midds

At other clubs I think Semenyo would arrive and make a bit of a splash. At City he'll arrive and just dissolve into the pack immediately. Still, at least if City sign him then he's not going to a club that could threaten them, gotta hoover that talent up just in case anyone else picks him up. PSR is FUCKING MINT

Delighted it's serious. Couldn't happen to a bigger piece of human filth, wouldn't want injuries on normal players but he's definitely an exception to that. He went out of his way to fuck the club, his manager and his teammates over this summer and deserves every single bit of bad luck and pain that comes with those decisions he made in June and July. Hope he's limping for the next 30 years the fucking arsehole

I have no idea why people still sit and watch sky sports news, the buildup before a game or the guff after the game. There's little/no quality insight into the football itself - the only exception I'd make is when carragher is just analysing pieces of play on Monday nights. Maybe 10 mins of the whole thing is good and informative. Pretty much everything else they put out, across all their football output, is utter horseshit

The lad is picking and choosing when he's deciding to try and when he's deciding to go through the motions, it's really clear. When he chooses not to try then he looks shit and a waste of a shirt, when he decides he fancies having a go he looks good and causes bother for the opposition. Personally I've got no time for any player who decides if he's going to give a fuck and try his best depending on the side of bed he gets out of, I'd rather that type of person wasn't here. If he's motivated and plays well I'll say so, if he's decided not going to bother and looks shit then I'll say so

Mad how often life just comes back to kick you straight in the knackers when you deserve it. You take the piss, you treat people like shit and suddenly life uppercuts you and puts you back where you deserve to be. Fuck him, the utter cunt

Did I actively want him to have a great season? No. Am I in the least bit bothered that the snake cunt won't kick a ball until April? Also no. Fuck him, he's an utter cunt

I know. Fucking brilliant isn't it?

Exactly. Felt the same when Martinez pinged his knee a year ago. Normal players then injuries are shit and wouldn't wish them but for utter pieces of shit like Isak and Martinez then it's all good. The more painful the better tbh

I just think they stepped it up noticeably and sometimes you just need to hang on and try and defend it as best as possible. They were always going to have a spell when they were on top and dominating and that was it, they've got some really good players and were in 4th gear and going for it. Not an awful lot you can do to keep good teams out for the full 90 mins

Can't really knock Howe for his management today really. Really disappointed by how we've regressed with out mentality and attitude but that was spot on from the first whistle today - it was exactly what I wan to see from my team and they delivered for those first 35 minutes and on another day we would have been 3 or 4 up and the game would have been put to bed much earlier. Chelsea and Maresca clearly upped their levels, don't think it was a conscious decision from Howe to sit back from 35-75 minutes, that was Chelsea raising their levels and we had no choice but to try and defend against a very good team. The only are I thought he could have done better was with changing things after about 60 mins, they were clearly on top and we were looking tired again and he just let it drift a bit until they got their second and then he reacted and we got a bit of momentum back. Could have won it, could have lost it and the ref and VAR were a disgrace but I thought a point was about right in the end. Lovely to see that the intensity we once had is still there and we need to see it more often. Thought Miley was superb, Tonali looking much better, Gordon actually tried today too and Hall also looked impressive. The signs are there, we had to see a reaction after the derby surrender and we got it, just wasn't quite enough to get all 3 points unfortunately

Scores but he's down and in pain. Hope it's nothing trivial

He actually tried and put some effort into his play and lo and behold looked pretty good. Was positive and looked motivated and caused them problems throughout Funny that

Disgraceful and spineless performance from a gutless ref and VAR who clearly weren't going to give anything against Chelsea today. The Gordon one and the subsequent explanation are simply evidence of the bias - the pictures and explanation simply aren't the same event. VAR is only good if you have people who are using it honestly and fairly and that's just not the case atm. The inherent bias is still there because the people are the same spineless cunts who ref games too

Can't speak for each part of the ground but if he's getting shit even when he's trying to be positive and attacking his LB then that's absolutely dreadful from the fans. I think there's some situations where players visibly aren't trying and catch some (justified) shit from the fans. But if he's getting abuse from the off regardless of what he does or how he plays then that's bang out of order

I think at some point someone needs to just have a word and say something along the lines of 'look, if you are trying to be positive and take the attack to your LB then the crowd will be 100% with you even if it doesn't work because they see you trying to be aggressive and make something happen which is exactly what they want. If you never have a go and play it safe then, even if you do that competently, it'll piss the fans off as they see you as a weapon that can hurt the opposition but you're choosing not to. It's a mentality thing and not a competence thing'

