Yorkie

Given our permanent state of vulnerability with Dubravka in goal, even having Pope just for a few games could make a huge difference to the season - especially seeing as the last few games are so winnable.

Yeah, 20+ goal strikers are getting rarer and rarer these days. Bruno is magnificent but losing him could be mitigated with good re-investment and/or tactical tweaks imo. But selling Isak would just make you think "what is the point?", even for an astronomical fee.

I think there was an expectation that Gordon would play centrally quite a lot when Wilson would inevitably be injured.

Wonderful to see a reunion of a very memorable NUFC forward line here. December 2009, we'll never forget.

Find that a very inaccurate summary, especially seeing as the cracks are extremely visible. We spent years watching the likes of Pardew and Bruce paper over cracks with occasional wins or rare stretches of form - snatching undeserved results to mask fundamental flaws and keep them in post, despite it being clear as day that the team was going nowhere. This isn't what's happening here by a long stretch. The team is flawed but there's dossiers of evidence to prove that it's a very good one when there's a bit less adversity. Yet still we're picking up wins to keep us in the Euros chase.

You're forgetting that everyone apart from Liverpool and Man City is absolutely shit.

Think that's a given now. There's no way we undo the impacts of such a catastrophic injury situation with one transfer window/summer break. Most of our best players will be continuing to play football in tournaments too.

Footy Headlines disputing it: https://www.footyheadlines.com/2024/03/fake-newcastle-united-24-25-home-kit.html

Might as well just copy and paste the Botman title.

It's such a beautiful, crisp strike. Think it might just be our goal of the season.

Think that's a fair comment but most of the time that is due to how crazily vulnerable we are in transition. I still think we usually play pretty well in possession and appear in control (as was the case in the first half yesterday), which is demonstrated by the amount of goals we score. But you just know we're going to concede, usually more than once. Sometimes even scoring 4 isn't enough but we're canny value for money, if nothing else. Just the 114 goals for and against so far this season. By a distance the most out of anyone in the league.

I can't hate the bloke but yeah, kick it hard, low and vaguely off-centre and it's basically a goal with Dubs in nets. Might as well not have been there for the first and third.

Name your price.

No one in their right mind would deny that we've got massive issues defensively, brought on by a desperate injury situation. But everything bad = Howe / everything good = players is just a stupid and narrow-minded way to analyse the game. For a start, I'd say the rescue was most accountable to the incredible mentality of the squad, which Howe is massively responsible for.

So he was accountable for us being 3-1 down but the players/opposition were accountable for the comeback. Sound, no agenda here then.

The only one I didn't particularly like was the 2005-07 one; too much white and the gold looked rubbish. The 'Owen one' between 2007-09 is another unpopular one generally I think but I thought it was okay. The rest are all bangers though in every case where the badge is central, it would be improved by it not being. The leak of the one to follow would make it easily the worst Adidas one we've ever had imo. That template does absolutely nothing for striped kits.

You don't expect to see a total reshuffle but I thought the initial raft of changes were logical. It was early in the game and it made sense to put the two natural CBs together on their favoured sides - as opposed to having a full-back at RCB and a right-footed player at LCB. Hall was never coming on in that situation, it's a moot point. Fwiw Howe said in his MotD interview that, on reflection, it maybe wasn't the right call. Incidentally I back Krafthy to come out of this the right way. That performance was an aberration in terms of his games under Howe, and you know the manager will back him. If there's still no Trippier I wouldn't have any issue seeing him start on Tuesday.

It was absolutely rubbish from us, like; counter-attack goals aren't rare, obviously, but to let it happen in the way it did from our own corner was dreadful. I was raging at Schar for not anticipating the breakaway before completely removing himself from the situation with that desperate lunge. Little bit nervous about Schar atm. Think he's not covered himself in glory quite routinely post-Xmas; hopefully just a case of the season catching up with him given he's played about a million minutes.

I didn't have too much beef about the second goal despite, by the letter of the law, the referee having made a mistake by allowing them to play. Schar was clearly feigning injury so - whilst there's a valid reason to be fuming - I just don't. It's the other way round re the Gordon dismissal; there's no really valid reason to be fuming, yet in this case I am, cos it's so fucking innocuous and disproportionate. I accept that it's an offence but for it to be met with the same punishment as a potentially leg-breaking tackle is very hard to stomach. Again no blame on the ref; clearly even Gordon had forgotten he'd been booked too.

He's one goal away from having the best goal return in a season post-Shearer (excluding Gayle in the Championship).

Celebrating.

He wanted his stool I think; he has a poxy celebration where he takes a stool and sits on it. Weird as shit trying to take one off a ballboy like.

Chelsea unable to beat ten man Burnley at home, man. So annoying we were so insipid at Stamford Bridge.

Sighhhhhh

Most? Which ones are poor? 6th and 7th among those ones aren't great but other than that...