Yorkie

Outrageously good looking man.

I was firmly in the 'prefer to be in the Europa League' camp and always have been, literally until last night. That competition looks to be on its arse as far as the winners go. Winning trophies means a lot less if you're the default favourites. If Bilbao win - and if say Betis win the Conference - my faith will be restored a bit. Probably a moot point anyway cos we're torpedoing our way to CL footy regardless.

Followed the mayhem on here last night but only just caught up on the highlights. Aside from my utter dejection at what's happening to that competition, my main thought about that game is: is this really where we're at with commentary now? Is that really what viewers want? And, if so, how many spikes am I allowed on the mace I'll use to batter them with? The slide to having club 'representatives' on comms has quickened a lot over the last few years but even the more obvious cases hold their professionalism to some extent. Last night felt like a shark jump. Any vague pretence of neutrality was utterly absent and it shouldn't be like that; it's basically not commentary any more. Made worse of course by the voices themselves. Not sure you could find two bigger melts than Ferdinand and Savage.

Aye, it's in all the shady bits. Feels like a hiding to nothing trying to deal with it.

To my shame I've never defeated moss. I scarified two years ago but it's all back again now.

Amazing noise when he saved it.

I agree with you; I've always preferred this competition, but the problem is that - certainly on the basis of this season - it's being undermined by various things now. Most of all the Premier League's financial strength, but secondly because of the format changes. The CL dropouts entering never felt 'fair' but it gave the competition that necessary gravitas and ensured there were teams capable of dispatching PL opponents (see Sporting and Sevilla a couple season's back). None of this takes away from Bodo's achievement in getting so far.

wot

Urghhhhhh

Just what the doctor ordered. What a fucking calamity. Joke club.

Holy shit come on!!

Sending a guy off for that, ffs.

Unbelievably depressing if so. Europa binning off CL dropouts is gonna make PL teams the default favourites every year, just like the Conference.

Just looking back at the thread from after the 32nd game in 2022/23. We were similarly confident then but inevitably it took another five games to secure it. Given the additional place it probably won't be like that this time but I'm not gonna count my chickens just yet. We need to see how we respond to a result we'd have expected to have done better in. Very confident obviously, but want Howe back asap so he can navigate that moment when it inevitably comes.

In a non-VAR world, I don't think it's a pen; Pope is entitled to come for that. In a VAR world, I'm still not convinced because the footage suggests the possibility of a touch on the ball. But my main issue with the incident is that you've got that absolute tit Craig Pawson re-refereeing a borderline-at-worst decision that would be impossible to call in the moment. In a non-VAR world, the ref is only pointing to the spot if he's taking a total gamble on there being an infringement. It's highly debatable whether there is one and on that basis there should be no grounds for VAR to intervene. Just another case of it's unnecessary existence changing the nature of the rulebook.

Routinely winning matches with ages left on the clock will be helping with this but aye. Energy levels looked daft last night.

We all know it but I think tonight might have been the ultimate evidence of how we've moved on from the likes of Longstaff, and he really needs to move on for the good of his career. After watching Tonali and Bruno move the ball around the pitch with style and quality, to Longy failing to get the ball out of his feet comfortably, was such a contrast. It would be really cool to see him go abroad to a slower paced league. There's still a career for him in a top division, he just has to be a regular starter. And his place in the NUFC history books is assured; he contributed a lot between 22-24.

Shout out to this bloke. To have a run of fluffed chances like he's had - particularly that one from Burn's header in the second half - and not be fazed, to the extent that he bends in that absolute pearler, shows great mentality. His crestfallenness at other players scoring is some banter as well. Hopefully that's that and he goes back to scoring millions every game.

Have we literally got the two best CMs we've ever had in the PL playing alongside each other atm? That midfield was absolutely farcical tonight, and Tonali is just a cheat code. If you're the opposition he just doesn't let you do anything. A few ropey forward passes away from being a 10/10 performance. Obscenely good.

This last month or so has just been ecstasy as a Newcastle fan, and Trippier's resurgence and contribution to it all has been one really satisfying aspect. It was painful seeing him falter during the middle part of last season and although his form improved, I didn't expect him to hit these heights again. At one point it looked like his legacy might be tarnished a little bit, but this run of form has ensured he'll go down as the bloody hero he's always been.

Until the subs that was one of the very best performances at SJP I can remember. Smooth and devastating.

That is the goal of the season from Murphy.

Schär has been fucking saucy tonight.

What a fucking finish. Doesn't lose confidence