TRon

Yeah I was talking about recent games and I made that pretty clear. I also am a big fan of his general play, and I did say that in that post. But feels like we are relying on Isak for goals in the last few games and that was what I was getting at.

He was a good signing just from that perspective. No brainer really.

To be clear, Isak is my favourite player and I do NOT want to lose him. I still think we will keep him for one more year, hopefully more if we can get CL. But if we don't, and we are going to sell him, I would rather do it on our terms with a good chunk of his contract still to run, where we can get what he is worth.

We need to come to terms with selling our best players if we don't make CL basically. That's how you operate under PSR restrictions, so I'm just assuming that's how we are setting out our stall these days until someone tells me that the APT restrictions are not enforcable.

I think games like this where we really do need a win to stay in touch with the top 5, we tend to win, especially coming off a disappointing loss. The players will be that much focused and on it I reckon. That makes a big difference.

Bournemouth fans and Howe rated him. I would put that above what I saw in a few games here.

That means a lot. Howe is not perfect, he will get things wrong. But Keegan is spot on in getting to the heart of it, and it's the same as Keegan's own time here. He didn't get everything right, but he got most of it. He was Mr Newcastle, and Howe is similar. He just gets what the city is all about.

Not really a massive surprise.

100%

Honestly, I think we got a lot wrong on the day, I'm hoping this time Eddie will have the team well prepared and with a good gameplan which they can feel confident in executing. The rest will look after itself.

I think the team gives the fans energy. If they are confident and playing their game it will filter through to the fans. If they are flat and fearful, then the crowd will reflect it. I think that's the same for any fans tbh.

We'll find a way to win, no question about it.

Yep. A couple of exciting signings might convince him he can still achieve everything here. But getting into the CL this year would really seal the deal, and I still think it's on.

It won't be like any normal game though will it? It's a cup final with fans travelling a long way to see us play in it. I would imagine a lot of the normal season ticket holders who turn up and sit mute might not bother leaving some room for fans desperate to see us at Wembley.

I think we can keep Isak for one more year if we fail to qualify for the CL, simply because he's still got 3 years of his contract left. If he does push to leave, we would probably agree to a sale, but it would have to be on our terms.

I don't know why anyone would be worried about fans who are going all the way to Wembey to support the lads. They'll do their part make no mistake. It is the players who will need to throw off any inhibitions and turn up, something Newcastle teams haven't done in my lifetime. Yes being big underdogs should help, but really we just need to have a plan and execute it. Forget about the occasion and if it works great. If not, then not much anybody can do about it.

If this was Chelsea or Aston Villa I could understand these arguments. But didn't Forest and Bournemouth just come out of the Championship themselves not too long ago? How have they built a better squad? Some of the players being mentioned, we could have bought them if we wanted, but we didn't go for them, presumably because Howe wanted proven Premier players. Actually I am not even a critic of our signings, I think we've signed well compared to others, but we obviously paid top dollar for a lot of them to get them out of their clubs.

This. He wasn't as good going forward as Hall obviously, but he could ping in a decent cross, and arguably was a better defender.

I wasn't paying that much attention to the tracking back part, but find it hard to believe Howe would have wanted him so bad if that wasn't part of his game. But I disagree he does nothing else, even if he doesn't have many tricks, he looks a better footballer than Murphy in general. The ball doesn't bounce off his instep a yard when he's trying to control it, and he carries it better in general.

I would like to think our players and squad are better than Bournemouth and Forest. If they aren't then something has gone wrong with the recruitment during Eddie's time here, and he would have to take some responsibility since he had a big say in who was coming in.

I mentioned this in the Bruno thread where everyone was outraged at the thought of selling Bruno. It is outrageous...but in a PSR world, if you don't get CL then you have to start looking at selling 27yr olds before they start depreciating if you want to have spending power in the future. Ugly but true.

This is it for me as well. I remember in our CL qualifying season his work rate was insane. Even without the goals he was all over the pitch harrying the opposition and attacking them from the left. We have seen glimpses of the latter, even today, but he doesn't look like he's busting a gut any more. He plays like it's a job and he's not particularly enjoying it.

Well yeah, it's because it was in the face he got sent off.

Still everything to play for here, lest we forget. Just need to figure out a way to protect our defence until we can take one of our opportunities.