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Arsenal are no better than the likes of Leicester and Everton and those are the sides they will be fighting with this season. The players en masse are not good enough, and they have an inferior manager than before.

Zohore is terrible.

Arter should see red if Hayden sees red. Very similar challenge.

Diame has returned to moving like a pregnant woman this season. Worrying because his upturn in form was one of the biggest reasons for the good run last season.

More reckless stupidity from the the players to add on to what Kenedy did in the first half. There is no reason whatsoever to be making that challenge. It is not a red card, imo, but it is not too far off. Hayden has given him the decision to make.

4th choice right back next match.

NUFC should 100% down to ten, so I don't understand anyone complaining about the ref. We are just wasting time here until attacking changes are made. Kenedy, Joselu, and Diame have been complete rubbish throughout.

I thought his treatment of Colback last season was also far more harsh than necessary. Giving someone thirty appearances in a season, and then immediately telling them that are unwanted and banishing them from the squad because they didn't take a move away just made no sense to me in terms of man management. Obviously no one cared since Colback is almost universally despised on here. Fwiw, it is best Aarons leaves this year for Newcastle and Rolando himself. He'll be 23 soon and has never played a full first team season. He probably needs to drop down two levels, so he can just play as much as his apparently frail body will let him. Colback had a go at Rafa and told him to fuck off in front of the rest of the squad. Only one way that was going to end. Is that verified? I hadn't heard that account before, tbf, his actions toward would make perfect sense in that context. I thought the original account was that he had turned down a move away that Rafa had arranged for him after deciding he was no longer in his plans.

I thought his treatment of Colback last season was also far more harsh than necessary. Giving someone thirty appearances in a season, and then immediately telling them that are unwanted and banishing them from the squad because they didn't take a move away just made no sense to me in terms of man management. Obviously no one cared since Colback is almost universally despised on here. Fwiw, it is best Aarons leaves this year for Newcastle and Rolando himself. He'll be 23 soon and has never played a full first team season. He probably needs to drop down two levels, so he can just play as much as his apparently frail body will let him and find his feet as a professional.

An opening match injury to a player in a position with little cover, after doing the bare minimum in the transfer window, a ten year long Newcastle United tradition.

Like most here, I love Hatem unconditionally, but if he was to come back I have a feeling there would be Ewing in Seattle/Iverson's return to Philadelphia levels of sadness involved. Whatever his next club is, I am sure that Ben Arfa will either dominate instantly or just be a fat, useless, petulant waste of time. Everything in between seems unlikely.

Clarence Seedorf named the new manager of Cameroon with Patrick Kluivert as his assistant.

The African Cup of Nations is in June.

The work permit process is illogical to me, tbf. Muto got a permit even though Japan are not in the top 50 of the FIFA rankings, which renders his international caps meaningless. Both played in good leagues last season and were contracted to teams in good leagues when we signed them. I assume he will have gotten through via the convoluted points system?

Premiership Winners: Manchester United Runners Up: Manchester City 3rd-6th: Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Leicester Relegation: Cardiff, Brighton, Bournemouth Overachievers: Leicester Underperformers: Chelsea Top Goal Scorer: Harry Kane Break Out Year: Ryan Sessegnon Season to Forget: Allison PFA Player of the Year: Harry Kane PFA Young Player of the Year: Gabriel Jesus Manager of the Year: Claude Puel First manager to quit/be sacked: Javi Gracia Championship Winners: Stoke Runners Up: Leeds 3rd-6th: Boro (promoted via playoff), Irrelevant, Irrelevant, Irrelevant Relegation: Irrelevant Newcastle United Where will we finish?: 13th Top Goalscorer?: Ayoze Perez How will we do in the cup competitions?: Irrelevant Will Rafa still be manager at the end of the season?: He will leave at the end of the season Who will be the first player to be sent off for us?: Mohammed Diame Domestic League One Promotion: Irrelevant League One Relegation: Irrelevant League Two Promotion: Irrelevant League Two Relegation: Irrelevant FA Cup: Manchester City League Cup: Southampton EFL Trophy: Irrelevant Europe La Liga winner: Barcelona Serie A winner: Juventus Bundesliga winner: Bayern Munich Champions League winner: Manchester City Europa League winner: Olympique de Marseille World Player of the Year: Modric or Mbappe (due to World Cup) Other: Will Alan Pardew be managing at the end of the 2018/19 season?: Managing the cheques he receives from whatever channel is employing him to talk his rubbish on television. Will Jose Mourinho still be in charge of Manchester United come the end of the season?: Yes Where will Sunderland finish?: 5th in League One. (Lose in Playoffs)

The pair of them were behind Manchester United in the table after every single matchday last season, so personally, it is fairly easy for me to understand. Obviously, the football was unimpressive compared to the other two. The article says Ritchie was the luckiest player in the league, avoiding two red cards. Does anyone know what incidents they are referring to?

