HawK

@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

No, just no. Please no. I couldn't go in some threads for DAYS because of all the terrible pans.

Pannick stations

I now have an odd hankering to buy some lighter fuel tbh

Sure, but it's just an example item. It could be 'membership packs', 'subscriptions', 'virtual turf', I mean it could be anything.

Often thought this myself, you'd get them purchased internationally too to avoid easy scrutiny, e.g. sell a few million in Saudi, a few million around other countries. It's basically money laundering, PIF sends a shady business in a shady country £20m, then that shady business buys £15m of Newcastle shirts from 'overseas suppliers', I mean they don't even have to get shipped, who's gonna check if it's somewhere like Somalia? Then for the cost of £20m, we get £15m to 'spend'.

So, edging then

@Heron we need a flag that says we, the fans, do not associate ourselves with that flag

Circumstances depending, he had Isak in the starting lineup before he'd even had a full training session.

Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle....

Without him, we'll play deeper and be far more direct. Schar and Botman will become key, along with the flanks being able to retain the ball. Could suit Gordon and Maxi better as their pace becomes more important the further back we sit. Isak showed vs Liverpool he can be absolutely lethal on the break. We're undoubtedly weaker out of possession without him, but I think in possession it won't be too bad, we'll just play a bit differently but almost as effectively.

Sure, I agree. I think I phrased my point badly. What I meant was with Bruno, when he's under pressure he can still make progressive passes, or at least maintain our position. Willock and Longstaff I feel will not do this and will lay it back to Botman/Schar as they're less perceptive of our players in space when they receive the ball. So we're not going to get much from Schar/Botman bouncing passes to and from Willock and Longstaff.

No surprise to be honest, the out-of-possession similarities to Almiron are plain as day, and Benitez had to move heaven and earth to get Almiron in.

Can see Gordon starting on the left with Bruno's injury, moving Joelinton to the middle with Longstaff + Willock. We're going to miss Bruno badly. I think the best we can do is try to bypass our midfield when playing out from the back and look to play through Trippier. Joelinton can carry the ball through the middle, but Longstaff and Willock are both poor on the ball when pressed. I can see us playing a bit deeper and playing on the break more as a result of this. Maxi should look good when he comes because of this change. Isak will be instrumental in retaining possesion and moving the team forward in transition.

Can see this post being a bit polarising but here goes. I think he's run his course here. It's easy to say now because of his run, but I've never rated him beyond being an elite level poacher. He's not a striker for a possession-based team. Isak comes deep and has the nous to do so effectively and becomes a pivot, allowing Longstaff and our wide players to push beyond him. It's this movement that creates spaces in the lines for Guimaraes to play through. Whereas Wilson likes to stretch the defence and stay on the central defender, but he's not great at receiving a ball under pressure and laying it off which is a key part of this approach (see Mitrovic). We need to sign an understudy to Isak and let Wilson go this summer to where he can be part of a team that plays to his strengths.

Have we found our number 10? /tinhat

In recent times he's been in contact with Shearer about this. Given took him to one side before last night and had a word as well.

Your assistant, Mike Tindall, has noted that Sean Longstaff has been showing remarkable improvements in recent training sessions. His composure in particular, has improved a lot. Off the ball : 20 Composure : 12

Why is it when you're bored at work and you should be doing something important, that you decide that a random side-on view of Dan Ashworth is reminiscent of the saviour of humanity, Captain Picard, and mocking it up is what you need to do instead?