Yorkie

There it is.

Hall hasn't been doing enough for us lately but ludicrous that he's not in the squad. He's a brilliant player and had a good session. He was dynamite in that Barcelona home game. Not great news for us, like.

I just can't wait to see the full kit on the lads now. I've been up for it ever since you KI's first descriptions. It's time for zany.

Looks pretty cool here:

Our misfiring attack is absolutely the principal on-pitch reason for why we've faltered this season. Everything has stemmed from that. Second is shit goalies. Woltemade isn't to blame though. There was no expectation on him to come in and be the main man, that was just forced upon him and he's blown mostly cold with a bit of hot. Gordon and later Osula have dug us out of a hole as far as formulating a vaguely functioning attack goes. If we'd persisted with Woltemade for 38 games at CF we're probably a lot closer to the relegation zone.

Any keen-eyed La Liga followers reckon Lejeune's lads have a cat in hell's chance against Palace?

With begrudging fairness to the PL, all it's done is establish itself as the pinnacle of the club game. Europe needs to get it's shit in order to catch up. Fuck knows how. I worry it'll only be possible if something goes wrong here. ... Like completely self-terminating it's glorious reputation by retrospectively stripping one of it's most successful clubs of several titles due to 115 cases of cheating.

Pretty much. Aside from one marginal underachievement against Marseille and one marginal overachievement against PSG, we basically just achieved par in the CL. (Obviously I'm only counting the result against Barcelona, rather than the manner of defeat...) The wins against USG, Benfica, Bilbao, PSV and Qarabag were all fun on the night but they were complete mismatches and we (a pretty average PL outfit) steam-rollered every one. They were hardly Barca '97/PSG '23.

Good point TBF.

I mean that's really not the point at all. I'd feel the same way about these competitions regardless. Though I'm definitely relieved we broke our duck with that competition as opposed to a Europa.

We'd have to be deluded not to, even if enjoying the moment. They're playing bloody Freiburg.

Come to think of it, if it's just a case of putting something else in the cabinet, I'd probably rather win the Conference League. It's undoubtedly the lowest in the hierarchy, but it doesn't have any real history or had it's prestige ripped away, like the current Europa League. Winning the Europa League now, after those profound heartbreaks from my childhood, would feel a bit "not how I pictured it..." Anyway, well done Villa.

Genuinely not remotely bitter. Congratulations to them; they're doing well as a club and fair fucks for putting some silverware in the cabinet during this very positive era for them. But they can honestly have it; this competition has been undermined to the point it doesn't resemble anything like it's previous iterations. Was always top of my bucket list to win but that's gone now.

Hollow victory given the state of the Europa League these days but at least Villa are doing it in style. Two wonderful goals.

Quid on Villa at -3

I just find Arteta weird and a bit annoying. Pales in comparison to some of the other villains who've come and gone from Premier League touchlines for me.

Not sure he's cut out for the top level but like ya boi Alan Pards said, I'd rather have him with us than against us.

I need one of those actually now my scissors have broken.

Why was that?

I think it does as well tbh. It indicates we're doing something, meanwhile all the same planning issues remain regardless of us owning the place. There's smarter planning bods on here so they might disagree but - imo - even if they managed to change it's use to something other than residential, it's still a Grade I listed building. I'm not sure there's any East Stand expansion that doesn't have a detrimental impact to the setting of those historic assets.

I assume there's a Sela Cup (or some equivalent) coming up soon, where the odds are stacked in our favour cos we play more games than anyone else. That'll be harder to win than the Conference.

Yeah, I think it's a bit of a shame that he's seemingly leaving through the back door a little bit. I certainly wouldn't claim that he's deserving of a send-off like what Trippier received but - other than being inconsistent - the lad really hasn't done a lot wrong for this football club. He absolutely belongs in Newcastle's 'Class of 2023' - which ought to forever be remembered as one of the greatest iterations of the club - and he's been absolutely crucial this season. He's unlikeable to some but has, imo, routinely copped far more flack than he's deserved. There's no compelling reason for him not to be - by and large - remembered pretty fondly. £40million and a hefty selling on fee, with 39 goals and 28 assists along the way. Been a pretty mint signing on the whole imo.

Probably because Trippier isn't banking us £60-70m in a few weeks' time.