Beren

Fantastic shout from Shay Given that the outside of the door delivery to BDB was Nobby Solano-esque.

Tbh at the end of the day, this does feel like very, very, very bitter medicine we just have to swallow to make us stronger. Realistically, we would have played more games in Europe in either the CL or Europa - but probably not had the squad depth or, quite frankly, first team truthlessness to progress much further. We have a much better chance of winning a domestic cup this year. The long term vision of the club is to compete in the CL regularly. With the stacked deck of revenue distribution, even progressing a few rounds isn't going to massively improve this year's revenue - the best thing to do is to requalify for Europe next year, and this outcome is probably most beneficial to that ambition. If we want to make some more noise next year, Newcastle needs to qualify for Europe and attract better players. Howe also will learn from this. The worst thing is this run probably weakens England's case for a fifth CL spot.

Man City got knocked out at the group stages in their first season in the CL too.

Which centre forward can we break the bank for?

Right. Going incommunicado with football media for a while

I do think tiredness contributed significantly to the second half. The whole team switching off waiting for an offside flag is a huge mental error though. It's easier to appeal for a flag than keep defending and it was costly. That Milan side was so mediocre. Not thaaaat gutted (the team needs to focus on the league), but I think the players will be.

Good effort from the team. Naive in many ways, but it was a free hit. Just have to use it as a learning experience and move on. They will rightly reflect on how they could have done better. Quite surprised at how open they left themselves. Not sure if there was a directive to go for Champions League or nothing, because it looked that way. A lot of kamikaze defending, which has been a feature of Newcastle defending for a while. Giroud had some fantastic centre forward play. Cracking for his age. The squad needs to strengthen. Hopefully in January. Would love a centre forward who can take on a defender and win.

Ah that's so bad. Switched off waiting for the flag completely.

Italian footballers get a bad rep, but Loftus Cheek is by far and away the biggest prick out there for Milan.

Some of Bruno's passing has been sumptuous.

This Milan side seemingly don't have half the heart of some of the sides we've played recently. We can outwork them to the finish line. Biggest risk IMO is the way we seem to overcommit to all-or-nothing tackles, rather than holding up attackers.

Foot on the ball. Tire the fuckers out. Get a second.

DONT SIT BACK

What a strike Love Gordon driving through the middle in that pocket.

GTFI BIG JOE

Not the strongest ref so far. Buying everything going. As long as he's consistent though, fair enough. The players should adapt accordingly.

Dominate possession please.

Tough day, but there will be brighter ahead. Let's focus on cups for a bit. Maybe when we have a few more bodies back we can make a late season surge to try and get a Europa spot. The league is so strong this year.

They'll just be trying to injure our players.

Wasn't in the ground, but apparently being in the vicinity is enough. I'll skip town next time Newcastle are in Wembo.

Great win. Thought they might spawn a draw at the end, but made it through. Best bit really is that they resorted to time wasting and moaning from minute one. Man Utd acting like a minnow, despite being able to rotate players in off the bench. Great stuff.

If you're a rubbish team, there's a good argument that there's more value in shooting at defender's arms than at the goal Hit three arms a game you're likely to get at least one pen out of it.

Is Europa helpful to coefficient and that? Or is it a bit of a ballache for not much?

Very well said. I'd also say the fans of a team that are top of the league are also creaming themselves on Twitter like a bunch of mackems