KaKa

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/12/28/newcastle-value-alexander-isak-at-more-than-150m/

If anything Tonali playing at the base of midfield and initiating play appears to be a return to his roots. That's the role he played at Brescia. As both you and Ikon have said he is quite aggressive with his passing from that position though, and similarly I too prefer that, as we have speedy forward players that can exploit spaces when they get the ball quicker.

Tonali came through at Brescia playing at the base of midfield as the lone 6. https://breakingthelines.com/scouting-report/scouting-report-sandro-tonali/

Ironically PSR is now working in our favour regarding our best players. Clubs are not willing or able to put up the money it would take to sign them. Looking at other top teams in the league currently, we are also not a million miles away talent wise, when it comes to our first 11 at least. We just need to manage our PSR situation a bit better so we can pay our top players well going forward now, and really push for Europe and ideally the Champions League. If Mitchell can then add a right winger and centre back for good value and flesh out the squad a bit with some good prospects we are laughing.

Yeah, it's interesting. I agree on the quality of both Barnes and Bowen when striking the ball. However, I'm just not sure how good they'd be manipulating the tight spaces to get those off. It's the biggest issue when playing in those slower possession heavy sides that look to find gaps against low blocks.

Yup. Saka and Mahrez are top tier and are the sort that work best for Arteta and Pep. They are great in tight spaces and are precision finishers and passes/crossers. Sterling was also great at Man City due to his movement off the ball. I think it's quite difficult finding players that will perform in that setup. Salah and Palmer would. Not sure if Mbeumo and Bowen would though. Equally the guys struggling for them at the moment, Martinelli, Doku and Savio would likely look very good playing out wide at Newcastle.

The slow build up and progression forward that then allows for defences to settle into low blocks causes wingers that aren't top notch to really suffer. The likes of Martinelli, Doku and Savio are all struggling due to the attacking approach at Arsenal and Man City. Stick any of those in our side and they would all look very different. Even the likes of Murphy and Almiron have had their moments in our setup.

God forbid Isak ever end up in this dull tedious Arsenal side man.

Kalvin Philipps is passing backwards with seconds left and a goal down.

They are infuriating.

Ipswich trying to outdo Arsenal with the pointless passing side to side when a goal down.

Can tell this Hutchinson kid was at Arsenal. Cross the ball you tit.

They should be blowing these guys away at home. But they faff about so much with the ball in the final third. One transition comes off for Ipswich here and they'll steal a point.

Draw. Perfect.

Oh boy ... if they send off Pedro for this.

Hope this stays a draw. Like the look of the table as it is if so.

Yeah, that's how the people at Man Utd perceived it, but it was a miscalculation. The same set of players have failed to respond to a multitude of managers now, and so it clearly wasn't Ragnick as a manager that was the issue. The issues were the things he raised in his report, but as has been typical at Man Utd, Ragnick was the easy fall guy and scape goat. I think they just didn't like hearing the truth from him, rather than it being because he had been undermined by his term as manager. So agree to disagree on that point if that's how you see it.

Finally went down the sides to the byline and crossed the damn ball, and they scored.

All these Pep coaching tree control freaks that keep passing sideways on the edge of the opponents box. So tedious in looking to penetrate the opponents defence. Will probably end up dropping more points here.

Funnily enough the players were already slagging off McKenna back then. Don't think they felt comfortable putting an assistant in charge. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1978326/Kieran-McKenna-Ruben-Amorim-Manchester-United

More of a left winger but also plays upfront, and is great whenever he's played there. So lethal with his finishing.

Offside. Unlucky.

Wissa is a killer.

Nah man. I disagree. Ultimately the point was to figure out the issues at the club from ground zero. I guess ultimately it made no difference because they didn't even listen to the man anyway. Putting in Carrick or McKenna would have just been another Ole situation. The team does a bit better till the players can't be bothered again and then down tools.

Ragnick also had previous extensive experience as a manager though. Once they got rid of Ole and we're going to wait till the summer, I think it made sense to put Ragnick in there on an interim basis. He could then also start reviewing things to change long term in a more executive role. Usually clubs just put some assistant in charge anyway.