Conjo

Anything is possible.

What are the chances that a good portion of people who's been crying about Howe not trying to change things up during an injury ridden period, are now crying about him changing things up and trying something new?

Same Gutted.

Sorry, but that is utter bullshit Information no quicker than under Ashley? Specific examples please? What are you expecting exactly? I thought we wanted experts to do the job, rather than some rich know nothings running the ship. We're one of the highest spenders in the league since the takeover. We're investing in top youth talent for the future, we hire among the top people within their field of expertise for backroom positions. We have increased our revenue significantly season by season. Calling last season a fluke is ott. We overperformed a bit I'm sure by riding on the positivity wave around the whole club, but we were fucking excellent as well, as we have at times this season too. We'd be a hell of a lot better off than we are this season if we had a normal season injury/suspension wise which would have further debunked the "fluke". Edit: It is one of the nastiest regimes on the planet. No arguments there.

It's impossible to lower the bar that we are used to with NUFCtv. Don't sweat it.

Good. Think everyone can use some nice weather and a reset/re-focus for the remainder of the season.

Called it: He did the same thing when he injured his foot last season. Against Everton (?). Suspect he's never been properly good from back then and has played through something all season.

I wonder what his injury last game actually was. When a player have to leave the field due to a non-contact injury in the knee and reacts like he did when the physio tried to see how far he could bend it, how can that constitute being out for 2-3 days? Was expecting it to be a season ender and then some.

Congratulations Gordon. Stay healthy (please).

I'll stand corrected. Haven't seen enough of Tonali and can't remember any sprints that stood out to me as wew that's fast Still think Andersons pace is more than adequate for a CM though.

Generalizing here, but I find it weird how for so many people the only thing that is pure and constitutes a good atmosphere are grown up men standing and singing different songs in the same (too fast) tempo while clapping with some shouting when we have a massive pressure against the opposition, at goals and poor decisions sprinkled in between. Let some fans bring instruments, like that cunt at Portsmouth. Do some gimmicky stuff like the Iceland fans. Let someone use a megaphone to get others going.

He is what he is, but the main things that annoy me are: 1. He's so stiff and lacks good balance. If his back is facing the opposition goal, someone is cutting off the passing lanes towards our own goal and someone is closing him down from behind, he's physically unable to turn and pass the ball sideways or forward and reverts to the flop & pray for a FK. Every single time without fail. 2. He reacts so slow to situations, especially when out of possession. Against Chelsea I don't think he reached a ball first once unless it was passed straight into his feet. 3. So easy to play & dribble past #1 was an issue last season too, but although not excellent last season, I feel #2 & 3 were much less of an issue last season. Really looking forward to getting Tonali back. Think we'll see a better version of both him (after having trained with the team so long & focusing on improving his general game) and Longstaff when there isn't so much pressure on the latter.

He lacks pace when playing on the wing. As a central midfielder I wouldn't say he is slow by any means. He's faster than Bruno, Longstaff & Miley. Probably on par with Tonali.

Such a simplistic way to look at it. Injuries aren't an excuse btw, it's the single most significant reason for our poor form. Expecting key players coming back from long injuries to just seamlessly slot into the team as if they were in top form? The knock on effect on players who's had to pick up a ton more minutes than they normally would because of injuries aren't expected to feel any fatigue anymore because they had a bit longer to rest/train between games? Mental fatigue not even being considered? Injuries has had a massive impact since November up until now, and probably will for the rest of the season. I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel before Chelsea, but then Barnes got injured before a ball had been kicked (or, apparently, felt a "tightness" as he came on against Wolves), and our player of the season went off with something that looked long term after 30 minutes. Now we have two right wingers that will probably at minimum play all minutes for our next two games, maybe more. What if one of them gets injured? With Gordon out we don't even have our makeshift 3rd striker as cover for Isak while Wilson is still out. What if Isaks body breaks down again? Not entirely beyond the realms of possibility. That sounded very doom and gloom. I still think we'll have a decent end to the season, but that will be more down to Howe rather than the quality of the team we'll be able to field. Back to 2 keepers on the bench agains Man City? Harder and harder to use the injury excuse

Ashworth is leaving, so naturally anything that hasn't played out exactly as hoped is now 100% his fault.

Hope they're right. Looking past our own issues I kinda like that FFP could be the catalyst that ends up smacking the top clubs back in their face by bursting the bubble. Less transfers, lower fees & wages resulting in less interest in tv subscriptions which in turn further forces fees, wages, sponsorships down ultimately leading to cheaper tickets & subscriptions. Or am I high on fairy dust for even thinking the thought?

I'm comparing us based on our potential, ambition & financial strength. We're viewed as the club most likely to crash the top 6 party. If I looked at it cynically through a players eyes, I'd think the potential to maximize my income is stronger by staying at Newcastle and playing well than to leave for any club bar 10 clubs in the world (6 of them being the "top 6" in England). There's a lot things that needs to happen for one of them to be prepared to pay an acceptable fee & wages for our players considering the players they already have on their books and their own adherence to FFP, so I view the chance of us keeping them as very high even if the players were interested in a move.

Was maybe harsh to quote you, as I for the most part agree with what you're saying, with the exception of the bit I put in bold. Didn't mean you specifically lashing out because we lost to Chelsea either, but others on here. I can understand that you're mad at the performances, I'm not happy either, but it helps to put it in context for me at least. What is realistic to expect out of the squad that has been available, who haven't been able to be rotated/rested properly? I think, looking back, that the general expectations taking our injury/fatigue problems into account has been way too high.

The months where we couldn't field a starting 11 with first team players you mean? My main critism has been that Howe should have started rotating players more frequently much much earlier in the season, and not risked players who were playing through injury/with niggles or just coming back from injury. However, once we were knee deep in injury shit, I honestly think no manager could have done noticably better than Howe has. Pointing at Klopp and how Liverpool has played with an injury ridden squad isn't really comparable (not saying you specifically have made this argument, but seen others have) considering that they have much more quality in depth in their squad, more quality in their youth system and have had many more years to settle their set up towards making players ready to play in Klopps system. Klopp hasn't masterminded some kind of special tactics in a time of crisis - looks to me like they play like they always do with high tempo, high press (maybe some of their younger players have been more energetic than some of their ageing seniors?), which is exactly what Howe has tried to do with us through this period. Feel very confident that Howe will get it right. The last 24hrs it has been surreal to read some of the opinions on here just because we didn't win at a ground we haven't won at since 2012(?) against a team that is looking a lot better than they did at the start of the season, with a good manager and many talented players.

Of course there are never any 100% guarantees. If for whatever reason one of the elite clubs in the world finds themselves a striker or cm short, see Bruno or Isak as the ideal replacement and have a load of money and wiggle room within FFP, sure, they might leave. Slim chance of that happening imo. I don't see any of the elite clubs screaming out for an Isak or Bruno with their current squads, and if they were, I think many of them would think there is better value elsewhere as we wouldn't let them go cheap. Even if our players wanted to leave, I don't see any of our top players leaving for the likes of say Dortmund/Leverkusen, Inter/Juventus/Roma/AC Milan/Napoli, Atletico Madrid/Athletic/Sociedad etc (meaning the clubs in the bracket below the teams already mentioned earlier). Hell Isak joined us from Sociedad after we finished 11th. Do you really think he'd go back to that calibre of club just because of one season with no Europe?