ohmelads

It still feels like our season depends on ASM staying fit. We've drawn half our games partly because of defence but partly because we can't put teams away. If he's injured I don't see what else is there. It's surely something they're looking at.

Biggest priority is a creator, whether it's right wing or a number 10. If ASM gets injured we're in trouble. As good as the other signings have been, we have to address that.

You're right that 1 win in 20 is horrific but we've pretty much drawn half of our games (9 draws in 20). Fair few of those draws could have been wins. Fine margins. A lot of teams win games they don't deserve and we need to learn to win ugly. Whether it's holding onto leads, taking our chances, or through a bit of luck and better ref decisions (ha!) Norwich have shown how 1 week can turn around the season. I would argue we don't need lots of signings. Quality over quantity. It's a confidence game (just look at Norwich) and 2 signings in key positions can give the whole team a lift. We don't need to be a good team, we just need to be the best of 4 shit teams. It's easier to deal with the nerves saying we're down but it's going to go right to the wire I think. The bookies have us evens and I think that's fair odds at the moment.

Difficult question to answer. Perhaps that's your intention. Smells of identity politics...

Owen comparison is harsh but it's bad craic. Simon Jordan is a cunt and I almost never agree with him on anything but it's a worrying sign that he dropped Bournemouth in it.

4 goals in 2020. 6 yellow cards and no assists though, so promising. The argument that Bournemouth were shit doesn’t really work when you look at us For context, none of our players have 4 league goals in 2020. Almiron got 3 and St Max got 2.

I agree but if they can’t then imho I think all spots should be decided by their current position. The third place takes the promotion spot. Just don’t think it’s right to ditch a season when 3/4 has been played. There’s going to be courts involved either way no matter what the decision pending not being able to finish the season. Hopefully not come to this but it’s not looking good. Problem with using current positions is that some teams have played their harder fixtures and have an easier run ahead which they've been denied, while their rivals avoid playing the big guns through the run-in.

I think Liverpool will go the season unbeaten, but not in the way Arsenal did. Virtually every time they've been in danger this season, the VAR has come to their rescue. Look at all their toughest, closest games this season and the controversial decisions that have gone their way in each of them. At times they've been amazing, and they are a great side, but they've also been poor in quite a few games and could and should have drawn or lost them. Today is just another to the list and they've thoroughly earned the name Li-Var-pool. Is the game bent? I don't know. We know that FIFA are (Qatar etc). The fact is some of the richest people in the world are involved in football now. We only know what we see on the pitch and it's dodgy.

May as well just wrap up the title now.

I can't see any foul on Mane but proving a 'clear and obvious error' is difficult in these situations. Contact is perfectly allowed but if there's any contact at all, however harmless, they will say it's not a clear and obvious error by the referee. I had hoped that VAR would clamp down on diving but for strikers it's still worth going to ground under any contact.

Not for offsides it isn’t. I think if you're guessing then you should let the goal stand. Given the camera angle, camera distortion and the extremely fine margins, there's no way they can definitively call that offside.

VAR is supposed to be used for "clear and obvious" errors. Given the awkward angle, they've taken a punt that he's offside and ruled it out. It's a misuse of VAR.

Ashley will sell when the money dries up, which means consecutive seasons outside of the Prem. The sooner that happens, the sooner we get our club back and try to start again. I don't see any other way.

He's made things difficult for himself. Not only couldn't care less about everything that's gone on over 12 years but supports it. I'm not surprised to find out that a player who doesn't support the club just wants his sizeable cut and doesn't lose sleep over the way it's run, but he's made his priorities publicly clear.

If I was getting paid 50 grand a week, I'd probably think like Ritchie too. I wouldn't care who the owner is. But I also wouldn't be stupid enough to criticise fans who have the long term future of their club in mind.

I get that point but my opinion is while I consider it unlikely he'd sell in the short to medium term while in the prem I consider the chances of him selling outside the prem to be basically zero. I see it the other way around. While the club is in the Premier League, he gets free global exposure for his main business. In the Championship he has to put money in to try and get back to that, with comparatively very little exposure. I think a failed promotion bid or even relegation to league one would see him sell because he'd no longer be milking a cash cow and would have to invest in it with unknown returns. I actually see that as the only circumstance in which he'll sell.

Argies crying foul play over the Brazil result. To be honest, despite the hyperbole, it does look dodgy and it is worrying to see VAR (mis)used like this. Brazil are the hosts and their president did a "lap of honour" at half time. Not the kind of game you want to be losing to Argentina. The one on Otamendi is so obvious that there's no excuse now with the tech. The TV cameras caught it no problem. The other one resulted in an immediate goal on the counter, and surely has to be reviewed. To not even review either does sound like something went on.

