TRon

Both of those outstanding.

We've played pretty well bar Wissa who has been diabolical.

Why doesn't Wissa hit them first time ffs.

Murphy has been great today, and I'm normally ultra critical.

What a great move it was as well.

Absolutely.

Wissa ffs!

James Trafford having a sneaky look around the ground as he was walking out. Clearly thinking about what he's missed out on.

Burn saying he'll be back in a couple of weeks on Sky just now. It's possible we'll sign someone, but from what Howe's said about any possible signings so far I still think it's unlikely.

Wish I wasn't seeing Semenyo lining up on one side and Doku on the other. Disgraceful that Semenyo's played for two different clubs in the same competition.

Not gonna argue with that. More than enough there to get a result.

Honestly not nervous for this at all. Beating Man City over two legs is a massive ask when we've got so many injuries to our back line. It's a massive ask even when they are all fit tbh. For me it's a just an opportunity to get to another final with not that much pressure. Most people will back City so we can hopefully just express ourselves without too much expectation weighing us down.

Honestly can't see us buying a RB for a couple of months either. Unless we have some hotshot young RB lined up who would be ready to step in without any bedding in period.

Depends how far off Krafth is from coming back I suppose.

That's just him being sarcy with the journalists, he is actually very respectful of Howe and us generally as opponents if you listen to the bit after. Pep's got a lot of class in my book. He does give opponents some credit if it's due.

I doubt he could even find Wallsend on a map at this point. He's spent most of his life living outside of the north east. Rob Lee and Bez are more Geordie than he is.

Plus we do have options in midfield. Like I said, not really many at CB but those guys aren't usually worked as hard as the rest anyway, so maybe they can cope with playing back to back games.

Well there is always that, but if we've managed to appoint another dud DOF then it might be time to call it a day with PIF and take our chances with the sharks circling from the USA.

Not sure we'll be in the best shape to get at any team tbh, we are probably going to have players turning out tonight who need a rest themselves after the weekend marathon. I'm looking at this as a free hit basically. Even if Man City rest a few, their reserve call ups are of a higher calibre than ours. Our back four more or less picks itself, we only have two fit CBs, and one of them is coming back off a long lay off.

You would imagine Wilson has taken advice from the medical staff on long term impact of those injuries before handing out a bumper contract.

If I was a Newcastle player, I'd know I was at the right club seeing Botman signing a new contract. It shows we back our players when they are down as long as we believe in them.

He's on a high wage allegedly. We were basically paying top wages for someone who would be a stand-in. Not to mention we've lost half our defenders in the last few weeks.

Here he is with "my glass is always three quarters full!" Fuck off with that shit man.

I think he's a top, top player so I am delighted. I'm trusting our doctors don't believe he's finished, or that his injuries have caused him permanent damage like some have speculated.