The College Dropout

Still so many games, still in the cup. The next 4 league games, I need them to drop points. They'll win the last 2 games of the season. I have said for some time that if we get to 68 points, it doesn't matter what the others do. If it's 66ish, then we need to look at the others. The next two are super tough. Three points is fine and keeps us on track, four would be great, and six is amazing.

Yeh it's Man U.

The coverage thing is annoying. I kinda get it for Man U because they are such a big club but it is frustrating. Im so keen for us to press home our advantage as a club. Most pundits didn’t have us qualifying for Europe at all. We still aren’t being taken seriously. If we can push in the transfer market and get further quality in we can start thinking about 73-85 point seasons rather than 60-72 point seasons. The media haven’t shifted to reckoning with us. With CL, a bit of luck and our ambition that could change over the next 18 months.

I'm a super Cal fan but lad doesn't look like he has much left to give at this level. Thanks for the memories and goals lad.

This is as a guaranteed 3 points as there is in the league* *assuming Ange is still there I think Chelsea will miss out entirely (or finish 7th). They are the worst team of the 7. I think they'll get a maximum of 4 points before we play them.

Serious but shouldn’t be world ending. I didn’t think it would be something minor, someone like Eddie wouldn’t be hospitalised because of the flu. Get better Eddie.

I’ve no idea how much it will take to make us further competitive. I’ve no great idea on our PSR position. i do think this new CL format is brutal. You need a deep squad to compete there and requalify for the CL. For me the ends always justify the means. The window of 2023 won us our first trophy and has us competitive almost 2 years later with no improvements. I was critical at the time, critical last June. We’ve won a trophy. If we qualify for the CL - it was all fully justified. All the 2023 signings hit, including Minteh. Bad luck with injuries, the Ban and the draw screwed us. Maybe a lack of experience too. Take all the chips and put them on Eddie, Nickson and whoever. If we got 3 CL campaigns out of 4, the cartel cannot stop us. That first goal is £120m worth of player. They made it look easy. Get us 2 more we could win the league man. Some of our lads are so good, I want them to win more trophies elsewhere if we won’t constantly compete. Isak should be competing at the top end of world football and we ain’t far off making it happen. If we don’t, sell and rebuild. Im not saying we shouldn’t learn, improve, be smarter. But the last approach worked. Iterate it.

I’m not talking about Chelsea. I’m talking about Newcastle United. The club that has spent £220m on Isak, Tonali, Barnes, Botman and Bruno. I’m happy for them to spend another £220m on 5 players Newcastle United think are of that level or better if we can afford it next season. Not fucking Chelsea.

You’re right it’s not age. It’s general position and profile. Tonali was a Serie A winner and international - a bit more proven in his career. Thuram might be a better player for all I know but I’m not against paying that bit more if we think it’s more of a sure thing like we did with Tonali or Isak. Isak will be 26 next season. We’ll not always a have a top 5 striker in Europe on our books. Let’s go for it. Gamble a bit. If we don’t get CL football, we’ll probably have to sell him next summer anyway - for his own good as well. There’s no point in keeping him, Tonali etc. to be in and out of the CL or Europa at worst. Let’s get more players of that level, so we can stay there. I look at Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa what they’ve achieved this season. They aren’t that much better than us or not better than us at all. We’ve beat them all handily this season. Spurs and Man U being shit is great for the 12 points. But we’ve beaten 2 CL Quarter Finalists 4 times and the league champions in a cup final all by ourselves. We are good. At our best we are damn near unstoppable. The time is now. LETS WIN THE LEAGUE.

Etikite would’ve been a success but Isak was another level. Getting our premium targets is why we are as good as we are. A lot of our better players are hitting their peak. Let’s get CL and fucking go for it man if FFP permits. A second CL campaign helps tremendously with the sponsors too. Im not against a good younger option when it’s the best option (Hall, Livra). But if we can get our first choice 23 year old let’s do it. If Villa had the squad they have now at the start of the season they get CL. If we can build a proper squad we’ll challenge for CL again next season. Maybe even a title challenge. We are so close to being a legit side. Give us another quality attacker. A top RCB with pace. A good goalie that can pass and some more quality at CM. We are damn near as good as anyone in Europe.