When I saw him a couple times he was really good on the ball, I wonder if LB and maybe a little coaching up at CDM wouldnt be in the offing? You're right though, at CB its not ideal albeit not unheard of. He was really impressive and Im actually a bit shocked that PSG would let him go, must be FFP considerations and trying to get money where they can, when they can. Otherwise you would think that they would find some random Ligue 1 side to loan him too for the time being. Like I said before, try and get Tim Weah in on the deal I've never seen N'Soki play outside of Youtube/Twitter clips, so I cannot really comment on him, but as an aside I find it quite odd that the Liberian president has a son that plays football for a different nation. It would be the same as Barron Trump being capped by Slovenia in five or six year's time. Very Bizarre.

Really promising a few years back - not lived up to the hype IMO He was 100% rubbish for Monaco last season. He has been better for Lyon in the past, but still not a player I would expect to achieve much in the Premier League. Puel will have worked with him when he was just breaking through tbf, so maybe he thinks more highly of him than most. It is a necessary signing anyway, with fellow Algerian Mahrez off to City and Musa away to Saudi Arabia.

I doubt the club offered him to Spain free of charge. Rafa is one of the club's most valuable assets, so renting him out for a month at a hefty fee (at a time when he is spending his time digging into the owner's pockets for transfer funds) would probably appeal to financial savant Mike Ashely. The aspect of this that I do no understand is Rafa's role. Did he actually have the desire to manage Spain on one day's notice in June? If so, why would the avenue to achieve this be an email or post letter from Newcastle to the Spanish federation? I would assume he has direct contact with these people. Rafa is not a slave or a prostitute, Ashley cannot go around offering his services to people without his consent. Something with the story does not make sense.

Forming this opinion from a few comments during the preseason tour doesn't make sense to me, tbh. We have not seen them play a competitive match or even a preseason match with anything resembling a first team squad. The last time we saw them play they were second and are likely to make at least one more big signing before the season starts. They are still second-favourites for the title in my opinion. Mourinho's histrionics do not seem any different to me, he has largely been a petulant and negative personality since he started at Madrid.

Even if this is what Ashley is doing in practice, nothing on the books would ever reflect this. The guy is a billionaire businessman, not some financial illiterate. I am not sure there would be anything untoward about him using the profits from his own investments, anyway.

The writing was on the wall for both of the Anderlecht boys when they failed to make much of an impact during the Championship season, even though both started their careers at the club fairly well. I like both of them as players and characters and wish them well going forward. The separation is in the best interest of all parties at the current time.

Burnley, Leicester, and Everton are in a somewhat strange position. The table from last season reflects that they are good sides with the potential to push on towards the top six and challenge for honours in the upcoming campaign, but the truth is that all three of these sides played abject, relegation quality football for large stretches and stood out from the rest of the bottom clubs in a very poor Premier League season on the back of a couple runs of good form. Burnley for instance, went 11 matches without a victory at one point and finished the season with an additional five winless matches. Newcastle are in a similar position. It would be very foolish to read a lot into the comfortable 10th placed finish. Everton and Leicester have too much quality imo, but Burnley going down would not be a surprise to me at all.

The Premier League has a very stern penalty for not competing, which is called relegation. There is no requirement to spend your money on transfer fees, and no investigation to be had. As long as Ashley sanctions enough spending to keep the club in the league, which he has shown an interest in doing previously, the TV money will keep rolling and everything is good in Mike's world. If Rafa wanted funds to spend he should have finished 17th. Two strikers are definitely necessary. NUFC will have the worst strikeforce in the league by a significant margin once Mitrovic leaves.

The only strange part of the situation is that Rafa Benitez is still at this club, tbh. This isn't really any reason for him to stay, and he will have a multitude of other offers from around the world as soon as he becomes available. There may have even been serious solicitations from other teams while he has been under contract. Why stay at a club that you have no personal connection to (Obviously this is a club with great support and history, but every club he has managed from the time he joined Valencia has been this way) when the board consistently lies and disrespects the manager, while not allowing him to compete with clubs in similar financial circumstances. It makes no sense to remain here; greener pastures await him in any job he would seriously consider. Even sycophant Pardew eventually left for better.