HawK

Get Osula on for Isak on 60, give him a proper run out.

That left side could be England's for the next few years

We are much, much more direct today and it shows. None of this 'get into the last third and wait to set up for a pre-planned attack', just pass and pace, it's what literally all our players are good at.

Looks like one of Howe's team has finally relayed the message on here that many were saying, no point building up through the pitch to sit on the edge of their box clueless, keep it at the back and invite them on and then play through them is what we have to do.

It's noticeable this game how completely absent we are in possession in the middle with Longstaff instead of Tonali. Everything is coming down the flanks. Against Liverpool we had another dimension to us.

Definitely seems to be our best option on the right. I don't get it though, Gordon should be making that position his own for the good of the team. Just seems to play with a bit of a chip on his shoulder when he's on the right.

I don't think he's in the right place, and if he is, he's not getting the shot away.

Viewing this one as a glass half full tbh, delighted with 2 goals scored before half time, before the Liverpool game we couldn't buy a goal.

Murphy the flat track bully, that's 2 assists this game

A part of me thinks that if the only sanctions are points, then what's the harm in spending the fuck out of ourselves and take the short term hit on points to build the mega team for the medium term.

Agreed - to qualify your Spurs point further, I think Spurs fans were somewhat placated though that when the players did go, they really went to the best clubs around - Real Madrid, Utd (at the time). I don't think any of us could begrudge a sale of Isak to Barcelona or Bruno to City, it's just gotta be for the mega bucks we'd hope for. It's the thought of snipey-profits of selling Isak on for 80m to a club like Arsenal which are simple not top-tier that I think a lot of fans would be upset at (which hasn't even happened).

I think it's the only sensible thing to do, I would really hope that we have the structure in place now to have ready-made targets in place with pre-scouting done on potentials if any of our top players leave for whatever reason. I mean, I don't think you're suggesting we shouldn't have some options ready if there is a club that actually does stump up 120m for him ?

Fair bet that anyone starting RW for Sau Paolo gets in our team

It's the only way a club can increase its competitiveness against more established clubs in the current financial ruleset. It's not an exact science and it's not a guarantee, but buy a player low and sell high, and use that money to buy 2 more potential players, is the only way to bridge the gap financially. If we also show that we're willing to allow players to move on to 'bigger clubs' (in the mind of the player), players will be more likely to join us, knowing that they can use us as a platform or a stepping stone and not be restricted from moving on. It's a completely dispassionate and pragmatic approach, and I also agree with the romanticism of talisman-esque players from yesteryear, but things are different now, definitely for the worse, but we as a club have to adapt to keep up. We have the luxury of at least having owners that will seemingly allow us to spend to the absolute limit, lots of other clubs don't have that, so we're in the best position to make this work. Back to Isak, the lad is great. We haven't had a forward like him since Cole. But if we were to sell him, there's a potential we can buy a few more Halls, Livramentos etc. Not all will come good, but that's the game now.

Burn's done a good job in Botman's absence, but we really miss his recovery pace on that side of the defence. Hopefully he comes back just as fast as before.

Isak dropping deep only works when we have runners from midfield and out wide moving into the spaces created. Saw that quite a bit yesterday and lead directly to when Murphy hit the post. Big fan of it, personally. Dragging players out of position, particularly defenders, has got to be a big part of Isak's game because he gets marked and denied possession as a top priority by most teams due to his fantastic skill and long range shooting ability.

Hoy him to West ham + £10m and get Bowen the other way. Otherwise he's our joint top scorer, also our currently only fit regular scorer this season. We can't sell him just to generate cash, we need to use the potential sale to fix things right now. Unpopular take time, I'd rather we'd have sold Gordon when his value was highest over the summer and let Barnes take over at LW but I'm very pragmatic about the approach to PSR. But here we are and Gordon with his new contract and current form is no longer a saleable asset but Barnes is.

Not really sure I said anything to that effect really. It's ok to have different viewpoints without making strawman arguments.

I don't think I'll win many friends saying this, but I do think it also includes no racism messaging either. I think it's a societal issue, but one we should definitely punish, vilify and not tolerate along with any kind of hate speech and there should be appropriate bans and action taken to enforce it. I'm just not sure personally how well received the messaging will be by the people we're effectively wanting to educate or change for the better. I'm not sure it's going to have the effect people with the best of intentions think it will. Intolerance is the enemy in my view. One club, one family.

My opinion is that putting any messaging of any kind out there will just create divisions regardless of the intention. My view is that supporting football clubs should be about bringing a community together, not highlighting differences. Isn't supporting a club about leaving your differences at the door and getting on with the people around you, sharing in a common interest? Personally, I don't want supporting a football club to be mixed with religion or politics, or any other external issues. There are other methods, times and places for that sort of thing. I don't want to go the cinema and sit through political or societal messaging before the film starts. FWIW I don't think whether someone wears an armband or makes a gesture is going to stop whichever bigoted person from behaving the way they were going to behave anyway.

Honestly feels like we're the subject of someone's wish in a real-life version of the Wishmaster films. "I want Newcastle United to be th richest club in the world!!" "Done " "But we're not winning anything ?!" "Newcastle United is the richest club in the world, you never said anything about being good, muahahaha!"

Aye, this is a match thread after all. Vitriolic hyperbole only please, you know the rules folks.