Andy

Ndiaye will end up at Chelsea or somewhere similar. It should be clear from last summer that we need to be spotting these players in the first instance as we were a few years back, instead of trying to snap them up ahead of the elite clubs once they've already proven themselves.

Sick of seeing him make a blatantly wayward pass then flail his arms at whoever is in front of him as if they somehow should've known that he'd misplace it. Happens at least two or three times a match. Can forgive his legs going but this always really annoys me from such an experienced player.

The difference being that Kane is world class and justified building a team and system around. Based on what I've seen so far, we shouldn't be building a team and system around Nick.

I guess the only problem with the "Howe polishing turds" thing is that, more often than not, the ones he does polish eventually end up regressing back to the mean. There's only Joelinton really that's sustained it for a prolonged period of time and a lot of that was probably helped by his own mentality too, and more likely it was the positional change and players around him that transformed him as much as the miraculous coaching. Murphy also comes close but he fitted our system like a glove when Isak was up top, and now looks his old self again. It's hard to say whether he was polished or whether Isak's elite movement made him look better than he is. There's probably an argument for Gordon too, but until the last few weeks he'd also regressed and it remains to be seen with him. As good as Eddie is, the player has to have the right tools to begin with for him to get the best out of them, and I'm not currently convinced that Elanga in this team, in this system, has the right tools.

Stepping up in Bruno's absence, thought he was our best midfielder tonight.

Their keeper should be given a free pass to go Lee Bowyer mode on their defenders

Handy that their keeper is keeping a count of the amount of saves he's made on the back of his shirt.

The most frustrating incidents are ones like yesterday where the attacker is on the shoulder of the defender or wrestling with him and the margins are incredibly tight. Daylight solves this problem as it gives some advantage to the striker and encourages running off the shoulder rather than discouraging it, which is what the current rules do. At least with daylight you're typically judging off the heel of the attacker when a goal is scored rather than an arbitrary part of their body. There will always be fine margins but it would be better for the sport and less frustrating if the attacker actually looked offside rather than as it is in the current state where you're so worried that the length of his eyebrows that you don't even bother celebrating.

alright.

Thought he was good for the most part tonight, looks like he's steadily growing in confidence.

Was the actual MotM tonight, he was everywhere. Good to see him finally looking like his old self.

I don't think comments like this really help like as it just makes people more likely to push back if and when his performances drop off again. Took his goal well tonight and it's a platform for him, he still has a lot to prove as a Newcastle player.

Difficult to know how to assess the game as they are and were legitimately shite, but the main thing is we did what we needed to do and took the three points. As I said in the pre-match thread, this season can still get better from the Everton game onwards when the fixture list eases up and we hopefully get some players back. No reason why we can't finish top 6.

After Isak clearly downing tools towards the end of last season, it's hard not to be cynical of any player.

Hopefully a platform for him to build off, decent performance and good finish

I can't believe there are still people that think VAR is a good thing for the sport.

Straight back in the starting XI is a bit sus a week after going off with a hammy like

We're not going down man. We'll likely start grinding out points again once we're out this ridiculous 2 games a week cycle and get a few players back. Would probably play the kids against Villa at the weekend, rotate the first team against Qarabag and City, then try to have a proper push from the Everton game onwards.

We're 6 points behind Liverpool, our objectives should still be to catch them not finish above the mackems, regardless of how bad the season has been.

Game's gone but 2-1 and Szlob suspended is probably better than 3-1.

Not sure that's true of Gullit, there was a gradual build up of dissent that climaxed with the Shearer dropping/Sunderland result. He walked as it was clearly about to turn pretty hostile.

To be fair, social media was absolutely rife with "Howe Out" last night. Even the poll up there ^ shifted by 20 odd votes in one evening, and this forum is relatively sensible and positive compared to your average fan (believe it or not). I wouldn't be shocked to see our fans turn on him, people in general are rank these days when it comes to wanting short term gratification and our fanbase is no different. Long term thinking and critical reasoning is a thing of the past.

He simply hasn't adapted his game as his legs have started to let him down. Still tries to push on but hasn't got the engine any more to get back. Thiaw is having to do twice the work defensively which is why he's starting to look iffy too.

Not from my perspective (since the post you quoted was replying to me). I do think it's a fair assessment that we haven't played very well in a lot of games this season though. For a wide variety of reasons, it clearly isn't clicking at either end of the pitch and we have spent large chunks of this season looking both frail and blunt. It's difficult to pretend otherwise at this point. That said, people have to remain mindful that a lot of those reasons are external to the manager.

We were even a bit shakey in that game until Pickford threw in the second, was plain sailing from there though.