Benwell Lad

If anyone has just stopped sniffing glue it was probably the wrong week to do it.

Can't wait to be not looking at this thread.

The rise of the Stan from Alliance to the NPL and also becoming arguably the "coolest" non league team in the region (they certainly sell the best beer) has been brilliant.

It is bizarre really, but decades of being kicked in the nuts has made us that way. It's taking longer than it should to realise just how good we now are

Although the FA cup is more prestigious than the Carabao I really think that the top teams now put out stronger teams in the Carabao latter stages. The timing of the semis and final suits their agenda better than the FA cup when they could well be involved in the latter stages of European competition and the concluding part of the PL season as well. Certainly Brentford, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and ourselves put everything into the Carabao games.

Arrogant as it may sound I don't even think the derbies would be "big" games for us if they came up, in the context that we will have many more important games to play next season. In fact the derbies would just become a distraction to more important matters, would hardly raise an eyebrow if we win them but a shock win for them would be shouted about for ever.

Quite crazy to think that two teams as bad as Tottenham and Man Utd are one win away from playing in the CL and a team as bad as Sunderland are a win away from the PL.

Quite sad how unhealthy their crowd looked when the camera scanned around.

I wonder how many times Eddie Howe, the guy working with Miley and his development day on day, has to say he's not going anywhere before it sinks in. Of course he's behind the BTJ trilogy, so are most PL midfielders not just this 18 year old. He's arguably next in line. Yes, he's not yet freely showing what he can do in the last third in his limited game time, but he comes on with clear instructions and carries them out very competently. Yesterday the game was turning against us and they were breaking at will and dominating the game. He was brought on as an extra midfield body to try and break them up and that's what he did. As a reminder of what he can do in the final third, even in his limited domestic game time, he has come up with three crucial goals, all at key moments in games, not the injury time 5th goal in a 5-0 win. He can pick out the killer pass when it's on, clearest example yet being the one he set up for Izak last season. He was pretty competent against PSG and Dortmund as well in big pressure games. His time is coming and apart from the fact that he's developing quite nicely in our squad, the anticipated number of games next season means he will stay here.

" It must be the noise, it must be the noise, Enzo Thingy it must be the noise". What utter drivel, why employ a so called elite manager if all you're going to get is Steve Bruce type reactions when it goes against you ?

We are currently the same odds for a top four finish that Villa are for a top six finish. That's a very, very different bet. Surely the bookies would have cottoned on if we were as vulnerable as some on here think (myself included at times).

Don't know if it's a rational concern, or just paranoia as a consequence of reading this thread too much, but I think, as organisations, Man Utd and Spurs would do anything they can to stall the progress of Newcastle's rise to the top. We will be seen as much more of a threat to their place at the top table than Villa and Forest would.

If every remaining game for the contenders finishes 0-0 we end up 4th and qualify. Unlikely, nay impossible, I know, but possibly the only remaining set of results which hasn't been mooted in this thread yet

This thread is starting to keep me awake at night. Keep looking in for someone to come up with conclusive proof that we qualify for CL but end up with half a dozen optimism/pessimism swings in five minutes. Of course the bookies have us 1/4 to qualify and Forest and Villa odds against but that factors in Forest being 5/2 just to win tonight. If they do pull off a win it changes significantly in their eyes. It's going to be an excruciating three weeks.

The play offs will be the usual lottery, anyone can win and the team who finish 6th have almost the same chance as the team finishing clear 3rd. I have to admit to not watching much of Sunderland, sometimes part of the games they have televised if nothing else to do, but what I have seen of them leaves me unconvinced they are anything remotely resembling a serious promotion team. Take away their impressive start, when they seemed to catch the opposition cold, and they have looked nothing other than an average mid table championship team since, and often not even that. They never win convincingly, if at all recently. They lack any stand out individuals (despite the hype and claims of "generational talents") and often look cumbersome and awkward in possession.