Andy

Well it depends, if the striker goes out of his way to make contact it can't always be a penalty or they'd all just ignore the ball and look for the defender's leg at every opportunity. And saying Lascelles didn't try to play the ball is a bit harsh since he fell over and injured himself, it's not like it was a reckless lunge.

Wouldn't say it's a different discussion since it's almost definitely the reason it wasn't given IMO. Many penalties are denied on the basis of "he was looking for it".

Kane leaned his body towards Lascelles. Was looking for the penalty IMO.

Hard to tell where his fitness levels are at after that injury like, looks lacking in confidence too. Having said that, while his performance wasn't great it's another good result with him and Hayden in the centre of midfield, which I'm inclined to think isn't a coincidence.

We played exactly this way under Rafa on multiple occasions like, especially at the start and middle of last season before the front three clicked - no need to pretend otherwise. And tbh that's probably why we got the result, the player's won't have just forgotten Rafa's drills overnight.

No point in exerting vitriol towards the likes of Longstaff or any other player who comes out with soundbites that don't suit the anti-Bruce/anti-Ashley agenda. The players probably do want the fans to get behind the manager - I can't imagine they take much pleasure from playing in front of an antagonistic crowd. It's not in their interests to be part of a team that gets relegated, regardless of your own opinions on how you want the club to fare. Every single player at the club is an employee and a professional first and foremost, not a fan, and their own self-interests will always be at heart, which is just human nature.

Back when Hughton was binned, I heard from a reputable acquaintance that Chris is a full on Communist. Apparently he collects Che Guevara stuff and wears a shapka when it's dead cold. According to my source, Hught had been making his mouth go behind the scenes and was calling for a worker's revolution amongst the players and the lasses at the Donnay shop. In many ways the best black manager in the world was the ideal man for fat Ash, as he could make a loaf of bread last a fortnight, and could make Kevin Nolan look like a Premier League player. Ultimately though, a class of ideologies meant that Commrade Chris had to go. Did Midhat tell you this? I'm not Odin. Perhaps the mods can confirm that we usea different IP. Doesn't immediately appear to match Odin's tbf, although I'm curious as to why your IP matches with Vivienne Darkbloom's IP? https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13111

Almiron was one of Rafa's actual picks. So the narrative on him will shift between "See, we did back Rafa with a record signing of a great, young star" and "Look at this chancer from the MLS Rafa wasted all that money on" where appropriate. And that's the thing on here Almiron was Rafa's so is beyond reproach. Rafa didn't want Joelinton so he is not given any slack. It's almost the HBA love in all over again Almiron was great under Rafa and looks lost under Bruce. There's a clue somewhere as to who is to blame for that. Go on, reach for it. You can do it Luke. Ah, I get it now. Worker likes his boss so puts a shift in. Worker doesn't like new boss so takes his pay and phones it in. Sounds like he needs to give himself a shake and roll his sleeves up. Thanks for pointing that out. How you get paid for writing about football for a living is baffling. he's almost definitely not Luke Edwards like but the similarities are striking.

Genuinely thought he might fluke a decent start (Pardew-style) on the back of Rafa's tactics already being deeply-instilled in the players, but up to now it appears he's almost majestically managed to dismantle all of the foundations we had in place within a matter of weeks. Pretty impressive how bad he made us look today to be honest. At times it was almost impossible to tell where some of our players were playing - was Almiron up front or in midfield? Was Hayden in midfield or on the right wing? Was Ki on the pitch or back home in Korea? Was Joelinton actually Rivierre with a bit of bleach on his head? The players have to look at themselves a bit as well mind because they looked more than a yard off the pace and at times I felt there was an apparent lack of effort. But again, it all circles back to fat head. They already know that all the blame is going to be directed at his ineptitude so they can play at 50% and avoid all the flak. It'll take either a miracle or some very bad competition for this team not to finish rock bottom.

Is that a thinly veiled threat?

The last player you would have wanted to score. He'll be directing the most lacklustre midfield in the Premier for the next few months now. He will be regardless, we have no one else.

He's completely out of position tbh. Bruce's scapegoat.

You honestly can’t understand it? Seriously?? People are sick of Ashley and want their club back. It’s pretty clear why people are doing it. Sorry it's f***ing sad, don't go, on't watch, protest but to actually want your team to get bet Therr it is again..IT ISNT OUR FUCKONG TEAM sad The sad thing is the in-fighting. I can't bring myself to want the team to lose but I understand why people do. Whatever your perspective, it doesn't make you a "better" fan, people of both opinions need to realise that.

Personally can't see the problem with dropping a young player after one poor performance in the first game of the season when half the team failed to turn up, shouldn't do his confidence any harm whatsoever. Top man management.

