Memphis

And I'll say this - Trippier has been immense tonight. He takes some stick from time to time but he's been brilliant tonight.

Anderson has been good so far. Looks like we've played a little rope-a-dope here. Certainly a promising last 15 minutes.

We're being treated with respect, they're up for it and have us well-scouted. Player for player, they're better than us at virtually every position so we have to hope for them to make mistakes. They haven't. And I might consider taking Almirón off, moving Gordon right, bringing Wilson on and playing Isak left. Might give us a bit more threat. We really need Joe's size and combativeness, so he needs to step things up a bit. Barnes in for Gordon at 60 minutes, let's see what that can do. Ultimately it's all likely to be for naught.

I will say this is where Almirón is exposed. He has two moves on the ball, the pass back to Bruno looking for the one-two, or the incessant dribble across the top of the box. Very predictable against the very best in the world. We could use a lot more guile and craft on that right side.

It's funny how quickly people forget - this City team did this exact thing, maybe worse, to fucking Real Madrid last year. They're switched on for us, they're treating us like the big team we are, and it's tough to deal with. This is less about us than them.

We're a little timid but honestly they're just much better. Not much else to say. If we sell out and press insanely hard, we're going to run out of energy. They're just ruthless and are quicker in thought than we are. I don't think we've been all that bad, just not at their level.

Great preparation for the Champions League. Has the feel of going up against a giant in the away leg of a knockout tie. They're just on a different level at the moment.

INTERVIEWER: "Well, Lewis, you must be buzzing to be in Newcastle, and I know you're a supporter of Newcastle United, so it must be nice to be back in Newcastle and playing for Newcastle United, the club that, as I mentioned, you support." HALL: "Uh, yeah." INTERVIEWER: "But how do you feel about coming back to Newcastle to play for your beloved Newcastle United?" HALL: "As you'd probably guess, it feels great." INTERVIEWER: "Are you excited about coming back to Newcastle to play for Newcastle United?" HALL (to cameraperson): "Is my mic working?" INTERVIEWER: "Your excitement must be truly exciting, Lewis. It's such an exciting time. Are you buzzing?" HALL: "Did you have a stroke, mate?"

You're right, but I purposefully ignored it b/c ultimately I don't think it played a huge role for us in targeting him - don't get me wrong, it's nice to have, though.

This is another example of our club being well-aligned. We had clearly identified Hall as a possibility one way or the other and have seemingly played it very well to get this opportunity. From the boardroom perspective, a young English player who can grow with the club and who helps us with UEFA roster requirements is hugely important. And on the pitch, he seems to fit the mold of our type of player perfectly - we value versatility (virtually all of our players can play in multiple positions), we value energy, and we value technical ability. Youth and nationality are bonuses. There aren't many players who can tick all those boxes so we are jumping when we can sign someone who does. I love to see signings that are well thought-out. All of ours seem to be. It's jarring compared with the old days.

If we plan on being a European mainstay, and I'm quite sure we do, then having young players who will qualify as "club-trained" for the purposes of European squads is worth a lot. You have to have 8 locally-trained players in your 25-man squad. 4 can be "association-trained", meaning 3 years with an English club between 15-21. The others have to be from your own club for those 3 years. We have Anderson and Miley potentially and Hall would be, too. That's enormously helpful and worth a fair bit of cash in and of itself.

I just wanted to add that it is such a pleasure to watch this man at the center of what has become an exceptionally well-run club. His tactics are typically excellent, his ability to motivate and get the best out of players - Gordon admitting last season that he was not fit enough to play the way we wanted to play, now he's looking like a new player - his commitment to the basics of hard work and intensity, he's just a spectacular manager. And I love the fact that he and the scouting staff are aligned not only in the on-field type of player we sign, but the off-field attitude and commitment. The mentality of our signings has been sensational. It may not work perfectly all the time, but there is a very evident plan in place that is being carried out, and as a supporter, that's so reassuring.

Oh my goodness he was something else, what a debut that was. With the greatest respect to our young Geordie lads who impressed in preseason, that was a performance on a completely different level than they're capable of. His composure, his thought, I just don't remember us having a player like this before.

Absolutely erotic that was

As if the dreadful questions and bone-dry demeanor weren't bad enough, I'd also like to point out that this interview has been up for 9 hours now and still has our newest signing's name misspelled in the title.

He's here I guess He doesn't sound impressed Tino

"You mentioned interacting with the fans there, you were in attendance at St James' Park for the Sela Cup. How was that and did you have any good memories of that?" Journalism at its very best.

I think based on preseason it would be difficult not to have Anderson in the starting XI. He's been consistently excellent, shows a lot of desire, plenty of creativity and vision, energy for days. I actually think the front 3 is going to be these three for Villa - Gordon, Isak, Almirón. All full of running, obviously Gordon missed two great chances but his link play was good, he was covering a lot of ground. I would say Tonali is probably going to start on the bench. Patchy play. Very composed, as you'd expect, and some moments of brilliance, but still figuring out how to play in this style. My guess for Villa is: Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Bruno Joe Anderson Gordon Almirón Isak Very strong bench as well.

I completely understand why he is being sold and yet I do hate to lose a true *character*. They are rarer and rarer in these days of milquetoast footballers, he was different, he was a brilliant guy off the pitch and truly seemed to fall in love with the club, the fans, and the area. There is always more to the story and I'm sure it wasn't all perfect in the changing room, but from a fan's perspective, what a beautiful footballer and there's no doubt he will be missed. Lots of players have left clubs they've been at for decades and haven't put together a goodbye like his. Special guy.

Looks as good a prospect as we've produced in quite a while. Composed well beyond his years. He seems to have an extra half-second on the ball, that's the mark of a class player. He's going to push for minutes all season long and that's going to do nothing but make our squad stronger.

I certainly think the Ruben Neves deal gives us all the cover we need. ASM should be worth at least as much as him given age and potential. Once again, the PL clubs are all fart and no shit when it comes to dealing with these issues. It's going through just fine.

This is exactly what I was talking about several days ago. We will have to publicly take a bit less than maximum value because everyone is shitting themselves. But I suspect that the terms.of the deal privately will be just fine for us.

We do love a good interminable wait to officially announce a signing, don't we?

There's no AI in the world that could come up with nonsense like that, I truly feel more human now than ever.

Personally I still think we need at least 20 more pages of debate about ASM vs Barnes. We haven't solved it yet but I bet we all agree by page 430.