HawK

Eddie Howe and Kevin Keegan SBR Benitez

WE'rE FUCKING AMAZING

Holy fuck we look amazing

Looked great last night. The team needs to do better at moving off the ball when he has it, though. A lot tend to just stand and watch to see what he does rather than making runs, reminds me a bit how the team was when Hatem ran with it. Difference being now that I'm sure Howe will be in Maxi's ear telling him to find an open man, and I can see him looking for the pass much more often last night. The team needs to realise this and do their bit too. For all our possession, we don't do attacking movement well when we're trying to break a team down.

It's easy to look back with rose-tinted specs, I think most fans were indifferent when he was sacked. But had we known it'd be Souness coming in, I don't think there'd have been a toon fan in the land that would have supported that decision. I did remember at the time, they can't have sacked him without a plan. It's gotta be someone good coming in. Then as the days went by, and it became Souness, I was very disappointed, but was willing to give him a chance. Now I'm older and (hopefully) a bit wiser, it's a lot easier to see from experience these train wrecks coming a mile off. Back to topic, ASM is the best at what he does. But the team is demanding what he does best less and less. We've gone to third in the league with Jacob Murphy starting most of our recent games, and his ball retention and use is atrocious. But off the ball, he unquestionably contributes more than ASM. I'm struggling to remember a game where we've sat in an opponent's half with Maxi in our team. Am I just not remembering this happening, or does the fact that he plays literally means our whole team identity of winning the ball back in their third comes off the rails as a result? I'm Maxi's biggest fan and even I said this season he'd have to really put up the numbers to justify my faith in him. But in the team we have become, he is unsuited. As we become the team that dominates possession and becomes like rabid dogs out of it, he has no real place. Against a high-pressing team that's just better than us, like City, he's going to be absolutely immense on the break from deep. But we don't play much like this any more, and under Captain Pieface when we had no tactics and were under the cosh every game, he was the one player that could be counted on to be effective.

Willock's got horseshoes in his boots today

Shelvey's trying to force it a bit. I'm used to the calm, imperious shielding of the ball by Bruno.

It's no wonder he looks better in a team where he has options when on the ball.

Botman's incisive forward passes on the ground are lush

I didn't know how much I missed Maxi till now

Tried a couple of times, cba Got 9 My takeaway is if you've never heard of the f*cker, he's probably scored more goals than whoever the well-known one is.

Phew, thought that was me then remembered I'd misremembered the years CRonaldo and Viana came to England were a year apart

Remember when we bought Hugo Viana the same time that Christiano Ronaldo went to Manchester United, and Viana was rated the better prospect Edit : Ok 1 year's difference, I still felt at the time though! Edit2 : Quote from the time from the Shephard himself : "We have signed Hugo for US dollars 12million and we're delighted to have got him," Shepherd said. "The general consensus of opinion is that he's the best young player in the world at the moment. "He's a left-sided midfielder, just the player Bobby Robson wants to spearhead our Champions League bid for next season. "But to tell you the truth, we had a few scary moments. Sporting Lisbon had already agreed a fee with Celta Vigo and then Liverpool actually moved in yesterday. "However, Douglas and and myself were determined to get our man and we kept the Sporting people up through the night."

Aye let's ignore the video of Maradona scoring one his wonder goals if it helps prove your point

You seen either play? Maradona runs so upright with the ball he may as well have a rod from the base of his skull down to his heels. Dropping a shoulder is not the same as running with the ball. Not sure what point you're trying to make. It's about having awareness and having your head up.

This might be somewhat anecdotal, but I think a lot about a player can be measured by how upright he is when he has the ball and how little he looks down. Schar is straight as a rod on the ball, reminds me of the imperiousness of Woodgate whilst in posession. It's why I never rate players like Ritchie or Fraser who don't seem capable of moving the ball without staring at their own feet the whole time.

Glad to hear he did well, I see he didn't start the first two Swiss games. I think he's very underrated, even by our own support, and even now that we're flying high. There are moments you see from players sometimes that makes you realise they really fucking care. Shay Given when he left under a cloud to join City due to his dismay at the direction we were taking. José Enrique left to go to a club with 'more ambition'. I remember Fabian Schar absolutely seething in an interview once after a game on the pitch (found a transcript below) : [quote="https://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/read-fabian-schars-explosive-interview-after-newcastle-united-defeat-3028910]“Everybody had a **** game, to be honest,” said the defender. “And we can't continue like this. We had a good game (in the 2-1 home win against) Everton, then we start a game like this. All the players need to come together more. It's what we need to think about – everybody needs to look at themselves and do a better job. I don't think we can keep going like that. If we keep playing like that, it's not enough.” [/quote] I knew then that he was one of those players that cared a lot about his job. His demeanor was beyond his words, I can't find the video, but he was fucking angry. From that moment I knew we had a proper player, skillful beyond what he was allowed to show from what I could see, and an absolute bang-on attitude. He's not fast, he doesn't have to be, he's so good with the ball at his feet and the way he strikes a ball doesn't need any mention on here. I've been watching Newcastle since 94, and I think that collectively him and Botman are the best central defence partnership we've had in all my time supporting the club. We've had outstanding individuals before - Albert and Woodgate spring to mind, and Woodgate for me is still the best I've seen, but he had Andy O'Brien or Titus Bramble for teammates and was also injured a lot. Don't know what point I'm making now, just a brain fart on our defenders over the years, but Schar is up there in my top 4 with Woodgate, Albert, Botman and himself.

How did he do today? Didn't get to see the matches. Saw he got top ratings on bbc sport.

Hopefully fulfils more of his potential than Vuckic did

It would be interesting from a footballing aspect if Spain devolved Pais Vasco to the point where they'd be recognised by FIFA and they formed a football federation that just elected Athletic as the defacto national team. Might help Bilbao keep their players if it's a route to their new 'national team', and they compete domestically and internationally.

I think a lot comes from the player, if he wants to go he'll be off

The closest you'd get to this is Athletic Bilbao, they have a few exceptions where some players went to play for France, and now Inaki is playing for Ghana. They'd probably do more than alright in the WC as 'Spain'. Better? Not sure, Spain have been exceptional for over a decade now.

Newcastle would win the world cup easily, but so would half the teams in the PL tbh. It's down to tactical familiarity and player familiarity mostly.

Strikers fouled after the shot's away and not even discussed as a foul/penalty.