HawK

Good spot

There is no link up on the left, burn won't overlap so there is no dynamicism to get Gordon dropping back. Were crying out for Targett who can do this with aplomb and underlap with confidence too.

Wilson you've been falling over all season why do you think it's going to work now. Glue factory beckons

I disagree, I think it's a confidence/mentality thing. In every game we play, he gets at least one clear cut chance in the box. That's one more than any one of our other players gets every game.

Burn petrified of being on the ball under pressure in the opponent's half, makes it so much harder for Gordon and Maxi playing in front of him. Seeing now why Murphy had joy, he basically played as a wingback.

Longstaff is genuinely amazing at finding the right spot in the box, he's Kevin Nolan levels of good. Finishing more on par with a Man Utd-era Forlan though.

Hoping this lineup allows Howe to think about Maxi-Isak-Gordon at some point today

Don't think bruno had any choice there, foul or take the ball. Take the ball you risk taking the man, getting a card guaranteed. And you risk missing the ball, and I would have put money on ilkay scoring there.

Older version of the forum handled nested quotes much better though

He has a lot more value to us than he would have for any other club, I do think we're going to let him go at all.

It's obviously our best line-up on paper. I really miss Targett at left back, he was brilliant coming forward and getting into dangerous areas, let alone the options from set pieces he gives us. Burns out of form at the moment but he's been part of the team that's got us to the final. Everything about Howe's management screams loyalty so I don't see any scenario where Burn isn't starting.

Watching highlights from other recent PL games, it strikes me how static we are in the final third. In transition we regularly stop and check back across the whole front three, rather than looking for incisive through-balls or clever one twos on the transition. It's like we wait for them to set up their defence and then we try and break it down.

Must be Steve Bruce's son, just can't tear himself away from the 'abuse'

He's the most likable Newcastle footballer I've ever known. Would love to know what other clubs' fans think of him tbh, or is it just us that lives in a deluded world where only we think he's the second coming of Viera?

Not sure I'd have agreed on that prior to that interview though, he's always come across to me as 'don't you dare ask me questions, I'm a manager of 1000 games!' or similar. I thought he had genuine delusions of grandeur.

We all know how much he lies through his teeth and creates fantasy narratives to suit his own ends, but if there's a slither of truth to what he says at around 50s in : 'When the owners came in, they were great with me, they asked if they could help me. I said my time's up here because the only negative thing that's left now is me'. Back to form, the rest of it he seems to claim credit for Eddie Howe. But in that one sentence, not only has he recognised that he was part of the problem, but also indirectly stating that the ownership were the cause of negativity as well. Not like Bruce to burn bridges mind... Anyway, thought that titbit was interesting to me.

-----------Wilson---------- Gordon---Isak------Almiron ---Joelinton---Longstaff--- vs Liverpool, see how it goes.

@Kid Icarus listed this stat specifically in his post above if you take a look

Agreed 100% on that if I wasn't clear in my post. But I can't help feel that there must be friction there because of it, with Maxi likely saying he needs to play with more spontaneity, and Howe wanting patterns of play rehearsed in the training ground. There's gotta be a happy middle, I just hope he wasn't laying it off knowing that no-one was there, just to prove a point.

Did anyone else think he wasn't looking at or wasn't aware where his teammates were when he tried to lay it off after beating a man? I might be reading too much into it, but it looks like he's been told to play in a certain way, e.g. when you go here and beat this man, pass it here and Longstaff/Almiron/Isak/Wilson will pick it up, but they're not there. Almost like playing to prove a point that the tactics don't 'suit him' or that he can't rely on the other players to be where Howe says they'll be. Again, hopefully reading too much into it but I've certainly seen plenty a bloody-minded player do exactly that sort of thing before. Granted, wasn't at this level though...

The problem I have, is I don't use social media, other than LinkedIn. The closest I get is clicking on links to things on this board, like Twitter videos. So I read the posts here that are, for example, saying 'Why on earth would you criticise Dan Burn?', as directed towards us, the forum users. For me, as anyone who reads my posts knows, it'd be much easier for others to direct-quote what you don't agree with, or you just risk unintentional division like this. Generally my nemesis here are all the posts that start with 'People saying...', like, provide a quote to something so there's some context.

Perhaps the 'how dare you criticize x,y,z when we're doing so well' brigade don't log in for a few days after poor performances so they won't get triggered. I've been reviewing and commenting on Newcastle performances on the pitch as well as off it for over 25 years and your moaning isn't going to stop me. I was doing it plenty during our Pardew 5th season and it was like pissing in the wind. But that's why this website exists, to promote discussion and debate differences of opinion. Disagreements are healthy. Saying you 'can't criticise' or discuss performances you perceive to be substandard is frankly Orwellian

I've not read any of the match thread before posting this, /tinhat. Thought today we missed Bruno badly. It's very evident without his midfield leadership, that Joelinton and Longstaff are more fearful in coming forward when others in our team have possession or just don't know when to run on. I don't rate Willock too highly at the best of times so I can't say I wasn't too displeased to see Gordon on for him, but he looks like he doesn't know where he's supposed to be yet in certain passages of play. ASM looked a shadow of the player that he has been for us. Isak looked isolated at times and there was a void between attack and midfield that we don't usually have. Almiron didn't seem to receive the ball in areas that allowed him to take anyone on. Today was a definite dip in standards from what we've become accustomed too recently, and Eddie Howe's words at half time were by his own account 'strong'. But, all that aside, we're on our longest winning run, ever. But thought we rode our luck more than a few times today. Gonna have to improve in our next game.

Of all the Howe pics too, that's literally like one of them Office billboards of Jim & Dwight