80

Come on Arsenal

Pretty much the whole team to be honest!

Mainly happy for Isak's sake. Hope Wilson can come back and show he's still got it.

Agreed. PSG away was a great defensive performance. They had loads of shots but there was constantly a body narrowing shooting angles, a shin deflecting, or a nudge forcing them off balance when playing the decisive pass. They were forced to perform at a pace which made them rely on instinctive talent rather than deliberation, and their instincts weren't good enough to break us down. They absolutely could have scored two or three, but I would not say they ever carved us open - creating meaningful one on ones with Pope, or having the ball fly across the face of our goal without any defensive intervention. I don't recall any of our team ever being at 6s and 7s, spinning in circles wondering where the ball had gone without a partner nearby backing them up. Also, a bit of a bugbear of mine - goalkeepers are part of the team too. I think the position gets underweighted when declaring whether a team has had a good match. It should never be forgotten how bad the circumstances were when we played that match, due to injuries. 17 year old Miley playing one of his first games for the club in centre midfield, outfielders carrying injuries and nothing but children and pensioners on the bench. The team had already hit the point of physical exhaustion in this match, with this week of games being the final one before the grim winter took hold. They survived that match with brains and iron will. It was magnificent.

Little puff piece for our end of season Australia trip. Decent watch though. The Tottenham game might end up being quite spicy depending on how this season finishes up!

In spite of being very keen to finish as high as possible, this is me too. More interested in performances at the moment - which have definitely turned a big corner. The results will take care of themselves.

Smart move all round. The sun will love his muscles and put £25m extra on his value

To be fair, ASM was being used as a stick to hit the Barnes signing with quite a lot this season after he got injured. But I agree we don't need to dwell on it.

He would be but I imagine this season's injuries have shattered his potential value in a sale. Quite possibly better off hanging onto him therefore. It's been a very bad year for the valuations of most of our squad. Pretty much everyone has gone significantly down except the three players we desperately don't want to lose. Gordon, Isak and Bruno, to be specific. Off the top of my head you could throw in Miley and probably Anderson and Livramento just about.

Sort of pleased with this. Hope he gets all the time and support he needs to be his old self in time for next pre season. He never looked happy with himself on this latest return. Although it was brief, I remember him being much snappier - esp. mentally - when he came back around Man United in the league cup.

Not a fan of our 70s or 80s badges. I don't want to change our current one, but if we did I think I'd rather go for something completely different. Not optimistic about the result, mind.

To be honest it was the fact that they'd messed up the team sheet that gave me hope we were doing something different tactically Probably should've stuck with the usual format if that was the case.

Yes, those are the games I can think of him being bad in, but the rest of the team was also dire - everyone was exhausted - so I think my top 3 remark mostly still applies. It's just it was a team full of 3s and 5s rating-wise

Bruno's my second place. You're right but I'm taking half a mark off as he wasn't so hot at the start of the season before his contract got sorted. Plus he's more established in the team, which I see as a tiebreaker.

Yes 100%. Been up for it game in and out, setting the pace come rain or shine. I can't think of a game where he hasn't been among our top 3 performers.

It already is No, overall I think the rules are a bad thing. There was a natural process underway which just needed to shake out through the system. Sometimes these things take years, but eventually compelling responses evolve. What we have now has just distorted it and entrenched the problems that were thrown up by the game's financial boom. It's quite plausible that without them, due to Man United's prolonged terrible management, your and Everton's roles would've been reversed over the past 5 years. Or Leicester's and their state of the art facilities, that I think I heard they are now needing to sell off. That role reversal would've been a reflection of meritocracy and given other fanbases a bite. Now I think about it, I wonder if FFP actually enabled the Glazers to still be at the club. As things stand the competition is rotting from the inside. It's not fun or attractive. Newcastle isn't prospering because we're well supported. The idea that we might be the ones to break into the system is itself a problem. We'll be managing it by utilising the political tentacles of one of the richest and most influential countries on Earth to game the system and make our finances appear to comply with the ridiculous rules - while unflinchingly absorbing a decade's worth of gigantic losses during the 'patience' period. All with a view to the idea that once you're inside the cartel it's a license to print money. I fully sympathise with any Wolverhampton-type fans being sickened by this - why the hell would they choose to be skittles in the caste system of a bowling game?

Yeah pretty content with that. One proper signing plus wheeling and dealing as outlined by Kaka re: Kelly and Minteh is perfectly acceptable to me and we could have a very good season that way.

He's an odd one as he's an intelligent player who is prone to using his intelligence unintelligently. He second guesses and thinks himself into trouble. But with the right coaching and support he does far more good than bad.

It was very early. We looked up for it from the first whistle, but that moment really brought the feeling that we definitely had a game on. Need to see it again, but from memory it would've been perfect if Isak had stepped off the pace and loitered near the centre spot for a cutback. But they'll work out their patterns of play even better with more time together.

I remember them quoting stats on his first team involvement around this time last season. I think it was something like 11-3-1 at the time. Turns out he's our MVP...

Civilisation is built on dull fucks.

Ironically, the reality is that not everybody knows his name.

Said the other day, it might not be the worst thing for him to join Minteh in Rotterdam, depending on Eddie's assessment.

I was gonna say, he's been pretty mild mannered for the past year or so hasn't he? I don't really pay that much attention to the track record of individual posters though so wasn't going to get involved incase I was misremembering. I think his original point was right though. At times this place often reminds me of: