TRon

I wouldn't describe Joelinton as prone to injury, prior to his recent layoff he's usually played the majority of games in his time here hasn't he?

Does anyone still think centre midfield is a priority for the summer? We'll have Tonali back, as well as Joelinton , Willock and Anderson. For me a striker alternative for Wilson should now be the main target, with RW and a Schar understudy next on the list.

Top 7 would be amazing given the injuries we've had, if Isak stays fit for the rest of the season it is defnitely on. Will be a great launching pad for next season's campaign to still be in Europe with all our missing players back and one or two key additions.

They've got some way to go to catch Liverpool mind. Feels like Liverpool win games every week in the last five minutes. If games ended after 88 mins they'd be in the relegation zone.

Great game today, worked tirelessly, and some great early balls in which caused Wolves real problems.

A couple of raking through balls to set Isak away on goal, and his box to box presence makes such a difference.

I was actually quite disappointed when they went off together, they were really starting to find gaps in between the Wolves defensive lines. Some very clever one twos which almost came off.

Felt that described today perfectly tbh, it did feel like we had them held comfortably at arm's length, and while we weren't at our dominant best, we did find our way behind them a few times with some raking through balls.

Horrendous weather out there today, the wind was blowing the rain right into your face even halfway back in the stands. Felt like we dominated pretty much from the first minute, and the midfield trio looked so much better with Willock back in there. Shout out for Murphy as well, I didn't want him anywhere near the side after Wednesday, but he put in a lively performance. I guess that's why Howe is the manager and we are just armchair critics.

Can only be because Longstaff tracks back more effectively. He's nowhere near as good on the ball, but probably offers more running power off it.

I said exactly this at the end of last season, and at the time it felt right. But those who run the club have to look after the long term interests of the club, not individual players so unpopular decisions will need to be made. Players are absolutely going to look after their own best interests, and the club has to look after NUFC's. That's what people get paid for.

I really can't tell if you're on the wind up these days, but wouldn't it depend case to case? Wilson was banging them in last season, but he had a poor injury record prior to that. In hindsight last summer would have been the perfect time to sell him. Same could be said of Almiron, although he is at least good to play for the majority of a season so he's never going to be a liability.

Thanks. That's saved me reading back a few pages.

Souness was everything that was wrong with football owners at the time. To have gone from a proven world class manager in SBR to a glorified former footballer who had no idea wasn't unusual back then. It was all done on a whim, or if you were Shepherd, after a hard night partying.

Depends who you're asking.

Yep. I was one of those saying we needed to give him a contract extension, but I'm a fan, what the fuck would I know? We need ruthless overlords, take no prisoners.

I just logged in today and that is exactly what went through my mind.

With Saudi Arabia there's always going to be some element of a vanity project. They won't want to be some type of also rans, if the club is associated with them, they'll want to win stuff.

That talk came from Bellamy himself from what I remember.

He's not actually a bad footballer if you take his end product out of the equation. Technically he's far superior to Murphy, much better touch, speed of thought and movement. He just falls apart when he enters the final third of the pitch, but to be fair, Murphy's hardly any better.

It's weird but reading the Athletic headlines today that we are wobbling our way to the FA Cup and I forgot we are still in it. Obviously the headline was written before the draw was made last night, but it did sort of feel like we'd already been knocked out.

And if he did, he'd walk straight back to Liverpool. I don't know why some of our supporters are making eyes at him. He's not the one for us, let's look at realistic candidates who will be a good fit for Newcastle.

At least our FA Cup heartbreak will be nationally televised.

This is why the FA Cup was never more important than the rest of the league campaign.

I'd like to see him go outside his man once in a while, probably mentioned this before somewhere as well. He seems to cut in every time, very effectively at times, just think maybe defenders are starting to wise up to it now. Other than that, no complaints at all, he's been exemplary, especially given how much has been asked of him physically.