In the tougher PL I think Szob’s work rate is shining through more than his ability on the ball. Cunha has that bit of magic that I’ve not seen from Szob. At his best too Maddison has more magic. I’ve also not seen Cunha play RW and he’s right footed.

Too slow in the press right? This is why I’d take Welbeck. 20-30 minutes off the bench. Pressing Machine. Hold up and link up play.

The fee is about right considering he has room for improvement age wise. Do you think he’s better than a prime Welbeck? Different styles but similar in a weird way. Neither will score lots of goals but can bring lots to a team - they just do it in different ways. I would take Welbeck here for free.

I always thought Szob was intended to play RW. Our RW will be so interesting next season. Currently our Murphy doesn’t a lot more dog work than Barnes or Gordon. Even yesterday Murphy was pressing the wingback so would find himself deep in our half. Think Barnes was pressing Maz the RCB so much closer to goal.

I didn’t say Barnes was a better player but he is better than Gordon at a lot of things. Gordon’s physicality and mentality can make him a real force.

I’d take Zirkzee for £20m if he could work harder off the ball.

Pep would struggle tbf. His technical floor for players is so high. Not struggle as bad as that tbf.

I’m just talking ability. Players capable of magic or top draw ability. Other than Fernandes you’re then looking at Diallo, Garnacho, Mainoo, Zirkzee. I like all of these and you would hope the first 2 can go up the levels. Defensively it’s similar. None of the CBs are better than prime Maguire. All the fullbacks are solid, none special.

I like Zirkzee. But he’s a poor man’s Berbatov. Think he struggles to start for half the division. He would start for Fulham. Bench at Palace. Is he better than Evanilson? Obviously he’s much younger with room to improve but I’d take Welbeck over him. A fully fit Welbeck is a nightmare for teams. Bench at Villa. Would suit Chelsea tbf but also sit on the bench. Is he better than Strand Larson? Would be handy at Brentford imo but I prefer Wissa Hes better than the £60m guy they have though.

He’s the one. That’s it. Ole’s team had 4.

I’ve changed my thinking about our transfer approach. We should keep it as is or close. More Tonali’s please. In general I’m happy to keep the physical monster + high floor technician like Tonali. Those don’t come cheap mind. Opportunistic quality when we can find it. So we need the CL money. Our big signings have been massive successes.

He’s better than Gordon at a lot of things tbf. He’s been crucial to us. Maybe a bit like Wilson when we finished 4th, he’s coming up big in the final games and getting us over the line. Overall his game is a bit more classy than Gordon’s. Better finisher. Knows when to play in his fullback better. Doesn’t work as hard off the ball, not as aggressive or tenacious but is clearly trying. Has a decent chance of an England call up you would reckon too.

We need a mix of youth and experience. We can’t replace all the old heads with kids. Which is why we’ll keep a few of the older heads. If Trippier goes I do think we should sign a RB. Trippier’s still a massive part of the squad with his quality. Being able to call on him and Harvey Barnes (and Dubs tbf) has been crucial to our success this season.

How many of these are top players or close? Rashford, Cavani, Pogba, 27 year old Maguire, 25 year old Shaw, De Gea, a decent Martial, season prior they had Lukaku. They are a long way away from that. None of the players you named are as good as Tonali, Bruno or Isak. The side that finished 3rd had a top class Rashford and Casemiro. One has left, the others legs have gone. It’s lost the goals and control in midfield. Overall I don’t think it’s that hard to build a competitive PL side. But this Man U side has the least ability of a Man U side that I’ve ever seen. They are still capable of putting it together in one-off games but it lacks players with real class. Agree Ratcliffe has been awful. The summer was awful and they let ETH buy some more guff.

Good point on Miley. At our best all of our players are sharp. On top of the opposition’s first touch. Aggressive. Miley doesn’t have that. I think a lot of it is physical but also it’s a mentality. I thought as a whole we weren’t as on top of Man U in the first half as we could be physically. Thats why we are often good against teams that come out and play and try to meet us gun for gun. Thats why I was so confident against Man U and confident against Chelsea - they’ll come to play but they’re not good enough physically or technically to beat us at our best. Actually more likely to get blown away.