trippier has the engine to play RWB especially if not fully fit. Reckon he’d go back to 4-3-3. Is it confirmed they are missing their first choice defenders?

I won't contemplate any scenario where we don't qualify for CL. It's absolutely imperative that we do for the project to continue to progress as well as it has done. Qualifying for Europa League, with the expectation that we should give it a real go as it seems winnable, with a squad lacking in numbers (of the required quality) to sustain it while also staying in the fight for CL qualification next season could mean another season like last year's is on the cards for 2025/26 and then it would feel like we are so close but just cannot make that last step (due to PSR constraints). Qualify for CL, invest the extra revenue from prize money and especially commercial revenue increases that should follow wisely, and we could cement our place as top four regulars in the coming years, and perhaps even challenge for a title if things go our way. Howay the lads, let's smash Everton on Sunday and make this season a truly memorable breakout one!

They completed a leveraged buyout of the club, saddled it with the debt and then used the stature of the club to cover the financial side of things such as interest payments, transfers, wages etc. They got their money every year regardless of profitability/performance and retained ownership of the club and never spent a penny. The club has been able to spend big, as we're a big club with huge revenues. The Glazer's don't care how bad it gets as they can always bail out with a sale and earn billions. Even now, they can sell to Qatar and force Ratcliffe to sell his stake as well due to a clause in the agreement they have. They're golden for as long as they want to be, the absolute cunts. It's pretty clear since Ratcliffe came in that it's all extremely bloated as well. The redundancies are brutal, but necessary. We shouldn't have double the staff of the likes of Liverpool/Arsenal etc.