Kimbo

Best thing about losing to Man City is you’re very unlikely to meet any of their fans, and if you do they don’t seem to care much anyway.

He must have had more pace than this before his injury? I have memories of him and Mbeumo killing teams on the counter.

I think we were due a pumping tbh based on this seasons performances.

Why stay at a club that has blips when you can agitate for a move to a club that is around the top every year and is protected by the financial rules?

Traore has better ball control, Elanga has better delivery. I don’t think they’re that far apart though, both are quite basic pace merchants.

I think we got good money for Isak, he’s talented but prone to falling off. He didn’t break through at Dortmund, fell off at Sociedad and he’s done it again at Liverpool. He may still be a success there but it’s also possible Newcastle will be the best period of his career. There’s something flimsy about him. Only problem is we wasted the money we got.

Casemiro isn’t a bad player but there’s no way he represents value for money. Signings have to be measured against how much they cost.

We’ll just have to try signing him again in 2027, 2028, and 2029.

Do you think any other club would’ve bought Wissa for £55m?

Not sure how Wissa fits into that multi-factor.

Pap. The CL spots are wide open and it feels like we’ll be miles off them.

We can reignite our John McGinn interest.

I would be looking to sell Gordon anyway. Botman will lack options given his injury record.

He probably won’t be the only one if we’re finishing midtable or bottom half.

I think the problem with Luis Enrique is that he would never come here, not that his teams aren’t good.

I’d love to know what Mitchell’s plan was for that window and how we ended up in that situation in the first place.

Overall I’m very happy with the job he’s done at the club, but I don’t think he’s done a good job since the end of last season. Obviously we had a shocking summer window, and there was some sort of falling out with the last DoF. He has a family member on the transfer team which I wouldn’t allow, and I’m not sure if our new DoF is just going to be a yes man. So I’m not really happy with that area. It should be solved by the owners taking control and telling him he will be consulted but his control will be limited. On the pitch our tactics haven’t really developed into anything positive, it’s still based on athleticism and we’re poor with the ball. We’re predictable and not a technical or skilful team. I’m finding this disappointing and it looks like he has a limitation here. I also question whether he’s still getting a response from the players. A managers methods and messages get stale and players stop listening. Many managers have done great jobs at a club and there has come a point where both the club and manager need a change, I’m concerned we’re heading in that direction. I’m also not sure what the ambition of the owners really is for the club. If they’re happy with midtable then there’s really no point in getting unhappy about the job he’s done this season. If they wanted CL they would be making transfers happen this window. I’m split between seeing how the rest of the season goes and giving him another transfer window to change things. I suppose I’m on the fence then.

What’s the difference between being on the fence and unhappy but willing to give more time?

Prioritising cups over the league would be a bit mad really, you never know what’s going to happen on the day of a knockout game in terms of injuries, red cards, dodgy penalties etc.

Almost everyone is having at least a good period in a game against Liverpool this season, they’re pretty pap.

I think he could get away with finishing just outside the European spots, but if we finish bottom half I can see them letting him go. The owners are a bit of a mystery to me though. Still waiting for official word on a new training ground, any word on the stadium, and the lack of any transfer movement in this window suggests they aren’t desperate to push for a CL spot. Maybe they’re comfortable with safe midtable finishes.

He’s a tidy bottom half player, a sort of Tom Cleverly type.

I think there’s a committee but two of them are family and one of them can probably sack the rest.

We probably only train with the ball for 10% of the time.

Can’t wait for the “rate the winter 2026 transfer window” thread.