Yorkie

Yeah I get it. Given how far detached I'd become from feeling like a normal supporter under Ashley/Bruce, and given the moral question marks over our redemption; I had no business rekindling such a significant emotional investment so quickly. The post-takeover era is defined by Eddie Howe and this team that he's created in his own image. It would be heartbreaking if he were to leave in a premature fashion; I might default to being emotionally a bit lost, which I think I would've experienced had we not appointed a total diamond of a bloke.

Had an NUFC dream myself last night. We were 2-0 down against Milan before getting it back to 2-2 with a late equaliser from Elliott Anderson. Next thing I know we've won 5-4 and a very sour Roberto Mancini (Milan's manager) is throwing money at Eddie Howe after the game.

Sounds a lot like wor Fabi.

I'm not trying to be contrary, I honestly just think it's a huge pile of pedantic crap. Forget Arteta and the obscene amount of discourse over it - all of those issues were clearly borderline at worst and the on-field officials called all of them correctly in an instant... but we have to wait four minutes for the true arbiters to give their permission to crack on with the bloody match. I'm not being critical of the VAR guys themselves; I agree that they implemented their directive for major officiating overkill with total accuracy.

Yep, can't fault the VAR's 4 minute process and outcome, just like I couldn't fault the on-field ref's 4 second process and outcome.

I think he'd probably dee alright at Level 7, like... He was still knocking them for Amiens in Ligue 2 at a canny rate last season.

Warned? To shield Arteta from it, I assume?

Oh I've got the tab open like.

I've always been more than happy with the quality, I've had a series of absolute belters. It's just the dubious nature of the transaction. I.e. do I really know where my money is going/what it's potentially funding?

Argh no way. Been gagging for that but recently insisted to myself that I was done with DHGate.

Areet Mike.

Used my free hit cos I had (what I thought was going to be) five injuries, in addition to my legless Newcastle players. Wrought a relatively measly 72 points; Cash, Son, Mitoma all huge letdowns. Also took Tsimikas out.

We've said all along of Bruno that he might grow quicker than us. That could still turn out to be the case, assuming we 'regress' to a growth curve that's more realistic and less dramatic than the one we've recently been on. But none of them besides Tonali were signed with the promise of the CL; I don't think there's any certainty that they start looking for moves to avoid the awful burden of Europa football.

Match thread

Anyone following La Liga enough to confirm what the table and results suggest; i.e. that it's gone fucking terribly for him so far at Celta Vigo? Another last minute defeat tonight (98th minute pen) and 1 win in his first 13. They appear to concede heartbreaking late goals like it's going out of fashion. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/06/la-liga-celta-vigo-sevilla-rafa-benitez-blog Just found this write-up; looks like they've been on the end of some rough calls.

Bumped for thread title update.

Urgh here we go.

2-0, gerrin.

Toulouse beating Liverpool.

Fraser recall.

Meh. Not arsed at all about that. Clubs owned by the same people shouldn't be able to chuck players around between them. Timing is obviously amusing like.

https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/latest-videos/howe-we-werent-at-our-normal-level/ Bloody hell, between this and the presser my optimistic outlook has plummeted. Clearly not impressed at all.

The "thinking behind it" is observing a game of football and having a, presumably unpopular, opinion about it.

Well, nah, that suggests an agenda. It's just an observation on this occasion, I'm not rushing to be negative or contrarian. I just think we've faced an opponent with a very effective gameplan and fair play to them for that. In both matches they mostly prevented us from doing the things that make us so dangerous in most other games. It was more evident at SJP than tonight, where the defeat was equally to do with our limited options.

Yeah you're absolutely right. My main fear is the possible misery of people who might grumble at the so-called inconvenience of being the Europa League, should that come to pass. It's basically just an afterglow of anxiety from the Alan 'thank God we're not in Europe' Pardew days.