We definitely weren't outclassed in the first half like, that's just rewriting history to suit an agenda. Aye arsenal could've scored a couple, but we hit the post and Joelinton flashed a header just wide of the post, it was pretty even tbh. Bruce's subs threw the second half into chaos but even then arsenal weren't great and Dubravka didn't have much to do. This is in no way a defence of the manager btw as his subs undoubtedly cost us the game, but let's not pretend we made them look like Barcelona.

People blaming his pass for that goal man standing and waiting for the ball to reach you is absolutely criminal at Sunday league level, never mind in the premier league. Willems was fast asleep and 100% to blame for that ball being intercepted, I think Dummet's a shite passer in general but that's not even fractionally his fault.

https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=lists;sa=ignore

I know we're in ultra miserable mode but I didn't think he was that bad like not for what is essentially a fourth choice centre half anyway - Lascelles and Schar both had far worse games today. The latter in particular gave the ball away time and time again. Pretty weird to single out Dummett.

Don't they still include season tickets by default? If so it may have been lower.

Don't think I've ever seen a top flight manager completely gut his midfield like that thinking it would get his team back into the game like. Even Pardew and McClaren wouldn't have made a decision of that ineptitude. The fact that we didn't even have a central midfielder on the bench is crackers in itself.

First half we looked alright. Second half was a complete mess. Those substitutions man, holy fuck

But the point isn't what works on or off TV. The point is that decisions are corrected. If it's a problem in ground, which I'm sure it is, they need to solve that with some commentary or whatever. The box has been opened, there's no going back. You can't now wish for less accuracy it's mental. Surely it depends on your personal view as to whether inaccuracy was ever really a problem? When VAR was used in the world cup a few years ago it was sold to the world under the impression that it would be used to correct "clear and obvious errors", and to-date that tournament has been the only good use of the system that I've seen. It's gone way beyond the clear and obvious now. Those offsides in the city game today were mental, there's no way it's an obvious error from the linesman if different frames of the ball being kicked show different results... If they have to analyse things frame-by-frame and still need a computer display to figure out whether it was actually offside then it's definitely gone too far. If they want to get those decisions perfect then why bother having people there to review it anyway? In this day and age you could probably just whack a GPS on every player and every ball and have it work as efficiently as goal line tech anyway; I'd rather wait for a solution along those lines if we're aiming for perfection, because at least the decision would be instantaneous rather than the shambles it is now. Something in the way VAR's used needs to change like. Almost every time a goal goes in now we're just waiting to see if it'll actually count, that just isn't right IMO. It's a bad enough experience on the tele with the commentators telling you what's going on, it must be a complete mess for match-goers. My point on VAR would be they've tried to make it fit existing rules and it won't. They need to amend the rules to fit the technology. Then we can move on. I agree with that, but this should have all been in place before it came into the premier league.

But the point isn't what works on or off TV. The point is that decisions are corrected. If it's a problem in ground, which I'm sure it is, they need to solve that with some commentary or whatever. The box has been opened, there's no going back. You can't now wish for less accuracy it's mental. Surely it depends on your personal view as to whether inaccuracy was ever really a problem? When VAR was used in the world cup a few years ago it was sold to the world under the impression that it would be used to correct "clear and obvious errors", and to-date that tournament has been the only good use of the system that I've seen. It's gone way beyond the clear and obvious now. Those offsides in the city game today were mental, there's no way it's an obvious error from the linesman if different frames of the ball being kicked show different results... If they have to analyse things frame-by-frame and still need a computer display to figure out whether it was actually offside then it's definitely gone too far. If they want to get those decisions perfect then why bother having people there to review it anyway? In this day and age you could probably just whack a GPS on every player and every ball and have it work as efficiently as goal line tech anyway; I'd rather wait for a solution along those lines if we're aiming for perfection, because at least the decision would be instantaneous rather than the shambles it is now. Something in the way VAR's used needs to change like. Almost every time a goal goes in now we're just waiting to see if it'll actually count, that just isn't right IMO. It's a bad enough experience on the tele with the commentators telling you what's going on, it must be a complete mess for match-goers.

There has to be some leeway like. You're taking away the joy of scoring when you have to hold off celebrating just in case your striker's lace came undone and was dangling offside. Why does there have to be leeway? That just allows the sort of subjective decisions that favour big clubs and home teams. To me, the rule should be based around the position of the players' feet, for a start. By leeway I mean let's not start disallowing goals based on how far forward a player is leaning, or where their arms are, or how big their hands are... If you're going to use VAR to judge offsides, it can only really be a "clear and obvious" mistake from the on-field officials if the attacker's stride is ahead of the defender's IMO.

There has to be some leeway like. You're taking away the joy of scoring when you have to hold off celebrating just in case your striker's lace came undone and was dangling offside.