Raconteur

Promoting one of U-18 players (who is probably still in therapy) is sound evidence for us to claim an injury-exemption and allow him to play. Interesting litmus test of the PL’s feelings towards us… BTW are we going all in on the Billy nickname?

Any love for Joaquin of Betis? 51 caps, still playing at 42, revered as a god in Betis but much unloved anywhere else…

Id put a fair amount of money on it being something like presses or some related metric. I’ve watched analysis vids that show he leads our press - effectively directing (defensively poor) attacking colleagues into cutting off passing lanes and so on. And pressing effectively is what has changed our play more than any other metric (given Joelinton’s elevation to goathood cannot be measured). So while he is indeed a pretty fucking awful goal scorer these days, he is a big part of our upturn in results.

I think he’d make a great makeweight if we wanted to sign someone from the lower PL or upper Championship. Thanks for the memories, and sayonara to Diame’s muse…

No Shelvey or Willock means a midfield of Bruno-Joelinton-Longstaff, right?

Periodically, such as after reading Shearer’s tripe, I rage about the cushy ride Steve Bruce has enjoyed throughout his career. The man has managed 12 football clubs and is despised by the fans of 11. Almost enough for HITC Sevens to do two episodes on “Clubs Steve Bruce has trashed”. (That HITC Sevens is run by a fan of that one other club is why we won’t see it there…) This three or four at the back bullshit he’s doing with West Brom and with us is a prime example: firstly, he only thinks “four defenders good, three defenders bad” because Fergie and the 19-fucking-90s. And secondly, his whole “can’t make four work because players” has been utterly punctured by Eddie Howe very quickly and efficiently using much the same players to do so. Every word that comes out of this cunts pie hole is utter tosh, yet he’s been getting away with it for more than twenty years. It’s enraging even though he should be firmly in my rear view mirror…

Don't get the calls for Rafa - history suggests eight games isn't enough for him to arrest the slide.

Seems exactly the type of player who might headbutt our star player’s boot…

I keep reading that “we should sign him permanently” when I am about a billion percent certain his permanent signing was confirmed about two weeks after he joined on loan? I know I don’t always have the firmest grasp on reality, but I’m pretty sure I’m not making that up… EDIT So it seems the deal I’m thinking of was when the two clubs agreed a fee of £13.5m to make the deal permanent. Seems it’s such a no-brainer I concluded the deal in my mind…

Has to be Mr Greedy, surely? Big fat purple gormless cunt whose appetite for food (and cash) is legendary.

I’d love to see the actor who plays Ted Lasso take on Brucey in a match Actually, what I really want is for someone other than True Geordie to speak out about the pro-tier charlatan that is Steve Bruce.

Can't argue with that - though I notice there's a zero in the poll this time. I'm still voting 1 though because, as you say, mathematics

Mid-table is so hard to predict because many teams are on the beach in April and May. Eddie's boys won't be, because every one of them (except Bruno and Trippier) are playing for their futures at this club. Every match is an opportunity to show why the club don't need to buy megastars. Not saying it's likely, but far from impossible.

Just wanted to say "welcome" to all the new members of the 1 club, with a special hello to all of those who poured scorn on me and like-minded individuals such as @Heron and @Fantail Breeze It's a nice place, 1, isn't it? All those anxieties just... gone

Yeah, I thought it was worth the full watch. Some interesting insights into Pardew, Rafa and some of the players. He’s no fan of Pardew - the Charlton stuff around 27 mins was good value

Title winning side - minus the two best players that season, while the third best is on the downhill slope career wise.

His results have been awful for a while - if he’s publicly questioning their desire, then either it’s a last throw of the dice, or the dressing room is already on fire…

This is the context many people miss when they talk about how many wins we need to stay up - there isn’t a modern precedent for how much the bottom few teams suck at playing football. For those who watched any of the Burnley-Watford, surely you’re wondering how they collect a win, and Norwich are still dire despite being out of the drop zone temporarily. Am I correct in thinking if we beat Everton, we go level with them on points? A club almost no one is saying will go down?

Kinda surprised, given the (valid) vitriol Clark got for his red card in Saudi Arabia, that there’s no discussion of his rejecting a loan move in the face of being deregistered at the Toon. I’d be perfectly happy to pay out his contract and look forward to an era where the Ciaran Clark’s of the world only come to St James’ Park as opponents.

Outrageous bias to offer 10 but no 0…

I don’t post in this thread anymore because my defence of voting for 1 seemed to aggravate people. Suffice to say I’m still at 1, and only because it’s silly (at this point) to say there’s no mathematical chance of going down.

Guilty as charged. I think my first post was something like "I wonder if Manquillo was offered to Atleti" - and when it was dismissed I chose to defend it.

Look, I agree Manquillo has been underused and underappreciated, but we’re all hoping Trippier starts every match on the run in - Krafth has proven to be slightly less than shite under Howe, and we really don’t need three right backs if one of them is first name on the sheet when available, do we? I also agree Manquillo is leagues better than Krafth, but isn’t he (Krafth) on huge wages? I think the club will be looking to shift players rather than cancel contracts or let unregistered players run down their contracts. All monies spent doing that would be wasted in a FFP context

Not as a starter, sure, but he’s a good squad option for them. I’m not advocating it, just seems like we have to shift quite a lot of dead weight and adding Manquillo to a stack of cash for Trippier is a pretty decent deal all round

I’m curious whether Manquillo was offered to Atleti - seems a simple solution as we are one in, one out with regards to squad registration.