Karjala

Yeah, fair point on the Sir Les comparison. Still, rather worship Sir Les's 50 in 84 leading us to the Champions League, as apposed to Defoe's 34 in 87 keeping them in the league twice and being on their relegated team. Just noticed, since he left them in 2017, he has scored 29 goals in 82 games, the vast majority of which were in a league roughly the same standard as League 1.

Drop Krafth, Lewis and Clark IMO, we signed their 3 improvements. Wish we had Lingard rather than the option of Miggy or Fraser.

We've given ourselves a good chance for sure, Target and Trippier and definitely upgrades, Bruno and Burn could be absolutely key to survival - Burn needs to be solid, not just an improvement from the current jokers, and Bruno can potentially change our play almost on his own. Wood is simply better to have than have nothing. Beat Everton using this feelgood factor, and i'll be confident for the first time this season.

Defoe won't help them conceding goals - worst defence in the top 10. That Stewart has done alright upfront for them tbf

A combination of Defoes goals and us giving them 6pts kept them up for too long which ultimately played a massive part ont their subsequent fall and shambles they are now.

Defoe is talked about as some Mackem legend, and yet he had 2 seasons there. Imagine being overjoyed signing a 39yr old.

Again, what budget do they have for a manager? Only have to look at their recent ones to realise it's not very much. These names being mentioned are non-starters on £150-200k/yr.

Think they'll be lucky to be anywhere near the play-offs, question will be if they could stay up really. Hull, Peterborough and Blackpool promoted last season, currently 19th, 22nd and 14th.

A top CD and Lingard and i'd be over the moon

As it stands right now, 8. Said all along we'd need 4 real quality signings, or more. Trippier and Bruno are just that, can't say i'm certain of Wood or Burn tbh.

How much do they realistically have to spend on a manager? Anyone know what Johnson's salary was? Just can't see Warnock or Roy Keane etc going there for £2k/week. Defoe perhaps, if he really wants to get into management.

16 managers in 10 year?? Lol

Wasn't it just some friendly agreement between the two clubs, pretty sure we wore black and white at their centenary match in the late 90's too

Every time i click that, it just takes me to the start of the show.. Any particular point worth fast forwarding to?

LOL

The numbers don't lie, this is our worst squad we've ever had, still using players we signed to get us out of the Championship. 1 win in 20 Worst defence in a PL calendar year in history 3pts away from home in 9 games home loss to Cambridge The 2 seasons Rafa was here we stayed up basically on our defensive record (conceding 47 and 48) - this season we've already shipped 43 in 20. Bruce's first season was pretty much saved by defenders scoring Bruce's second season was saved by Willock signing and going on a record scoring run (we were 17th 3pts above the drop before he started) We somehow need another Willock to get us 8 goals between now and the end of the season. Wood? Lingard?

Our 5th or 6th must win of the season so far...

So to be a Toon fan, you have to reckon we are going to win every game? Not allowed to be realistic and say it as it is - we are 19th and have won 1 game out of 22 all season? Home support has been superb, and i'm sure it will be until the end. Fans will support the team regardless, but to say people aren't toon fans because they are negative about winning 1 game in 22, is just ridiculous.

All the people saying we 'only' need 6 wins, or we need 8 wins, how likely is it given that we've won 1 from 20 (or 22 inc cups)? Norwich have put themselves in pole position now, 4 wins from 22, and i'd say its just as likely, or more likely they'll win 4 from their last 16, than us winning 6 from 18. Norwich have home games against Palace, Brentford, Burnley, Newcastle, and away matches at Southampton, Wolves, Villa, Brighton and Leeds - and one things for sure , they haven't given up.

Norwich look the most likely team to get out of the relegation scrap tbf. Games in hand mean nothing when you aren't capable of winning them.

2 awful teams who are both currently above us.

How many points do you think 18th place will require, and how many do you think we will get? 12 from 20 so far, i think it would be a huge ask for us to get 21 from the last 18, and indeed even 18 from 18 will be tough. That means Brentford only need another 7 to 10 points from their final 17 games, which is definitely achievable. Leeds have too much and Everton will be safe too. Its down to 3 from 4. We missed a huge opportunity on Sat against Watford, and could well be cut loose within the next week.

For weeks/months we've continued this "if we beat *insert next opponent* and get 5 points from the next 4 games" and at no stage have we managed that. Likewise, we've been having "must win" home games for at least 8 weeks, and won 1 of them. Amazingly, despite failing at every opportunity, we are still not mathematically out of it, but i fear we've missed our chances and a gap will begin to grow soon. I thought Leeds and Everton might get dragged into it, but can pretty much rule that out now. Watford have 2 matches before we go to Elland Road, can only hope there's not a 6pts gap (with worse GD) by the end of next weekend.

If Joe had put in half of his chances this season, we'd be above Everton.

We seem to have plenty of players who "put a shift in" but actually contribute nothing.