Shak

It wasn't going in until the keeper hit it, which is the basic rule.

That's a ludicrous decision considering some of the ones we've seen not given. Even Bee Slag on the commentary didn't seem to think it was gonna lead to anything.

Aye, so fucking exciting knowing we're almost certainly gonna fucking do it too

Sign of a good team and all that. Another fucking MASSIVE result. We're gonna fucking do this. Imagine looking at these three fixtures a week ago and being told we'd get 9 points, getting nine goals in the process. Fucking class

Genuinely gutted for him, really felt like it was starting to click. Hopefully the reporting of it as a minor injury is accurate and he isn't out long but it's hard to not be downbeat, lots of little niggles this year and you wonder if his body just isn't able for what Howe demands from his players.

Christ, if he's injured again. Massive shame for him as he was just looking comfortable and finding form. Also a huge loss for us if he's going to miss significant time. Time for Gordon to step up.

Hopefully no injuries and just a bit of rotation. Bruno is the only player who if he's out my confidence will massively drop. Isak I think the dropoff to Wilson is significant in general play but he seems to have rediscovered his goalscoring form so I think we'll manage either way.

Aye he's the price bracket I expect we'll be looking at. Expect we'll see a handful of players in the 30-50m range. Maddison, João Pedro, probably get a top class LB for that kind of money. Might be one player we go big on, I'd guess Diaby if he's interested.

Rice in Longstaff's role would be fantastic. All the energy and presence that Longstaff has with much more quality on the ball. Him, Bruno and Joelinton would be absolute carnage in midfield

Signing all the biggest dickheads in golf didn't exactly create a positive vibe

I think another big money winger is pretty much nailed on this summer, personally. Gordon and ASM will be fighting it out for the LW spot with Almiron and another left footed winger fighting for the right side spot. Obviously they can all play both sides but think Howe ideally wants a left footed player on the right and a right footed player on the left. My guess is that we'll make a real play for Diaby, he's been consistently mentioned as a long term target and this summer might be the time for him to make a move. Could see Bowen being the backup plan to Diaby if we're priced out of him.

Most seem to think that there's absolutely no way that Yasir will end up testifying. Ultimately PIF/LIV are the plaintiff in the case against the PGA. If they can't get that decision overturned they'll just drop the lawsuit rather than expose themselves to anything they don't want to. Difference between how well they've done with Newcastle and what a massive shitshow LIV is is quite striking. Glad we have Stavely running us instead of Greg Norman, I guess

I'd guess next season the wide options will be a new RW battling with Almiron and then Maxi and Gordon fighting for the LW. Murphy the emergency depth. Maxi has done enough this last week for me to now think he might just stay. If things go wrong for him next year we have Gordon who is probably viewed as a LW long term by Howe and we can also go to the Joe-n-Joe show on the left too like you say.

I just don't think there's a massive future for Joelinton as a left sided forward. Great that he can cover there and maybe you play him there in the odd away game where you want to neutralise the opposition's right side a bit more but I just don't think he's going to be of much use in that position against teams who sit back and ask us to break them down. However, think he's an absolute animal in CM. Would really love to see him in Longstaff's position with Willock on the left side of the midfield three. Think that's probably our best three man midfield although Longstaff has been so damn solid for ages now so rightly won't lose his place any time soon. I'd be leaving Bruno in his spot and signing another CM who offers the same engine our others do. Rice would be great (Bellingham would be the dream signing but it's not realistic) and if not him then someone else of that ilk. Picking two from a group of Rice (or whoever we get), Joelinton, Willock and Longstaff next year would be good with me. Maybe add a young player (Ashworth can surely rustle up another Caicedo or MacAllister type from somewhere, seems a reasonable ask? ) and that's a solid group for next year IMO.

Like Joao Pedro would make a lot of sense on paper as someone who could be Isak's understudy as CF while also being an option on the wings. You'd wonder if he'll want to go somewhere where he'll be first choice though, which I don't think he'd get at Newcastle.

Signing someone like Rice might be worth it as you could argue it fills two holes in the squad. First, it's a massive upgrade on Longstaff in a starting CM position. Secondly, in the event that Bruno gets injured I think Rice is good enough on the ball to take over his role as the deep lying playmaker. He's not as good as Bruno in that specific role IMO but he'd still be excelllent. We've nobody in the squad who can do that right now, which is why we fall off so spectacularly when he's out.

I've started to think that maybe Maddison isn't the best fit for us tbh. I'd really be into us just committing to our balls out pace and power high press style by bringing in an absolute unit in CM and try to just fucking mince teams. Presslemania. Bring in Diaby for the RW spot as our marquee signing. A top class attacking LB and then another high engine CM but one who has that bit of quality on the ball that Longstaff lacks. Rice would be incredible in the role tbh. Bruno in the middle running the show with Joelinton and Rice either side of him. That midfield isn't getting bullied by anyone. Then Isak dropping off the front and letting Diaby and ASM run at fullbacks with Trippier and a quality LB providing the overlaps. That's all without mentioning Willock, Gordon, Almiron, João Pedro and Callum Wilson, all of whom could step into roles in that team and not be at all out of place. Fuck it's exciting that this is all extremely realistic. Steve Bruce was our manager 18 months ago

Joao Pedro seems like an ideal signing. Isak adds a whole other dimension to our game the way he plays, dropping deep to get the ball and allowing the wingers and CM to go beyond him and exploit the space. From what I've seen and (mostly) read of Pedro he seems like he'd be able to play the CF role in a similar way while also being someone who could play either wide position. With European football next year and the need for a rotation with the way Howe likes to play, Pedro seems to make sense. I don't know if he'll be happy with it but for me Wilson should be used primarily as a substitute. Cracking player to bring on when we're chasing a goal.

Four points from our next two games and the atmosphere going into that Spurs game will be immense, we'll be almost within touching distance.

Weird game, in retrospect. Felt like we could so easily have been in a real game today but everything just happened for us at the right time. Balances out a few of those games at the start of the year where we should have won but the ball just wouldn't fucking bounce our way.

Few times where I was urging him to run at their defense, was a little too unselfish if anything I thought. He's been class the last two games though and I'm so excited to see him play with Isak again on Saturday.

Haha, big Joe you legend.

What an hilarious game

Poor from Joelinton, goes for an intercept that was never there and exposed us.