Kasper

Should've taken Gayle off instead of Joselu. Had zero grip in the game after that. Atleast Joselu was contributing something by winning headers.

Worst half of the season? Deserved.

A lot of our posession was coming through long balls and headers won by Joselu. Now we're still hoofing it up there with couple midgets losing headers and conceding posession. Worried.

Fuck me. Lejeune trying to play offside there. Stupid.

No wonder they try to avoid passing it to Manquillo.

Merino would be wasted at number 10 in our system. Needs to be on the ball as much as possible and help the defenders by collecting the ball deep.

Thanks for clearing this up. I'm fine now.

Shame. That picture with them at the bottom would have been nice.

Desperately need to score and our defensive line sits just as deep as before.

Reaching for Crumpy levels of boring. Good stuff.

Going pretty much to plan so far. Keep it tight, don't commit a lot of players forward and nick a goal from the rare chance.

Exactly. Like they’ve never seen us play before.

Played a couple beauties like 5 minutes ago to the flanks.

Shelvey or Diame needs to drop deeper to provide an outlet for defenders. In trouble with them closing down.

Lot of ways actually. Well so far he hasn’t won a header and given it away twice. I’ll keep waiting for him to show his brilliance. Cleared one corner. But in regards to your original point: Hasn’t elbowed anyone in the head and isnt constantly scared his hamstring will explode when running.

Lot of ways actually.

Joselu is a better football than Mitrovic imo. Our style of play doesn’t suit either of them mind. Too bad Gayle still hasn’t recovered mentally from his injury last season. He's technically better I agree, but he's a training ground champion IMO. He's got worse every game he's played, and his finishing goes to shit under pressure. Mitro's got more self belief, and I think that counts for a lot playing for a club like Newcastle. On the game itself, I think we might lose this 1-0. Two well drilled sides, but I think our back four has more potential for errors. He's in the team for the same reason as Ayoze. Other options aren't as intelligent and hard working as they are. You say "training ground champion", Rafa says team player. Missing a chance here or there is not that important in the big picture. https://www.unibet.co.uk/blog/football/premier-league/why-joselu%E2%80%99s-poor-goal-return-won%E2%80%99t-concern-rafa-benitez-just-yet-1.955264 http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/i-can-read-comments-rafa-13827888 That Unibet link is the most nothing article I've read in a while like. Joselu might somehow get better but there's been no signs of it happening the past few games. Rafa would obviously prefer to have a striker who can score goals on the books. Think the main point from that article is that Rafa looks at much more than some missed scoring chances when picking the team. Well obviously we all do, but Rafa probably values defensive performance and intelligence much higher than the average football fan when looking at strikers. And yeah, obviously he would want a better striker. I'm just saying that's clearly what's behind the pecking order right now.

Joselu is a better football than Mitrovic imo. Our style of play doesn’t suit either of them mind. Too bad Gayle still hasn’t recovered mentally from his injury last season. He's technically better I agree, but he's a training ground champion IMO. He's got worse every game he's played, and his finishing goes to shit under pressure. Mitro's got more self belief, and I think that counts for a lot playing for a club like Newcastle. On the game itself, I think we might lose this 1-0. Two well drilled sides, but I think our back four has more potential for errors. He's in the team for the same reason as Ayoze. Other options aren't as intelligent and hard working as they are. You say "training ground champion", Rafa says team player. Missing a chance here or there is not that important in the big picture. https://www.unibet.co.uk/blog/football/premier-league/why-joselu%E2%80%99s-poor-goal-return-won%E2%80%99t-concern-rafa-benitez-just-yet-1.955264 http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/i-can-read-comments-rafa-13827888

It's an old old song. The Clash just used it as a basis.

What on earth? 2 points a game to reach 50? More like 1,2 points a game to reach 50.

I watched the match KI, that’s how I saw it. Much better than Hayden who offered nothing.

Made a couple easy mistakes but to say he didnt improve us is crazy. Knows how to rhytm the play so well

Thanks Rafa

Thanks Rafa. Our game now.