ohmelads

Half a season left to play. Clearly there's a tough month ahead and it will likely get worse before it gets better, but if there's a regression to the mean, we should have fewer injuries in the coming months while some clubs will have more. No one in the country has had injuries or cup fixtures like we've had this season, and those who have come close on the injury front have felt it. We've got some of our best players still working to fitness like Botman and Isak. It's a cliche but Barnes is basically a new signing after only 1 start. Willock and even players like Anderson will come back and give competition for places and rotation. We have far fewer fixtures over the next 5 months. It's a combination of factors that gives us a chance of going on a big run if we can get momentum. Pope is a big loss we can't fix quickly but I firmly believe that whatever happens in January, we'll pick up more points over the next 19 games for all these reasons. The major question is have we left ourselves too much to do? We're 7 points off Spurs. It's very difficult but not insurmountable in half a season. If we can beat them at our place it's a 4 pt gap over the other 18 games.

We were turd defensively but also very wasteful at the other end. We'd have been good value for 4 goals with the sheer number of chances created but, unfortunately, so would they. At 1-0 we didn't manage the game well at all and conceding right on half time changed the course of the game. We were forced to attack again and left so wide open on the counter. Second half collapses are becoming a common theme.

The squad's been massively stretched with a 17 year old playing his position and he chooses to post that. It's not just a really dumb thing to do in PR terms but it's hard to imagine that goes down well with the rest of the squad in the current circumstances.

Is it the lack of a plan B, or is it simply about personnel? The top sides don't dominate everyone away but they do have a strong bench and match winners who can pinch tight games. Man City aside (because they almost always dominate), you'll see Liverpool, Arsenal etc have a bad day but then a Trossard or a Diaz will get then a result. It's not that they drastically switched style of play and then dominated the game, but they can nick a result when they're not playing well. How many times down the years have we given those types of teams a hard game at SJP and been undone by a moment of brilliance? Last season we were able to pinch points away when we weren't playing well because we had a fully fit and rotated Isak and Wilson. Now the extra games and injuries have exposed our lack of depth, so I don't think it's fair to compare Howe to managers who have more resources to call on to 'change a game'. If there's a fair criticism, it would be that he should have played more of the kids at Everton for example, as some had suggested, because it was the only way to manage the squad through December. The failure to do that has had major repercussions.

FFP is an attempt to placate the old money superleague clubs who have UEFA over a barrel. They conspired to agree a super league deal with wallstreet which is used as blackmail with UEFA who bend over backwards to ensure they preserve their status quo. The name financial 'fair' play is a pisstake and I can imagine there were fits of laughter when they came up with it.

Is there a link to a graph for this season so far?

This is the thing. There's no 'legal' way the old money clubs (Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal) can be caught if FFP is enforced strictly. They're allowed to spend twice what anyone else is, allowing them to compete in tournaments that generate far more revenue, which in turn means they can keep spending twice as much. It's a viscious spiral and there's nothing 'fair' about it. If it were fair, every club would have the same spending limit.

I was very happy with the signing, and I'd be disappointed if this is the situation because he looks like a huge talent, but at this point I'm doubtful that he'll sign permanently. Just a theory, but it could be that all the injuries and Tonali ban have forced a rethink. It may not be about how he's playing in training but rather the bigger picture this season. If we've decided we're not going to sign him in summer, that frees up the £28m fee to be spent elsewhere in January, strengthening the team in other areas. We'd either send him back in January or keep his minutes below the threshold. We do already have two left backs in Burn and Targett, plus Dummett as emergency cover. Short term thinking perhaps, but our two big summer signings Barnes and Tonali have barely played and we're stretched by injuries in other areas. They might also see an opportunity for another player and need the cash now, or at a guess they might have decided he's not the long term answer. We can only speculate, but it seems clear to me we are keeping his minutes down deliberately due to his loan terms. If he was permanently our player I have no doubt we'd have used him more to alleviate the worsening injury crisis.

On your question above, I guess you'd have to look at our performances full strength, although we are 16th in the away league table. Goes without saying we'd have a much fresher, more rested and rotated group rather than the exhausted XI here that also shipped three at Everton days earlier. Spurs have had injuries but not on the same scale for the same length of time, nor have they had a group of death in Europe in tandem with it. I get that Spurs fans are excited by a good win at home, and that's fair enough, but I'd suggest looking at our Everton game for context before you get too carried away. With both at full strength, I think sensible fans of either club would agree it'd be a tight contest; after all that's why both sets viewed it as a six pointer. Newcastle certainly arrived at this game in a more weary state than Spurs who have had a bench, have been able to rotate far more and have played far less football. Many of us feared a repeat of the Everton game as is evident all over the forum from sensible posters. You'll always find idiotic posts on either forum. As for Spurs, we'll see by the end of the season how good they are I suppose. Would not ending in the top 4 be considered a failure? Considering our injuries, cup draws at Man City and Man U and the group we've had in Europe, I'm genuinely surprised we're only 4 pts off Spurs as it stands.

Every Newcastle fan already knows Howe's not big on rotation. You don't have to "pay attention" to know that. He's been very successful doing things his way and proven us all wrong countless times. I thought my post made it clear but to clarify, I'm scratching my head at the logic behind it in this set of circumstances for the reasons I explained. You're welcome to disagree.

