KaKa

Okafor should have equalised straight away. Off the post!

Kroupi again. Bournemouth are going to get ridiculous money for this kid once they are ready to sell.

Thought Man City would be a bit more aggressive hunting goals, taking the goal difference element into account between themselves and Arsenal.

Burnley move the ball around really well once they get a hold of it. Just not clinical enough in the final third.

Schade N'Diaye Sarr Wharton Thiago Kelleher Rayan Lacroix Okafor Joao Gomes Kroupi

Well ... I actually said they should largely be squad players to push the first team players. But that some of them will be good enough to start and gave some of ours as examples that are around that fee. If you don't like those examples I could give numerous ones from other clubs that are better than players starting for Newcastle right now. It really wasn't the main point, but if you want to get stuck on that bit and hang your hat on that. Feel free to!

Cool

I think he's far more likely to, working alongside Wilson, as they appear to get along. It's pretty much the only option we have going forward now. The main issue I think is going to be how the remaining games go, and what the reaction of the fans will be if they go very badly, and how that might then sway the people at the top when it comes to making a change at the manager position.

I think Howe was trying to get players he felt would be more of a certainty to be a "hit" if you will and was willing to pay a premium for those. It just so happened that line of thinking was more likely to mean looking at players already having success in the league. I just think he ended up overdoing this at the cost of then having to settle for having too many sub par players in the squad as backup options, because we then didn't have enough money to improve on some of those positions.

We'd still be able to pay them more than those clubs, and with Europe they would play enough games. It's essentially trying to do to those clubs what the so called big six do to Newcastle.

Bruno and Botman were around £35 million with add ons and Thiaw was around £30 million with add ons. Those fees are close enough to the value that was mentioned. That is the upper limit of that range, and with PSR and the need to build a fuller squad, even for must needed first teamers, I don't think we should have been pushing too much further than those sorts of fees for the first team players really, because the squad was so weak and needed other areas addressed. When we actually look at the players that have cost anywhere from £45 million upwards, how many of those have actually proven to be worth that ultimately? Probably just Isak in reality.

I think once we qualified for the Champions League, the approach shifted unfortunately. To trying to establish that position by chasing after more guaranteed players they thought would hit the ground running. The much bigger fees meant that ultimately the squad suffered, as we had to make do with more gaps in back up positions or vastly inferior players that couldn't be improved upon.

Exactly. Honestly, if they can get this figured out and fill out the squad better it would really be the catalyst for a big step forward.

Yes, exactly. Also, the kinds of players Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Palace, Everton (and this season, Sunderland and Leeds) sign that are relatively unheralded or unknown and that cost 10-30m, are the types of players we should be signing to make up the squad and push the first team players, rather than signing them as immediate first team players like those clubs may have to. In some instances though, some of them will even be good enough to go straight into the first team too. Just like Bruno, Botman and Thiaw did.

Sadly enough we're worse. Still can't fathom that we're in 14th place. Having said that we're only 6 points off these clowns. Weird season.

In the Newcastle team he'd be getting swarmed in his own half and losing the ball, and being called a donkey most likely.

That Chelsea defence man They're supposed to be playing three at the back today

Neto looks like he should be good but his decision making, end product and production is so poor.

They think it's the NBA and are trying to go the OKC route!

All of our current wingers tbh. Don't really want any of them dropping deep to get overly involved in build up play. Would make such a massive difference. Gordon and Elanga would both be far more dangerous players for it though, with their speed, that's for sure. Think that's often why Minteh looks so dangerous for them when he gets the ball and is often in space to run at players and be so direct.

Just look how high up Brighton's wingers stay during the build up phase. Hardly ever see them coming back deep towards their own goal. Wish we would copy that bit of their play.

As a starting point with this guy going forward, when he gets the ball on the right and is facing up his defender, can we not have Tino immediately trying to bomb forward on the overlap and crowding the space for Elanga to take his man on, on the outside?! Particularly as Tino can't even cross the damn ball if it's given to him! Similarly can the right sided 8 not go rushing over to the right half space and crowding out that area straight away either?! So there's no room to cut in either like we saw for Elanga's goal against Man City! Happened time and time again in the first half on Saturday. Horrible spacing and not enough room for the guy to do the one thing that might allow him any kind of success on the pitch. As far as running at his man and trying to get a cross or shot away. The last thing you want is people coming towards him and asking for any kind of pass in tight areas, as we pretty much know how that goes by now! And so the question is, why has no adjustment been made to sort this kind of simple thing out?

Well if it helps I've read (sorry can't remember where - might have been one of the many Athletic articles) that although they are looking at younger players, they are going to be ones that have performed at a high level in whatever leagues they are being brought in from, and the aim is for them to push the players in the first team.

Be excited about the possibilities. Stop worrying!