Beren

They're really going easy on them.

Great result. Only caught the first half and the goal in the second half. Howe's post-match honesty is encouraging

Transferred Foden out this week

That's crackers. Only themselves to blame. Should have been home and dry. 3 points from 18 against Luton, Everton and Bournemouth. Woof.

How was extra time so short with so much of it wasted

Definitely a pen.

Dummett is the Man City slayer. Nee worries.

Was it Kaka giving Schar pelters?

I know it's a bit of a bold statement, but I do genuinely believe Longstaff is good enough to get into the starting XI for this Everton side.

Not worried.

Think it bounced up to his boot.

I reckon Anderson has done well today. Put in a good shift and used the ball well.

Great effort on the set piece by Isak and co.

Nee benefit of the doubt for the attacker anymore I take it. Don't even know the rules

Lethal feet of Dan Burn. They didn't stand a chance.

I am not seeing what everyone else is seeing in Lewis Hall. All for giving him a chance to develop while we're down to the bares bones, but he does look like a youth team player playing in the senior team right now.

American coverage of our games is class. Good half that. Great possession football in the middle, looked tiers above them. Game got a bit unnecessarily stretched at the end of the first half. Even with a good XI unavailable the gulf in quality is massive. Just need to be patient and wear them out more.

Only caught glimpses while out and about including the winner from Barnes - looked a cracker! Gordon looked menacing anarl.

Saw a fair bit of the game (no audio) at a bar last night. This England feels like Belgium's golden era team - wasted by Martinez/Southgate.

Interesting post I don't think 50%+ average possession is the gloryland personally. I don't think any possession stat is isolation is the measure of success, or what I was getting at, but it's an interesting bit of data. For example, I'd be more than happy to let Brighton pass it along their backline for 60 minutes while sitting on a 2-goal deficit vs Newcastle. Meaningful possession during meaningful parts of the game is less easy data capture though. Also, I'm not surprised Villa's stat is reasonably low either and I'm not a big fan of their style of play either. FWIW, I don't think NUFC are inherently "just runners" and they've showed on numerous occasions what they're capable of, which makes it all the more galling when the "running game" is leaned on too heavily. I also strongly disagree that it's just about players. I think coaching/strategy have the biggest impact - especially when you're NOT in the position to a have a squad like Man City's or Liverpool. Evidence of this is what Howe did with the likes of Murphy, Longstaff and Almiron last year who under a different system were in a relegation battle.

This got me. Does feel at times like he is a General just sending bodies over the top until they don't come back.

The commitment was there IMO, but it all looked quite jaded. The season has been plagued by injuries, but there are now a lot of bodies back - there has been a diet of one game per week, or playing other teams with the same number of games, for quite a while now. It's like a person in their very late twenties still blaming their parents. There's still an element of players finding fitness, but it's just the attritional style of play which seeks to generate opportunities from harrying defenders, rather than retaining possession which does it IMO. Not against the likes of Man City, of course, other teams - Newcastle seem to play in an overly direct style of play (always seeking an immediate killer ball) and then chase way too hard for a comparatively modest return in possession turnovers/chances. My hope for Howe and the team is they use the rest of the season to address this, but I've been waiting for 3-4 months. Man City's football may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's more sustainable in the long run - you don't want to be running full throttle for 90 minutes every week for a whole season. Have bursts of it in games, sure. Or for certain matches.

Thought Newcastle were alright-ish in parts, but Man City were very much in first gear.