The College Dropout

It will mean something for both sides. The play-offs are seeded. We have a chance to qualify automatically. Even the top 8 is seeded.

It was beautiful. Looked like it was going wide then you see it bend and the feeling was amazing. Thank you Dan Burn. Again.

He's been brilliant. I was scared of the bozo allegations but he's been largely supreme

Valverde is better than Sandro like.

Again - he’s played half his football as a supporting striker. He’s not a pure 9 yet which is why he hasn’t had many shooting opportunities. It’s the same with Joao Pedro at Chelsea, he doesn’t play like a 9 so he doesn’t get as many shooting opportunities. He needs to buss lung to get in good positions in the box more. And sometimes make runs in behind. Harry Kane makes runs in behind, if you bend it and time it you won’t be caught. This is a learning curve for him. Get him with Wissa and we’ll start looking a good team again.

Nah. They need a vertical passer. They play the next level up from Sandro at RB.

AT some point he needs a run of games in 1 position. This moving him about stuff is killing him too. You can tell he's not the best tactically/doesn't have the greatest understanding of the game. So asking him to do different things isn't going to help. Get him doing 2 or 3 things very well and go from there. Run down the outside - cross. Cut in, cross or shoot. Make these 2 or 3 runs constantly. Run after your fullback. We actually need to win games now so it might be a consistent 20-30 minutes off the bench instead.

Agree with all of this. I believe in Howe and he does have some good attributes. I will support him with everything. (he does look absolute bobbins mind)

He doesn't have the technical attributes to have a high ceiling. A high ceiling player is like Marcus Rashford. Even a Yankuba Minteh. A player with limited technical ability, movement, composure etc. isn't going to have a high ceiling for a top 8 club.

This is why I think we should've stuck to the Tino x Tonali model. We need potential superstars. Elanga? what were we thinking?

I've thought for some time, if we didn't look like challenging - he would want to leave next summer. We are wasting his time otherwise. He should be in a team challenging at the top end of the league consistently and winning trophies. And a leader within those teams. We might get lucky like we did with Bruno but then we still have to pay him. With Bruno we set a high but fair price and nobody came in for him. Everyone carries on. I'm happy with that approach. £105m is a fair price. Nothing less. I can see Tonali respecting that even if an Italian side tried to get him for £70m. The Isak deal set a precedent. We will let players go for a fair price, not an astronomical one. We'll negotiate.

When he's locked in he's a very good player. But.. so was Jonjo Shelvey. He's not locked in that often. He can't rely on his physical attributes regulalrly enough, not mentally locked in enough and technically bang average. I just don't think he's that good. His game requires a level of mental focus and strength he doesn't seem capable of sustaining. He can't even reliably just bring the team up the pitch. Barnes is even more limited in general play. But he can rely on the quality of his end product enough to be worth playing. Gordon can go long stretches without troubling a goalie or creating much.

A lot of excuses for a player that has more average to bad games than good in a Newcastle shirt. Or even in his career.

I think we lose to this same Athletic side away from home tbf.

Yes he’s boss.

We are strong defensively. Actual football we are pap.

These look a better coached side than us. With a fully fit team they give us big problems

The time he’s struggled badly to control the football didn’t worry you ?

Semenyo. Kudus. Someone they can play football a bit.

He looks so bad.

None of them are classy players. We need more ballers. Our defenders have way more technical ability for their positions than the wingers

I said exactly this. The swazz was crazy.

The worst thing about this format is the intensity on players and thin squads. You have to be really shit to not play 10 games in this format. Thats massive overhead and over 50% increase on games from the old format. Unless you have mega club money and squads - particularly in the PL - the CL is a killer for league form. Vila were like 9th heading into Christmas or NY last season.

Milan, Juve, City and Atlanta all failed to make the last 16 last season.

The play-offs aren’t the same as qualifying from the old group stage. People keep equating the playoffs to the last 16 - the last 16 still exists - it’s just later. Qualifying for the last 16 would still be an impressive feat for us no matter how we do it. If we don’t make the play offs we’ve been shit.