From what I can see, no one's writing him off. Quite the opposite; people are keen to see him given a chance especially in an injury crisis as virtually the only rotation option.

We have to prioritise Milan and especially after the shit they've got away with this summer with Tonali. We can't though. Managers know the league is their bread and butter and that's the 6 pointer. I don't know how we handle this after not rotating against Everton. Only logical explanation for that is we have players coming back who are fit and they feel can make an impact in both games.

2 shots on target, both after the red, which even Owen admits was soft. They don't look like Champions in these types of games, but they seem to get these results even when they're shite.

A lot of our players have had a poor 45 minutes (Burn countless times) and have recovered second half. Two of the three games he was hooked were Man City home and Dortmund away. The other was Bournemouth where the whole team were poor throughout. He's 18. I do wonder if there may be something contractual in this. Edit: he's 19

He does but this is an unprecedented injury crisis combined with an unprecedented fixture list in Howe's time here. Looking at his gametime more closely, Hall's made 5 appearances. He's started 4 games and in 3 of them he was hooked at half time. That's not typical of Howe at all. In fact I'd say it's quite unlike Howe to do that. His only other appearance he got 74 minutes and scored at Old Trafford.

I doubt Spurs fans would take a draw at home. Our injuries are worse, we've played far more and harder games, have rotated far less, have a much weaker bench and have got Milan on Wednesday. Their injuries are bad but if it was the other way around we'd be well up for it.

I'm scratching my head because all common sense pointed to rotating for this one (say Hall and Dummett for Trippier and one of the wingers). We were never going to be able to play the same XI all three games and if we do, the fatigue only accumulates. If you have to risk a loss, surely you go a bit weaker at Everton allowing yourself a chance against Spurs and Milan where recovery time is also shorter. Even if we were just gambling on going for the easier points and maintaining momentum, we'd still be giving ourselves a big problem for the two bigger games. We've now put ourselves in a weak position and have two awful options: play the same XI for both Spurs and Milan and watch them struggle to finish the game and get outworked, or rotate and go weaker for the 6-pointer on Sunday and have a go in the final game. Do we know what's happening with Hall? He doesn't seem trusted even for a few minutes even with 13+ players out. Started 1 game this season I think and can't get off the bench when the team are exhausted. Something doesn't seem right.

Howe is all about the team spirit and chemistry which he has carefully cultivated. I don't see him signing a stop-gap coming in as a mercenary. Dubravka is an OK Premier League keeper who knows the group and has trained with them week in week out. Quite a few questioned the signing of Pope when we already had Dubravka. De Gea has a higher ceiling of course, but would he settle straight in immediately with a defence he's never trained with? Maybe, but there's just as much risk of disruption there. I think we'll run with it, providing Dubravka doesn't have a shocker December. The main concern with Dubravka was always more his injuries than his ability. Pope commands the box better but Dubravka is better with the ball at his feet.

PSG will have that extra motivation from 'needing' a result as opposed to Dortmund. But another way of looking at it is Dortmund will have a must not lose mentality and there's greater pressure on PSG to come out and make a game of it away from home. They know we're capable of scoring a few at home so whatever's happening in our game, they'll feel they have to win. That'll leave them open to Dortmund's counters.

All we can do is speculate but it seems most people you speak to, both Geordies and fans of other clubs, think Milan and his agent knew they needed to cash in quick while they had the chance and his agent put the word out to the team or teams he thought had the cash and would jump at getting such a marquee signing. Everyone I've spoken to who follows other clubs (I work with people from all over) thinks it's obvious and finds it funny we've been had. I haven't heard anyone who genuinely believes Milan didn't know. If other players have grassed Tonali up for putting them onto this site, it only adds weight to the fairly obvious assumption that Milan knew and moved quickly. I wonder what that Milan fan thinks - the one that was on here telling us there's no way Milan would sell him.

Not sure if mentioned/posted already, but this is from 4 days ago, from Liverpool's own website: Pawson's refereeing history with Liverpool shows a positive record for the Reds. He has officiated 36 matches involving Liverpool throughout his career, with the team winning 25 of those matches and losing only six. Interestingly, Pawson has awarded four penalties to Liverpool during these encounters but has not issued a single yellow or red card to any Liverpool player. https://www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/darren-england-liverpool-var-everton-27925210 36 matches. That's basically an entire season of games without a yellow card. Extremely anomalous stats. You'd think the PGMOL would flag something like this?

If it's at the other end.

I'd be very surprised if the club don't escalate this using whatever avenues they can. The bets took place while he was at Milan. The investigation surely started before the sale, and that would mean the Italian authorities have watched Milan secure an enormous fee in a sale that stunned their own fans. It's all massively suspicious and there's a clear motive. Of course Milan knew what they were doing, and the Italian authorities will be in the spotlight as well. Proving it is another matter, but presumably we owe Milan in instalments and I would expect we will try to make it as slow and as difficult as possible for them to get their money.

Far more likely it hasn't been lightning. Tonali was a signing that caught Milan fans by surprise and it very much looked like we'd been tipped off about his availability. Now we know why.

Investigations like this don't just come about overnight. The Italian authorities have allowed Milan to sell him for a huge fee right before going ahead with this. The timing stinks and Milan will be laughing all the way to the bank, as well as whoever's getting the kickbacks. We've been had. Not sure what the club can do about it.