Feel like this Newcastle side is like watching the first hour of Rocky 3. Edge and hunger has all but disappeared and it needs to return asap

Doesn't help that he's been tasked with holding Tino's hand on the right flank for about 80% of some games. He's spent an awful lot of time as, essentially, an auxiliary RWB playing 5-10 yards in front of his RB No need to track back when you're already sat so deep

Best I could find. Thought this is quite interesting too, only trailed an average of 12 mins per game https://www.soccerstats.com/teamstats.asp?league=england&stats=u330-newcastle-utd

Yeah, I'm not really talking about the actual results, they've been a mixed bag tbh, we've played well in parts, been unlucky at times and we've stunk the place out at times too. I'm talking specifically about the mentality of the team, how we approach games, how we have chosen to be very passive and how little fight we seem to have these days. We've still won games despite this change in mentality but overall we look poorer for it and the horrific stats seem to back it up too. Yesterday was indefensible on every single level you could possibly think of I also think (while I'm having a whinge) that Howe needs to come up with something special in the next week. He needs to ditch 433, it's just not working with this squad of players - it used to work and now it doesn't so stop being proud and change it for something else. 4231 I think possibly suits this squad a little better but maybe 4411 or a slight variation of it. He has to look at the players he's got in his squad right now and come up with a way of getting square pegs in square holes. He also needs to shift the mentality to being pro-active and ramp the aggression back up, play the game 15 yards higher up the pitch and get into the opposition faces, it's a brave move but it'll get the crowd onside and you'll get an instant response. Press as a team and if we need to make 5 subs a game after 65 mins then accept it and continue doing it, share the work around the squad we now have. He also needs to pick his best XI for his new formation and fucking stick to it until he needs to change it. The CL is done for now so the focus needs to be on League performances now. Pick your best team and stick to it as much as possible and let them build up a bit of rhythm and continuity. Can't flog them into the ground obviously but tell them they're first choice and rotate only when necessary. These are practical things that Howe could do tomorrow and wouldn't cost a penny, there's nothing stopping him, the squad is virtually fully fit and has very few injuries more than a week or so. If he carries on flogging this dead horse then he's toast - fucking change something, please

Ok, if I changed it to 'mid-April' rather than 'Cup Final' (mid-March) would you agree? The games after the Cup Final were class and the whole city was bouncing and the team were riding the wave a little but I'll accept we did look very very dangerous for the next few games after the final I'm not trying to be an arsehole I'm just bitterly disappointed that the very thing that shot us up the League has now deliberately been completely abandoned save for the odd flash here and there once a month for 20 minutes. There's no zip or spark in this squad, there's precious little fight or bottle to defend til the whistle either, christ even 10 man Burnley nearly nicked a point a week or so ago. The poor performances are now the norm and the times we click are the blips and I find that really sad and largely self inflicted

Since the Cup Final I think I've only seen the old us once or twice since - second half of Liverpool H and for large parts of Arsenal H. We dug in and fought in the Final and looked fantastic but I've seldom seen it since - we're still capable of it in little pockets of the odd game but it's never sustained like it used to be. The Everton H game was also a bit of a shocker too, was a huge game with CL qualification as the prize and we just wilted when it mattered. The pictures of the players just hanging around waiting for Man U to qualify us because we simply didn't do it ourselves were a bit of foreshadowing. I hate how passive we are, no idea why we're conserving energy every match as when we actually need to see the players step up (yesterday) it just doesn't happen. It's slowly killing us, I get the fact I'm currently a bit doom and gloom but it's because of the negative, turgid dross that's being served up more often than not. I don't expect to win every game but I kinda do expect us to at least look interested and up for it and we just don't

There's context behind each game obviously and I'll accept we've been bang unlucky at times and been robbed in some games too. However, that stat is horrific, context doesn't mean much when you're scrambling for points in both comps and it's a fact that when we go behind we lose (somehow) every time so far. Couple that horror stat with the volume of points lost when taking the lead AND the number of late goals we concede these days AND the way we now score then immediately sit back and try and soak up pressure (in an attempt to save energy I assume) suggests that it's not a quirk and a regular facet of our game. Put all of that together and it paints a very poor picture for those responsible. We have little/no bottle to see games out and little fight at all to claw anything back and make it stick

Those are results, I'm talking about the general attitude and mentality of how we now play. We've won games this season despite the mentality issues, I'm suggesting we look shit and scared and have zero belief, it's negative as fuck imo