Rich

Disagree, but think you're more likely to be right on numbers than me. Get them in early enough and there's loads of time to bed in, they don't all have to start immediately (as with Bruno).

It's almost as if January didn't happen...

"How did the match go for you? I didn't get too many balls. The players still have trouble finding me on the pitch but that will improve with time. The necessary routines will develop. Anyway, at the end of the match I was exhausted. I had played 90 minutes last Saturday and last night I was on the pitch for 120 minutes. Towards the end my legs were a bit heavy.... Still I made the decisive pass for the second goal." "You have in any case a terrific attack. You put 4 goals past Middlesbrough last week and 4 more this weekend past the big Premiership favourite. Where does Newcastle's danger come from? The problem is that we can score at any time but concede goals just the same. We've picked up quite a few since the start of the season and I hope the arrival of Sylvain Distin will stabilise the defence." "How do you explain the problems in the defence? As I already told you, the Newcastle team is comprised of young players who are still lacking experience in defence. To start with, in order to stop conceding goals they have to be meaner. I'm not criticising them, I'm just saying this for the benefit of the team." "One would assume that Bobby Robson is trying to sort out the gaps in the defence. How is he going about it? Truth is, I don't know too much about it. As he talks real fast I understand not everything he says (laughs). It's not easy to catch it all. But I know that this morning, he was yelling. He made them move quite a bit because he doesn't think it's normal that teams who allegedly are weaker than us should play without meeting any resistance." "Seeing as you were watching from the stands, how did you judge this particular Newcastle team? As usual, the play was very much on the right side of the pitch, and I could see many openings on the left. We really should change the system of play so that we can exploit both sides of the pitch. I will talk to Bobby Robson about it to see what he has to say." (Can't be arsed to do any more, but these were all from his first few months with us: https://www.nufc.com/html/robert-1.html.) I don't think ASM's comments are a big deal, basically, but will wait to see the full interview just to see the full context.

I could live with Targett as first choice, just pushing my luck a bit with that one. Surprised it's not already wrapped up, and the murmurs about us not being convinced on him are a bit surprising.

We did.

Aye, bit of ambition isn't a bad thing though. We'll spend about £200M, I reckon. We were chucking £40M bids around like candy in January. We should be looking to attack the top six next season, if not the top four. We're already 10th after the worst start to a season in our history .

I'm hoping we're moving towards a 4-2-3-1 / 4-4-1-1 next season to add a bit more fret, as such here's my latest ideal scenario for the summer: First XI (4-2-3-1 / 4-4-1-1) New Goalkeeper Trippier New Centre-back New Centre-back New Left-back Guimaraes Joelinton New Winger New Attacking Midfielder Saint-Maximin New Striker Second XI (4-2-3-1 / 4-4-1-1) Dubravka Krafth Schär Burn New Left-back (Targett) ✅ Shelvey S. Longstaff Almiron / Murphy Willock Fraser Wilson Spares Darlow Dummett (Anderson) Wood Sell / Loan / Release Gillespie Woodman ✅ Manquillo Fernandez Clark Lascelles Lewis Murphy / Almiron Hayden ✅ Hendrick M. Longstaff Ritchie Gayle

Anyone remember the good old days where we'd have one of these from Robert seemingly every month? Lost in translation, monsieur.

Bent as fuck, but makes for a better final.

Spamoni

De Bruyne has been fucking toilet.

Just searched how many times I've said it on here, man. Can't believe it's taken over 15 years for someone to pull me on it.

Fuck me, had no clue that was its origin like. It's always just been used to describe idiots/inbreds around my way. Apologies if any offence caused and won't be dropping it again!

Cracking post. They're huckles, to a man.

I'd go: Dubravka Krafth Schär Burn Targett Willock Longstaff Guimarães Almiron Gayle Murphy Keep the consistency in the back five, keep the form players in (Bruno & Almiron) and give the rest of the team a rest. Think Gayle is the most unlikely starter here, but could see him getting more than a few minutes here off the bench.

Hodor in the Director’s Box tonight? Mission accomplished.

Aye. Almost rinsed him as much as Almiron did a little bit earlier. Filthy.

Proper old-fashioned in his approach to the game, thought he was third behind Bruno and Krafth for MOTM yesterday. Just does everything at 7/10 level with a few moments of genuine class that elevates him above that. He’s been outstanding, overall, hope he’s here for a long time (and a good time).

Covered more ground than anyone yesterday, as Cabaye always did. They both play/ed with massive intensity when it comes to pressing and tackling, too. They’re not Shelveying around the pitch, for the most part. He also seems to have decent agility and very quick feet in tight spaces, as well as decent strength to hold off opponents. Wasn't there also a game recently where he achieved the fastest top speed of anyone on the pitch? Or was that bollocks?

Glad he was still able to run, given that his goal came after the 60th minute. Fucking class.

Have absolutely no recollection of this.

Anyone else gutted that we strengthened Burnley so much in January?

Where’s Dubs? Just Darlow and Gillespie warming up.

Dubravka Schär Lascelles Burn Fraser Guimarães Joelinton Targett Willock Wood Saint-Maximin Surely it's time to say ta-ra to Shelvey?

I think a striker, winger, central midfielder or number ten (if we have designs on switching to a 4-2-3-1), and goalkeeper have to be the priority signings (in that order). I'd also like to see us augment the defence a bit more, too, with some genuine competition for Schär, Burn and Targett. New Goalkeeper Dubravka Darlow Trippier Manquillo Schär New Centre-back Lascelles Burn New Centre-back Targett New Left-back Guimarães Shelvey New Centre-mid Willock Joelinton S. Longstaff New Right-winger Murphy Saint-Maximin Fraser New Striker Wilson Wood -- Say bye-bye to Woodman, Gillespie, Krafth, Fernandez, Clark, Dummett, Lewis, Hayden, Hendrick, M. Longstaff, Ritchie, Almiron, and Gayle, if possible. -- New GK Trippier Schär Burn Targett Guimarães Joelinton New RW New AM Saint-Maximin New ST Easy top eight.