The College Dropout

Gordon’s done well to me.

Cheers for sharing. Will give it a goood read later. Interesting read from what I’ve seen so far. Awful about the injury.

I love HBA. But I think he played under one of the better managers for him, with us. I don't think Rafa or Howe would have any time for him at all. But after KK and Robson - I think Pardew is the NUFC manager of recent times that would have tried to work with him most. He is underrated in the wider footballing world. He was better than Taarabt, levels better imo. All that needs to be said is HBA was considered the better talent out of him and Benzema. And Benzema was considered an A1 talent himself

We'll be back in 2026 anyway

Donnarumma signed afterwards. Wasn't like he was guaranteed to start here anyway.

Both are getting better so let's see where we end up

My perception is Anderson is better off the ball and Wharton is better on it. Anderson is all-action and probably better in tight spaces. For a Howe team - Anderson for me. For England - probably Anderson again but if we want a more patient style then Wharton.

Good points.

Could tank his value and cause mass injury the prick.

From the little i've seen, I think he wants to avoid a bit of contact at first. He doesn't have that Suarez bundle his way through defenders playing style, he's trying to beat them with skill. He's one i'm giving 18-24 months before drawing any major conclusions. He's not even scored 15 Bundesliga goals in his career. We may play him deeper at points this season but with Isak and Etikite as targets and Wissa, Pedro, Sesko to some extent, I think Howe likes a skilful 9. Which to some degree, negates the need for a skilfil AM/10. All hypotheses - exited to see how we play over the next few games. My feeling is a 60/30-70/20 split in a 433 or both in a 5 or when chasing

He doesn't play in any of their positions though. Anderson's competition is Wharton, Henderson, Angel Gomes, Gallagher... I think that's it. You can make an argument for Jude or James (Tuchel played him there for Chelsea) I guess, but not the others. If everyone was fit and the World Cup was next month - Anderson has a fantastic chance of starting. He makes the squad with ease. Unless Howe switches things up drastically, Ramsey will play LCM/8, LW or AM. Looks like Tuchel is trying to find more of a 6 to allow Rice to play more of an 8. Anderson is Bruno-lite as a 6. Ramsey can't/won't play that role for us imo. In our squad, Anderson would be a better 4th man than what we have - including Ramsey. Ramsey is only really a Joelinton alternative (which is grand as Joelinton can't stay fit long) or an upgrade on Willock. You can play Ramsey at 10 or LW but that's not really his position. Anderson can play the Joelinton role but also the deeper role. It would've cost close to Elanga money to get Anderson back in the summer so it was a non-starter. Still delighted for him. He wouldn't have progressed so much if he had stayed.

Did you expect him to become an England international a year after leaving us? I didn't see it. He played so well, I think it's his position to lose right now.

If he continues his trajectory he’s going to cost £70m minimum next season. He’s going to have to engineer his own way back via a release clause imo and that will be set high anyway. I think Minteh will have a breakout season this year or next.

I never saw him as a 6 either, but he actually has a great skill set for it. I've long thought players not quite good enough to be truly great at 10 or similar can be great at 6 or 8, with that bit more time on the ball. Pirlo, Scholes, Kroos for example all started pro careers at 10.

I don't think we have loads of room for "gambles". Our squad depth is mostly due to having older backups with low resale value. Trippier, Krafth, Lascelles, Schar, Burn & Murphy won't fund their own replacements. Most of these will leave for free. Going to enjoy them while they are here. Really like all of them.

DR Congo will go into the play-offs most likely, no? 3 more points against either Togo or Sudan should secure that place. Nigeria are almost certainly out. It would require a small miracle to even make the play-offs.

Also he's an england international, his wage will be low. I expect he'll want a new contract this season or want to move next summer. He's not running down this deal imo.

That wasn't really the point. We still don't have many squad players we could sell for good money. Although fees for Kelly, Almiron and others have been good

Jude Nolan is funny.

He's going to have better offers at that point.

You do know you don't have to do it exactly like them? Brighton's aims are to be safe in the division and make money. So their transfer approach facilitates that. I do agree that the most effective way is to sell players you don't really need/want for big money but that's impossible until you're a cartel club at the level required. Aston Villa have both the best squad and youth team outside of the cartel 6. They've sold well - rarely losing star players, selling youth products and they are still in the shit with PSR. Their overall revenue can be half of Spurs. Fucked.

Not really. We are worth more to Adidas than Nike due to our historical connection with Adidas sponsoring our best ever PL Era’s. So the throwback jersey’s is only possible with Adidas. There’s a heritage there. Likewise Newcastle’s presence in Saudi can be argued to be outsized compared to a similar nation. Hence bigger deals with Saudi brands. Edit: welll yes every deal is bespoke. But there are legit reasons why sponsorship is worth more to one related company compared to a non related company

Their current human rights violations - aye.

Palmer and Saka are both best off the right imo. But very different styles. Probably start Saka and have Palmer off the bench. Rogers and Jude at AM battling it out. Foden sat at home.

Chance Foden might not even go to the WC. Hasn’t deserved it based on performance.