KaKa

Tonali playing in the deeper central position!

What an introduction Tonali!

Joe Willock man Outrageously good today. And come through unscathed. Brilliant.

Joe and Joe are an absolute delight!

Hall seems to get better and better by every second.

Seeing us threaten down the right and left is so nice man.

So unlucky. Sensational play from Willock.

Yeah, he has been. Has done a great job getting the ball out to Gordon early. They've combined pretty well on the right.

Yes, absolutely. Can see it already. In fact our first goal against Chelsea midweek was a perfect example. With Hall being played in on the overlap to cross for Isak's goal.

Joelinton is so good for our possession when he's on that left side. Because he's facing play he doesn't get caught on the ball, and he's excellent at linking with Willock and Hall, and it allows us to get up the pitch. It makes such a massive difference.

Joelinton down the left with Willock at LCM is so incredibly effective I don't know how we can move away from it going forward. If Gordon continues to adapt to the switch to the right, and shows he can be a threat down that side, maybe this is a longer term solution?

Beautifully managed first half.

Schar is in one of those lackadaisical moods.

The state of Pope just then

Longstaff has been excellent. Gordon cooking down the right.

Beautiful delivery. Beautiful header.

Gordon on the right. Have that cross!

With his contract about to run out, and if there's interest in January, maybe he's protecting himself in order to secure a move and a new longer term deal. Pushing himself to feature for Newcastle at the minute and getting a major set back won't be in his best interests. Not a great situation for us to be in.

Leverkusen vs Stuttgart just kicking off. Decent Friday night game.

Some interesting names I've seen us linked with recently that are more in line with the better value deals we will need to start searching out, due to PSR. Loic Bade (RCB) at Sevilla - recognised him as I watched Henry's France Olympic team, and I thought he looked a talent. Yuri Alberto (ST) at Corinthians - never seen this guy play in an actual game, but the scouting reports have him down as a hard working pressing forward. Looks like he's scored well in Brazil of late and so is getting linked with clubs in Europe. Kind of value signing we could look at as a back up striker to replace Wilson if our scouts rate him.

Looks to be a talented young manager, and a quality signing, but you just never know. I rate that Michael Edwards at Liverpool very very highly. I thought it quite interesting that they spoke to Amorim first and opted against going for him, before then pivoting to Slot. Not sure if the reason for why they chose not to go for him was ever reported, but it did seem strange.

Yeah, it was mentioned he was looking for 100k, and that will be bumped up a bit as a free transfer I imagine.

He's certainly been really poor himself too. I can kind of see why though. It's been a demoralising club to be at lately, and he's often the main threat with all the burden of scoring the goals. They don't really create consistent quality chances either. Going to be quite interesting to see what happens with him when he leaves. I think he bounces back in the right environment.

DCL is going to be looking for a big salary as a free transfer. I don't think we'll give him one as a backup striker, with our financial situation. Won't be at Newcastle I don't think. If he picks his next club wisely, I think he's going to bounce back significantly from next season, and look more like the player he was under Carlo. West Ham would be the way to go if I were advising him. Lots of dangerous players that create chances there. Will not be too dissimilar to Wood looking much better at Forest.

Same. Was far from convinced defensively. Especially against moire dynamic and direct wingers. His performance against Madueke had me sold though. Noticed he defended with a lot more savvy in that game. Didn't get too tight or dive in all the time, but at the same time didn't just back off all the way into the box either. Had a very nice balance and timed his close downs well. He is picking things up defensively and has improved a lot.