By all accounts he’s a well grounded down to earth kid. I rate him, but all ego and self confidence aside I’d be thinking let’s get in 2 years of first team football at Newcastle, become the main man, get some injury free consistency, get into the England squad and get a cap even, and develop nicely under a less pressurised environment and then move. It’s all up to him of course, but a move to Man Utd is just as or more likely to curtail his development and experience than enhance it right now. Look at Jordan Henderson and Carrick for example. It’s not as if Man Utd are going to fast track him towards silverware or playing in a top team, even if they were at that level which they aren’t. If he does move, hopefully he gets into the team, plays every week and becomes a top player with success coming his way. He's more talented than Henderson IMO, but very raw. Anything less than 25m would be a joke, still it all goes into the club’s pockets so anything that gives Rafa... oh wait! I'd say he'd have more chance of getting in the England squad as a bit-part Man Utd player than a Newcastle first-teamer. Also debatable that a relegation battle at a club almost constantly in chaos with talk of boycotts and potential protests throughout the season is a less pressurised environment.

If the situation with Ashley makes fans turn on other fans, then that's the saddest thing of all. Go or don't go but do what you want. He doesn't care. Some refuse to stop going because they see that as giving in to Ashley. They don't believe for a second he intends to sell the club. Why should they stop doing what they've always done because of him? I respect that. Some are older and might not have many years left to go to football games. Some have never had the chance before. All kinds of people go to a game. I believe a boycott is the only option for the majority but I can't disrespect those who do go. I believe in a boycott because we're a club with no sporting purpose. Everyone knows the goal is 17th next year and our 5 year plan is 17th. Our 10 year plan is 17th. The club purely exists to provide a free advertising vehicle for sports direct on a global stage. Any extra revenue that can be siphoned out of the club is being done so by effectively asset stripping (selling club land for student flats) or player sales. A third relegation is eventually inevitable. While there are even worse owners than Ashley, I'm willing to roll the dice because what faces us is guaranteed pointlessness and, given his age and clear reluctance to sell, it could go on for a very long time.

Gutted and angry but not surprised. Rafa stayed through relegation when he didn't have to so I doubt he was asking for the world. Just evidence of any sporting purpose to the club beyond surviving on the Premier League gravy train as a huge billboard for Sports Direct. Ashley isn't a willing seller and I've always felt that only one of two scenarios will convince him to leave. One is a massive offer that he can't refuse, and the other is the club sinking so low that he cuts his losses. Unfortunately, and I really hope I'm wrong, the latter seems more likely. A mass boycott is long long overdue. There'll be those fans who will keep saying that we're in a tight battle and the team needs a 12th man to scrape another survival, but where does that argument end? If we do go down, then it's a possible tight promotion scrap and on it goes. Are we just trying to keep our heads above water until someone comes with a fat cheque for Ashley? It could be another 12 years. Something has to change.

Russia had it last year. Agree with what others have said though. Surely too late to move it after all the lives lost building the infrastructure to host it, not to mention insane money spent.

Looked to me like Cavani kicked the defender's studs and went down in pain. Maybe they're arguing dangerous play with a high foot but never a pen for me.

Yeah, Bale comparisons are ridiculous. It was a good run, but some of the overreactions here are just absurd. I knew the Cult of Miggy was very powerful - guess I won’t comment on him at all... Seems I should have made this more obvious but I wasn't actually comparing him to Bale as a footballer. My point was when a top player does that (Bale is a random example, since he's a star in a weaker international side and made those trademark massive runs) then people celebrate the outcome - ie running from his own half past two players and putting it on a plate - rather than nitpicking and finding moments where he might've got lucky in the buildup.

Gotta say I was a bit underwhelmed given the thread retitling - there’s a sense when he’s dribbling the fast that he’s not really in control. His last touch before the cross was too heavy because of this, and the cross itself seemed a bit hit-and-hope. He's taken the ball from the middle of his own half and ran 60 yards past two players and put it on the penalty spot for a goal. Against Argentina. For Paraguay. If that was Bale for Wales for example, people would be going mental. Erm..... Haha yeah. That bit's debatable!

Gotta say I was a bit underwhelmed given the thread retitling - there’s a sense when he’s dribbling the fast that he’s not really in control. His last touch before the cross was too heavy because of this, and the cross itself seemed a bit hit-and-hope. He's taken the ball from the middle of his own half and ran 60 yards past two players and put it on the penalty spot for a goal. Against Argentina. For Paraguay. If that was Bale for Wales for example, people would be going mental.