Andy

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.

Wow :lol:

Just use this as a ringers thread

UncleBingo's previous posts would suggest that his reliability as an ITK is, at best, staggeringly non-existent.

It's just asking for trouble. We aren't fluid enough to maintain possession or pose a threat with that system, so the ball is just coming straight back at us. We don't have a defence capable of handling that kind of pressure no matter how much "protection" you try to give them from midfield... That applies even more so when the protection is in the form of Anita and Colback.

Absolutely cannot persist with two defensive midfielders and one striker, we're just inviting pressure onto ourselves; as others have said, we need to stop dicking about and start running with a plain 4-4-2. Dave's team looks pretty much spot on to me.

Sensible move on his part and I also feel like he's probably wanted to leave as opposed to the club necessarily wanting to shift him... Was always likely to be on the fringes this season. He'll get regular football for Marseille and have the chance to put himself back in contention for the French team ahead of the Euros.

Today was poor but I'll judge him after a dozen or so games. The team selection next week in reaction to this will tell us a lot about him like.