Andy

Might as well get rid of the transfer windows at this point. Absolutely no point in it. Just have it open all season since no cunt can afford to sign anyone anyway.

I think it was definitely noticeable that Bruno was playing more centrally than he has been and Tonali spent more time drifting wide. Whether it was instructional I'm not so sure, but it definitely didn't help as Bruno holds on to the ball too long and invites pressure. It left us looking disjointed like earlier in the season and isolated Isak.

Can only assume they he thinks he's more of a threat in the middle than the alternatives. Not that that's much good if the ball never reaches him.

Could see Spurs ending up with someone like Ireola. This result will end up being a blessing in disguise for them as they're going absolutely nowhere under Ange, injury crisis or not.

"Posts like this" It's not negative to say we'll finish in a European position. It's realistic to say that squad depth might cost us CL, we can't run the same 11 players into the ground forever, and we look much less balanced when we change it. We're an Isak or Tonali injury away from being in a difficult position. I've said we'll finish top 7 since the start of the season. I still believe that. Yesterday's result is irrelevant.

I still think we'll finish 6th or 7th despite the upturn recently, squad depth will ultimately cost us a Champions League place. Our options are either run players into the ground or lose balance. We saw the impact of that today.

I have plenty of doubt we'll be doing serious business in the summer

First time I've I can remember him looking that poor defensively, just a really poor game from him all round.

Said it before, but if you're going to bring him on just swap him for Tino. Unless Hall is injured, it makes no sense to completely disrupt the defence to accommodate him.

"Embarrassing" is way too strong, they are a good team. However, we were VERY poor today for large parts I thought. It looked like we weren't prepared for what they brought at all. Howe always seems to struggle against these. Maybe the soft spot he has for them translates somehow, we always seem to turn weak as piss against them.

Too many player's playing like they're believing their own hype here. Hall and Tino in particular. Howe needs to deliver a rocket at half time.

He's looked slow in every game so far, and did before the most recent injury too.

All four of the defenders have been really poor. Botman looks like he's running in treacle. Hope he hasn't lost a yard of pace with the injuries, as he didn't really have one to lose to begin with.

Really sad to see him go, he's been great servant to the club and provided some absolutely unforgettable moments during those purple patches he had. Can't believe we're still stuck with him, how many transfer windows are we going to fail to sell this one-footed headless chicken? Delete one of the above as appropriate depending on how the next few days pan out

Does "goals scored exceeding expected goals" not generally just translate to "is a better than average finisher"? Obviously some players will go through purple patches but I feel like this kind of stat can be interpreted multiple ways.

If I've learnt anything from multiple decades of watching Newcastle United, it's that we absolutely definitely won't fail to capitalise on this tremendous set of results in massively disappointing circumstances tomorrow night

Aye. It's wild to me that anyone would want anything other than a Forest win here tbh, who the fuck wants to see Liverpool walk away with the title?

To me, he's too slow on the ball and wildly inconsistent with his touch, and yesterday really emphasised that against poor opposition. He has to set himself before playing a pass, when you contrast that to our better players who move the ball quickly, even a kid like Miley, the difference is stark. It's all well and good saying "we've looked good with him in the team" or "we've missed him when he was out in the past", but the same could be said of Miggy in 2022/23. It doesn't mean that they're forever immune from criticism or that they'll always be good enough to be involved in the team. He should currently be our 6th choice midfielder IMO.

Osula's been taking 1 on 1 lessons from Isak

Albert was decent enough, but I agree. I always feel like that lob does a lot of heavy lifting for him in terms of nostalgia.

I loved Ben Arfa but would struggle to put him in a Best XI ahead of the likes of Nobby. He had more talent than any other player I've seen for us, maybe Beardsley aside, but through a combination of shite management and his own personal battles, he wasn't able to deliver on it quite often enough to include him IMO. While he was excellent for us at times, I've always felt he was a cult hero more for what he should have been allowed to become, rather than what he actually was. Maybe also for what he represented during the Pardew era in general, too.

I think there's some recency bias in the Isak vs Shearer debate. Until Isak is consistently scoring 20+ goals a season, he can't be considered the better striker, for me. He is a better all round player when he's on the top of his game, but he's also prone to going through spells where he doesn't contribute much at all, such as earlier in the season. Longevity and consistency are key, for me. Shearer had four 20+ goal seasons for us and his "goals per game" is obviously going to be worse given that he played until the end of his career. Isak has had one 20+ season - hopefully two if maintains his form and stays injury free until the end of this season. If he stays at the club and is consistent for another couple of seasons, I'd be willing to re-evaluate.

I still think there's some flaws to be ironed out when he's on the ball, but purely as a defender, he's got to be one of the best fullbacks around at the moment? He never looks like he's going to get beaten in a one on one, it's a suprise when he does.

He's definitely the best left back in the league, it isn't even close. He still looked like a kid playing out of position at the start of the season, that little run of form leading to the England call up has absolutely unlocked him.

That 5-5-0 at the end was tremendous, he knows that Arsenal have absolutely no creativity against a low block at the moment and exploited it massively. The turnaround over the last month has been ridiculous. He's fixed basically every issue, from the huge gaps in the midfield, to the lack of a press, to the lack of chances for Isak, to the away form.