TRon

I would rather have seen Ekitike in a Newcastle shirt. As far as I'm concerned if he succeeds at Liverpool it wipes out the failure of Isak. Especially since Liverpool took both players from us.

£20m is too low, but the bar should be set by other big clubs bids. What will Real Madrid or PSG offer?

Surprisingly not as nervous as I thought I would be. I feel it in my gut that we are going to turn up today and we can impose our game on technically inferior players like we did against Everton.

Yep. The idea will be to stop them pressing too high against our midfield. Solid plan.

Didn't we win our last away game 4-1 against high flying Everton in that green kit?

But that is where the PL should step in and scrutinise the deal for fair market value. I mean that was the reason we had to accept a paltry £25m for a much younger ASM right? Not that I would ever suggest that there are different rules for cartel clubs, perish the thought.

To be honest, that is down to the PL to investigate any daft bids for Salah. We had to sell Maxi for £25m because no one else offered a bigger fee. How much would a 33 yr old Salah fetch in the market if the Saudis weren't interested? Has any other club in Europe thrown their hat in the ring? I can't see clubs in Europe paying daft money for a player who seems to be on the way down.

To be clear, I'm not blaming PIF, they are a Saudi investment firm at the end of the day. Their overriding purpose is to build Saudi projects. It's just a shame one of our biggest rivals is benefitting more than we are.

Feels like Minteh's only goals have been against us as well.

Yep. All we can really do until that changes is get the best fee we can if he wants to leave, and then put that money towards the next hotshot young RB. Assuming Chelsea haven't already signed him.

it might have been if we'd signed Ekitike. That he's ended up at Anfield after we chased him for 3 years takes the gloss off the Isak shadenfraeude for me.

I was thinking back to the 3-0 loss at home when Pardew was in charge and was tempted to make a new thread called Derby Day cucks. But it would just have been about Pardew really, so not much point.

I agree. They are a tough side to play against because it seems they are well organised and have a team of athletes. But they won't be able to evade our press and hit us on the counter like the better CL sides have done this season. We should be able to match them for physicality, and use our superior technique to cut them down. We just need to set our formation right, pick the players who will be on it 100% right up until the final whistle.

I'm not against dropping Thiaw and playing Schar and Burn specifically for the derby game. Could be done on a horses for courses policy. If Sunderland don't have much pace up front, then Thiaw's pace becomes less of a factor. I don't really know enough about Sunderland's team make up to make a call on that.

I could be wrong, but I think Thiaw was also part of our early season shut outs. Our run of shipping goals is more recent, it's not coincided with Thiaw being introduced as he was in the side early on in the season IIRC.

Yep, that's what I was getting at.

I do have concerns whether he's mentally tough enough for a derby. No reason to think that particularly, but his reluctance to dominate the six yard box puts that in my mind.

I barely look in here until the transfer window is getting closer. Been a slow news day.

There's nothing stopping Burn being the one doing the vocal organising.

Yep, I'm not saying we should be picking Willock over Tonali, just pointing out who are the midfielders actually performing currently. We'll go with Tonali, but this is the derby, and all our midfielders need to be on it. We can't afford to be carrying people who don't fancy it, or are half fit on the day.

Not surprised really. We've generally done really well in the market, but we do end up paying a big premium for PL experience which tends to be found lacking in technique when we play the better sides in the CL.

He's been one of our best players the last couple of times he's played. Not sure how that would translate in a derby, but was just saying on form, him, Miley and Bruno have been better than both Tonali and Joelinton.

I would agree with that before this season, but he's been flapping at crosses as well recently. I don't know if that's because we have new instructions to punch instead of claim because of the tactics of crowding the keeper but he's not looked as assured as previously.

It's not going to happen, but if we play the form midfielders, it would be Miley, Bruno, Willock.