Lotus

Steve Bunce I keep mixing this nob up with Steve Bunce in my head.

The issue for me, like many here, is that the Toon is not a sporting club under Ashley's ownership. It has no sporting ambition, in fact, sporting ambition is a detriment to his vision. Its just a billboard, nothing more and nothing less. Every other club wans to finish as high up the league as possible and make their decisions on that basis. But not Ashley FC.

I'd be very surprised if he makes it in the PL based on the highlights video. It's not a forgiving competition if you're small, slow and weak. You'd have to be total technical genius with composure to match and he doesn't look that either.

I mean I’m all for boycotting and forcing Ashley out via protest. But i’ll never ever ever understand this mindset. The “wanting us to fail” mindset. It’s tiresome as f***. It isn't "us" anymore man. Of course it is. No. It’s not. Ok It's an advertising vehicle for a budget sportswear outlet. It's not a sporting venture in any sense or purpose. You're paying (if you are..) to sit and cheer for a billboard and any thoughts otherwise are, in fact, delusional.

I'd like to see him takeover at Dortmund. As my 2nd choice, obvs....

Never a penalty

Wod just like to say that Haller is quite immobile from what I've seen. Strong and a good touch but not a guy to get about the pitch.

This lad has looked a good player. Would amazed if he ended up at Newcastle.

You and I obviously mix in very different social circles..

Maybe he's had no assurances over Rafa's future so has decided to leg it.

Best case scenario is Fulham go up and give us a shed load for him.

I fully expect him to come on for Gayle soon and be an improvement.

What version of reality am I in whereby I'm on a football forum and have to open a new tab to learn what a Hegelian dialectic is??

He's got good vision actually and decent technique. I can see why out of all the players we've got he gets given the 10 role. What he is bad at imo, is playing with his back to goal and he has to that quite a bit here. It was noticeable that H'field marked him heavily. I think more of his team mates should have shown for the ball more in those situations. We'd have had overlaps, etc elsewhere as a result.

Bizarre 2nd yellow because from the direction of the ball you'd have to think Shelvey got a bit of it. To see that and then make the decision to send a player off, seems like very poor refereeing.

I kind of think you should jog on and support someone else tbh.

He doesn't even look quick which is a problem. If you haven't got good feet or any other obvious skill you'd want him to at least have pace :-/

I think the Mutawa lost their ability to make arrests a while ago. Before this dude came to power. No idea if he was behind that from his previous role though.

But aye, i did forget about him!

I assume Rafa didn't trust him to start and be any better than Diame.

Well, yesterday says different. He started and was fine for the 1st half. No it doesn't So you're saying it's ok for a player to start even if he can only last 45 minutes? It's a waste of a sub. He'd be better coming on with 20 minutes to go so he'd be up against tired opponents and less risk of him tiring himself. Last night's options were Colback or an apparently injured Hayden. Judging by Diame's performance i could see no problem starting him. He should have come off sooner imo.

Well, yesterday says different. He started and was fine for the 1st half.

He was pretty decent 1st half. Then his legs went. No need for the vitriol imo. He should have been subbed when he tired. He wasn't. Not his fault. His age has caught up with him and he can only go for so long.

Very much agree. We do play some decent football at times. It's really a marked improvement how we move the ball up the pitch. It's done with intelligence and purpose. Our efforts are very much hurt by not really presenting a danger in the box. npw..