Andy

Lots of smiles between him and Townsend in particular at the end. I have a real feeling he'll stay as long as Charnley doesn't fuck it up massively

Couldn't see Rafa going for international management yet like. He seems very hands-on and like he enjoys being involved in running a football club day to day, I'm not sure international management would scratch that itch for him.

Next season will make him or break him if he's still here. There's a player in there, and he gets in the positions to get the chances, but he just looks desperately short on confidence in front of goal to me rather than necessarily lacking instinct. If he can have a season of consistently banging them in it'll do him the world of good

Nahh, he's more than good enough at that level. I think people on here somewhat overrate how high the quality in the championship is tbh

Aye but Cisse could probably play another 2000 minutes this season and not even get a goal. Cisse is a better finisher than Mitrovic. He would have scored that huge chance when Mitro found himself alone in the box. Dunno like, Cisse's finishing has been fucking garbage lately, he looks like he doesn't even know how to kick a ball anymore

Lots of bile being aimed at this lad, but Cisse was far worse tbh. Disgraceful performance in the first half. At least Mitrovic offers something on the pitch and we look a bit more cohesive when he's on. He's just not a goal scorer and needs a natural finisher alongside him in a front two IMO. Having said that, he would score goals in the championship like. Even Shola managed that.

In a short time he's made us hard to beat. If he'd had a month more we would've picked up draws and been absolutely fine. Reality is our attacking players just have absolutely nothing to offer, there's no right team selection or formation that would solve the issue, the players we've signed over the last few seasons in that area of the pitch just aren't fit for purpose.

Riquelme was more than a very good player like argentina would've won the world cup in 2006 if he hadn't been subbed against germany despite carrying them the entire competition. He was better in that world cup than Messi ever has been for Argentina tbh

It's helped that we've had two defensively-competent fullbacks playing as well tbh. The centre backs were getting pulled all over the backline covering for Janmaat in particular

Even discounting the penalty he was outstanding. Absolutely bossed every high ball that came near him

Wouldn't call it terrible at all the ball bounced awkwardly which made him have to readjust and it was on his weaker foot

Always looks a much better player coming off the bench, Benitez has picked up on that straight away

Imagine supporting a team of players that cared even half as much about their club as Atletico's do

Even more remarkable considering he's turboshit

Don't think this lad will ever be a world beater but I like his attitude and I feel like him and Mbemba would compliment each other well if given a proper run together since they cover each other's deficiencies. If they both stay in the summer I wouldn't be unhappy at them being the first choice pairing in the championship.

What the hell has that got to do with his portion of the blame? There's no chain of causation to be broken here. He should've done better, he didn't, we conceded. Portions of blame aren't shared equally by default. If he was to blame, it was a lot less than the blame I'd apportion to our centre backs. Aye. It's all well and good saying he should've done better, but he should never have had to do better tbf, our defending was shambolic in that instance.

De Jong is tactically much smarter than Perez. His positional play between the lines creates space for other players, bringing him on changed the game IMO.

If you're unsure where the line is, don't post anything

We completely fail to play to his strengths. He spends the majority of every single match almost entirely isolated. When players get in and about him quickly and feed off his hold-up play we look dangerous but it just doesn't happen often enough. He's never going to be a 20+ goal striker but he's a perfect foil for a natural goalscorer with a bit pace. If our transfer strategy had any semblance of intent to build a team rather than a profit that's the kind of player we'd be breaking the bank on.

Merry christmas everyone, hope you all have fantastic days tomorrow x

We're undoubtedly playing better football than we have over the past few seasons; we're making more chances, playing with more purpose, and generally starting to control games... But it's really worrying that we look just as likely to get beat when we're on top as we do to win. Still willing to give him a few more games like, there's signs of progress but if he can't turn progress into points soon then it counts for fuck all.

Lost our shape as soon as he came on.

Yup.

I pretty much agree with all of this. I'm not his biggest fan by any means and the results haven't been good enough so far, but there are definitely signs that we're playing with a bit more intent and at the very least that's encouraging. I feel more inclined to watch this Newcastle team than I did Pardew's and Carver's, we just need to start getting some points on the board.

Nahhh, Chester-Le Street/Stanley/Consett are all like 70/30 in favour of our lot I'd say.