KaKa

This is going to be a pen to Man Utd.

Always give these in Europe.

Maguire man 

Man Utd will lose this game. My goodness, this is truly comical.

Oh la la!!!

This is not going to go well for Man Utd.

Had to at least hold on till half time.

Think they'll bottle this.

Just now, CPL said:

Seems harsh to me. Felt he was trying to protect the ball. Not complaining like!

Was always going to be a red, but yeah, it's a tough one.

Just unfortunate the guy puts his leg right where he does.

Like you said though, not complaining 

Great goal for Man Utd and Hojlund.

Because of the calibre of players the Saudi clubs can sign and then potentially loan to us, this was always going to happen.

They can't stop us signing players outright though, and doing so on very favourable terms i.e. low initial payments with the rest spread out over a long term of years.

Disgraceful dive from Mendez just then. My goodness.

Should be 4 nil.

Otamendi has looked a complete mess.

He is incredibly slow.

Merino goal disallowed for handball. Still 2 nil. 

Benfica getting annihilated ... down 3 after 15 mins.

2 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

That's mad. If we hadn't appointed Howe we'd probably be playing tomorrow night in the Europa League or Conference League not coming back from playing in front of 80k in the Champions League.

Not even convinced we'd have been in Europe already.

12 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

To be fair, that was James. Not the worst thing he's ever posted on here surprisingly.

True!

Just looking around I've been seeing mentions of the likes of Toney, Boniface and even Osimhen regarding a striker signing.

Think there's going to be quite the meltdown from folks in January.

Someone said we should have kept Chris Wood yesterday!

It's going to have to be someone that's not top notch as no one is giving up their strikers without a big fee.

Who do you guys think could be a good shout then? Interested to see what folks think.

5 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Would be a no from me. Seen him ruin far too many straightforward chances. He has a lot of talent and maybe Howe could get some consistency out of him, I did like him in the past but his career seems like it’s just fallen apart a bit 

I hear you. 

Obviously I'm more biased because he's a Super Eagle, and so would still love to see him realise that talent he has. Because of Howe getting the best of players is the only reason I could see it maybe working.

January is going to be tough to get in a quality striker and so wondered if he might be an easy deal to do due to his contract situation.

Third striker possibility I'd love to hear people's opinion on.

Kelechi Iheanacho. 27 years old. Top level experience with Man City and Leicester. Contract up in June of next year and so would be available for a good price. No more than £20 million max I imagine.

Thoughts?

1 minute ago, Wallace said:

The media are always complaining about the lack of opportunities English managers get.  Now there is one, they are constantly trying to talk him out of a job.  This is as much a learning curve for him as it is with the rest of his management team and also the majority of players.  Plus you couldn’t get a harder group. If you want English coaches to become elite coaches then you need to give them time to learn and improve.
 

I have no doubt he will learn from this and be better next time.  You have to learn how to play in Europe and that takes time.  Champions League football is such a huge jump and maybe it might have been easier to have played in the Europa League first. 

 

I so wish he had got a fairer crack at it with more players available.

Because prior to the injuries racking up, he managed a tough draw away to AC Milan, and completely destroyed a more talented PSG, with their 'top manager', at Newcastle.

Just not going with this narrative he isn't quite up to it man. No chance.

9 minutes ago, Lish007 said:

News articles saying that Eddie may not be the person to take us to the great heights of success.... Why do they write such bollocks? 

 

We're in the group of death and there's 3 points between us and top spot. It's not fucking over until that fat lady sings!! 

 

People outside the club have been saying this all season.

When we had a difficult start to the season having played so many tough teams, they were saying he was favourite for the sack.

They are clueless and have no appreciation for what he has achieved so quickly. And so it's easy to just discount their ignorance.

What is irritating is when Newcastle fans that have been following the club and know how bad things have been can still be questioning the manager who has only over achieved since coming in.

Be hilarious to see who on Earth they think we should bring in to replace him. Saw some clown saying we need to get Mourinho ... fucking Mourinho man. My goodness.

7 minutes ago, ilikenewcastle said:

Some people seem weirdly keen to say that Eddie has been out-thought, outdone or whatever every time we lose.

 

Since last season, some people seem to have trouble accepting that sometimes we will lose some games and it can be down to something simple like having loads of injuries. Always has to be some nonsense about us being 'found out' or 'out of our depth'. At full strength and with a bit of luck, these 2 games would have been so different.

Yeah, it's pretty strange, and I can't imagine what the thinking behind it is really.

4 minutes ago, BullyDogs said:

As good as we think Wilson is the truth is he is not a Champions league level striker and i think that has shown in the 4 games he has been involved in. Hes decent as a rotating striker in the premier league but when youre playing up against elite teams you need that extra edge and dimension just like Isak has

 

Id love us to go balls deep in for Osimhen and use Wilson as a 3rd striker option as going forward if we are going to want to go deep in 4 competitions every year then we are going to need 3 options up front for me

Certainly not as a lone striker. With someone playing in behind him think he'd be fine, but we don't setup that way.

8 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Definitely fine margins but I think if we'd done enough to get a result we probably would've got more than 0 points out of six...

 

We had two really good chances across the whole tie with BD imo; aye, you hope our attackers do better with the efforts but you're relying on a 100% hit rate if that's all you're creating. They mostly shut us down incredibly effectively - that points to the tactical battle having been won imo.

 

Can't stress enough that I'm not seeking to be overly critical, it's obviously a miracle that we're here and we've been incredibly competitive. I don't even think qualification is over, far stranger things have happened.

I just think the whole thing with Isak was so unfortunate as he was perfectly suited to go against them.

I think Howe knew this too as he started with him in that first game, which he then got injured in early on.

Wilson didn't look a threat going up against their centre backs physically and engaging with them. They are both strong and quick. Desperately needed Isak's more clever play between the lines and down the channels.

We had some joy playing Gordon in areas behind Wilson in the second part of game 1 and maybe would have liked to see that again at some point today, but then Wilson got injured.

2 minutes ago, ExiledGeordie said:

It’s certainly looking like that. Thing is Wilson is going to become a big part player more and more. He may well

become the 3rd rotating striker option. I’d argue we should potentially be looking at a striker to rotate with Isak if we can get them but getting a player like that in Jan might be difficult. Maybe a wide player who can also play striker in Jan ?‍♂️ and then get another proper striker next summer depending on our targets and availability. 

 

 

 

Going to be interesting to see what they do. Tough situation.

Just now, joeyt said:

Do many teams have 3 senior central strikers?

 

Genuine question I can't think of many in the prem 

Not really, no.

Would likely have to be someone that can play out wide too like Isak.

Ideally a left footer that can also play on the right, but whose profile is like Isak and so can link play in deeper areas.

The only guy I can think of that fits that exact mould is De Ketelaere at Milan, but he's on loan at Atalanta already.

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Brilliant ?

It's crazy man, honestly 

3 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Aye tactical I think 

See his thread. Hamstring unfortunately.

Just now, ExiledGeordie said:

Yeah has an inevitability about it really.  Club needs to accelerate that search for a striker. 

Yeah, I was thinking a younger striker to learn would do, but think it has to be another first team level type or very close.

Callum and Isak seem like they just aren't the sort that can handle a lot of games at the intensity we play.