greydos

Plane just taking off to get up for this game. Can’t wait!

I’m going to this. First game since we turned over Man City under Rafa. Looking forward to finding out whether Bruno’s play is as silky in the flesh as it looks on a screen. I’ll go 2-2

I think you’re both right. Ultimately spending his is a pre-requisite for success, but not a guarantee of success.

Targett can pay for us in the top 6 comfortably. To be in the top 6 you just need to be great at beating “The Other 14” consistently. Plus doing evens against the rest of the big 6. Targett’s easily good enough for both tasks

I’m hoping we take Chelsea’s officiating into this match

No, I want to start our winning run again!

And that, if he was speaking out against the officials, he’d have said “13 men” to include the VAR

He posted on twitter: “Some performance from the boys against 12 men today. Proud to be associated with the club is an understatement. @NUFC”

Rudiger on a free for Lascelles would be fantastic

I agree with you, but any team managed by Bruce is cursed.

HTT finds the spiritual heir to his essay-posting throne. Beautiful times!

I’m not attempting at all to make out it’s an assist. What I am doing is recognising that Bruno’s part in the goal is something only he will do in our whole squad. Dubravka can play it into midfielders short and has done before. Shelvey can ship a sideways pass under no pressure. Fraser can knock a ball to Targett on the overlap. What we’ve never had before is someone comfortable accepting the ball in our defensive half spaces, just in front of the back four, turning their man who presses them and threading a ball to feet between the lines. When Shelvey is deep he won’t have the guts to do that. He’d go back to Dubravka or wide to the full backs who would when pressed eventually play a long ball in the air. I think it’s worth noticing and celebrating the unique positive skill set Bruno brings to us

Wood’s goal couldn’t happen without Bruno. He receives it to feet off Dubravka, enjoys the press of the Southampton player, goes past him and plays a 20-yard ball through the lines to Murphy’s feet. Because the midfield line is beaten Fraser Shelvey and Targett and get up the left comfortably. But it all starts with Bruno progressing us. Class

Very good. An enjoyable take on Eddie and his year out. I’d love to know what’s in his football philosophy document.

Small time? No, you don’t seem to understand. From now on we define what is big time. In 3,4, 5 years’ time, other clubs and their fans will be looking at us and saying: “yeah, winners take photos in the changing room after the game. Winners do what newcastle do.”

Please do write that novel; my appetite for consuming content about Eddie and Newcastle right now is more than the vast internet can satisfy!

I rejected us last summer to stay in and watch anything other than newcastle games! We were a mess. Surely you don’t hold rejecting Ashley’s Brucified newcastle against Kamara?

Absolutely beautiful video. Just watched it on a packed train and almost disgraced myself groaning with my headphones on. Class! Him and Bruno with a proper DM behind would be impregnable!

I get the idea behind the joke. It was lame but not offensive at all (said as a black guy, Caribbean not African). The more egregious post was that recent silliness about a gut feeling Bruno will flop. And I say this as a long-standing fan of your posts (I’ve lurked on this site and it’s predecessor for 15 years + and used to love your epic essay posts - if you are the same person as the original HTT!)

Having watched Eddie’s interview earlier and the shape of the team change to 4-2-3-1 when Bruno came on against Brentford, there’s a chance we could see Longstaff and Bruno on as the “2” for say last 10 minutes, as a practice for the away games coming up. Will be interesting to see

They don’t. They have a few consistent attendees and other occasional observers

Ashley Barnes? I hope it was Ashley Barnes

Sell him in the summer. Will be disappointed if he’s still here next year. We spent £8m on him and Darlow. He plays like a £10m defender from the Championship. That’s where he should be.

This question is really: “Can Howe and the management team permanently get a tune out of Shelvey to match where we want to finish each season?” All the evidence at present points to back Howe’s judgment over our assessments of players. I’m comfortable if Howe wants Shelvey to stay the next 2 years

I agree it could be he benefits from Maxi being out. I also think it could be because on the left he’s a genuine cutback onto the right foot option but can go down the line. But he’s unlikely to cut back onto his weaker foot on the right and foot a left footed cross in. So he can effectively go 2 ways down the left, whereas he’s only really byeline down the right