Yorkie

He's signed one (out of 18, by my count) first team player from Bournemouth, on a free.

I don't agree, but it's been debated a thousand times so I won't bore everyone with my take again.

Can't say I've noticed Tavernier but I don't think it hurts to have players like this in your squad: Sorta signing I could get behind if the farcical rules weren't so stringent.

It’s a fact. It's a fact that we spent competitively for a few windows to catch up after years and years of neglect, before the rules told us to stop it so we don't upset the applecart. But aye 'spent too much,' if you like.

get in.

Fuck me that Villa disallowal. Sorta shit that makes you wonder why we even bother with this game any more. Ffs that Brugge one as well. Perfect example of why VAR on offsides is a crock of shit. The guy isn't even facing the goal. Ludicrously pernickity.

Really interesting appointment, that. No research at all here but when I think of that PL era that he was a part of, its wrought next to fuck all in terms of decent managers, so I wonder if he can buck the trend. Henry, Solskjaer, Shearer, Hasselbaink, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Zola, Vieira... not completely bereft of honours but Christ it's slim pickings.

StuntPegg absolutely rinses him later in that show. Was funny.

I'm still fuming about West Ham, mind That second half performance is up there with the worst half we've seen under Howe at SJP, I reckon and we can't be repeating that again when chasing a game. The first half was actually very good in lots of ways. Now I can look at it a bit more objectively. I couldn't agree more but that's not my point.

Yep, spot on. In some cases it just reads like choosing anxiety over reality. See also 'West Ham were absolutely shit.' It's just not real. Bad result, yes. Embarrassing result against some lesser beings, no.

The cherry on top being that we could only sell to the very teams we're trying to catch. It's all utter horseshit and the principal reason for why we haven't kicked on this year. If you're not one of those teams, you make one competitively-priced mistake and you're fucked. The pressure on our academy should be immense now. Don't envy Harper's role at all.

I mean the full exchange does just sound like banter as opposed to some grave misdemeanour. If the booking was justified then the "I hope you" line just sounds like a nod to their earlier conversation, and the coincidence of it actually happening. The other person didn't even place the bet. So dim to put it in writing, mind.

We've been over this before like you say so I won't labour the point, but in summary my view is that the 23/24 summer window was a good one, which was completely undermined by not supplementing it in 24/25. The jury's out on Tonali but the rest were all good signings. PSR is a cunt, btw. It shouldn't exist. It's not a minor inconvenience which we whinge about, as if our problems are of our own making. It's inherently keeping us at arms length.

The transfer window where we bought a load of class players is more responsible for our slump than the one where we signed fuck all, is it? Come on, man. Take your 23/24 transfer window dartboard down now, it's knackered.

I more-or-less agree with everything you've said there, I just think there's plenty of 'excuses' (to use your word) for why we might not finish in Europe again, should that happen. It's a very difficult league to be successful in for lots of reasons. I do accept that it might not fly with the owners, depending on what their ambitions are. We finished 7th last season btw; a point at Stamford Bridge away from European football. Fuck, if Coventry's legitimate winner in the FA Cup semi counted, even then we'd be in Europe now. Such were the fine margins. I think it's harsh to summarise last season as us going backwards when it was basically impossible to improve on 22/23. We were actually really unlucky tbh.

Sorry for my tone but this is just such bollocks. There are six, maybe seven, European places available in league where the rules enable six specific, pre-determined teams to occupy them. Meanwhile the league is incredibly competitive with very expensively assembled squads, led by trophy-winning managers, in virtually all areas of the division. I believe that Newcastle United should be challenging for 'modern honours' as much as the next fan. But going on like those positions should rightfully be ours really does make for some shitty discussion. It's just over-expecting.

I still can't entertain any notion of replacing the manager, not least because I feel like the pool of people who would represent an improvement is incredibly small. There some concerning signs for sure this season, but I still think we look a good team on the whole, and the identity of the side is still recognisable: we're still a team which is set up to press and create lots of chances. The biggest issue all season has been that we haven't been clinical enough; that's a recipe for dropped points when every opponent apart from Southampton has a lot of quality. As long as the players still believe in the manager's ideas then we shouldn't even be considering changing. We've had two great seasons on the bounce (bollocks to you if you think last season wasn't class) so he's earned the right to find the solutions, or keep at plan A until it works. And like I keep saying, it's a season that could be defined by the cups. It would be heartbreaking if he wasn't at least given another shot at the Carabao Cup.

Has he though? There's been the odd tidy performance but I'm not really sure what we're missing with him out of the team. I've no beef with the guy, just looks like he wasn't the CM we needed. Still early days to some extent.

I don't feel better, I just feel relatively relaxed about most defeats these days. It's just very tedious when reality gets ignored in favour of made-up stuff like our opponents being shite, or something. The table position doesn't even mean that much when it's so tight and our immediate competitors are also stuttering. The teams currently in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th all dropped bad points this weekend - most giving then away to teams lower in the table.

Why does every opponent we face, outside of roughly Liverpool and Man City, have to be portrayed as dogshit? Makes the discourse so much worse. I'm not saying it's a forgivable result but we've not been beaten by some no-marks there; they've had a ropey start but were very good tonight. The league is extremely competitive this year. Even apparent crap like Southampton are capable of giving the runaway leaders a scare.

Complete mystery why you keep going after Barnes; he's been good for us and provides the only really quality attacker that we have 'in depth.' Meanwhile the other two signings you don't mention have established themselves as starters and are regularly two of our best players. Jury still out on the Tonali signing but it would take someone very optimistic to say anything other than its been a bit of a disaster so far.

Ah we did, did we? We had enough for one first team player. And that has to go on a guaranteed hit when you get held at gunpoint if you so much as lose a 50p down the back of the sofa.