Tsunami

In today's football, he'd be Theo Walcott essentially. Lucky to have played in the era he did. Well that’s just bollocks tbh. Twat of a man though.

Don’t know if Nickson scouted him, but Nickson (and Bruce) convinced the board to sign him. ?

Krafth was being scouted before Bruce took over, Nickson didn’t scout him but he will have had to recommend the signing to Charnley.

If he is talking bollocks he’ll be banned on RTG and will need to come back as Walter Mitty given his post history. He’s certainly gone all in.

Anita contract terminated. Never a footballer.

Ashley must loving the flak Bruce is taking on his behalf, perfect appointment so far and if he can get to 17th by the end of season job done.

Most of his YouTube clips show him either picking the ball up fairly deep or looking for space beyond the defender. He’s no Rondon and from what I’ve seen if we isolate him he’ll be completely ineffective.

He’s in an almost impossible position, 11th choice, not enough time preseason, existing players who must have been pissed off with the shambolic way the club handled Rafa and then muddled around for a replacement and new signings coming into a storm. The bile that’s coming his way needs to be redirected to Ashley, Bruce is making the hash of it most believed he would and his media skills are clumsy and crass. I’ve never rated Bruce as a manager, I detest his weird accent, he looks like he lives in Fenwicks doorway and I really don’t think he had any real support for NUFC. His dad might have but I can’t remember Bruce ever recalling any NUFC matches of his youth or attending any as a fan. The fact that he managed Sunderland is neither here nor there for me. Directing shit towards Bruce might get him out but he’d simply get replaced. Ashley has to be the target we should remember that. Bruce is just a symptom.

Just watched Charlton’s penalty, lucky boy, deserved to miss

He’s right to a certain extent, should have scored and Joelnotinton was woeful afterwards. Car crash stuff today once they scored, well done Mike, you know your stuff. We’ll have players knocking doors down to get out of this shit show.

Nawty that

Really don’t like VAR for that, bit hand bags and the ball nowhere near the attacker, will encourage players to go down imo

Ashley is suggesting that he personally put £20M towards Joelinton’s transfer fee, no idea why or how that would be necessary.

It was widely reported that Rafa was offered £50M per season plus player sales for the next 2 seasons if he stayed: “Rafael Benitez will reportedly be given more than £100million to spend over the next two seasons at Newcastle United if he decides to stay. Benitez’s contract expires at the end of the season and he has yet to commit his future to the club.” was reported in May. I don’t believe that either side has been completely open about what happened. I still believe that the club expected Rafa to compromise and stay, was the compromise the training ground and less control on some transfers, who knows? The club made broken promises to Rafa and some or all of these contributed to him leaving. Rafa has indicated that he had decided to leave in May but couldn’t say anything, clearly the Chinese knew as he was on the plane over a couple of days after it was announced he was to leave. There were rumours of an email exchange over a weekend after which the club announced he’d be leaving. I’ve no doubt Rafa left out of frustration and he’d come to a point where he’d had enough, nobody can criticise him on those grounds and he has the support of the fans on that. Rafa is meticulous in everything he does, I’d love to know the full true story. We’re getting the glossy versions from both sides. I think it’s safe to believe that a 2 year offer had been on the table for quite a while and it all turned to shit over the details.

I'd be a bit careful posting full Athletic articles, I know a couple of other forums and subreddits that have got in trouble for it Edited

Edited “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” I would like to start my first column for The Athletic with this quote from Confucius, the Chinese philosopher and politician. People in Newcastle have been talking about my decision to move to China without knowing what happened behind the scenes during my three years at St James’ Park. I haven’t wanted to say too much about that — I’ve encouraged supporters to get behind Steve Bruce and his new team — but I’ve been made aware of what Lee Charnley, Newcastle’s managing director, claimed in the club’s match programme last weekend and I think it’s important I address that. Hopefully, it will be the last time I have to do so. In the future I want to write about football and nothing but football. When I joined Newcastle in 2016, I did it with all my heart. I could feel the history and see the potential of the club and I wanted to be part of a project and to stay close to my family on Merseyside. I tried to do my best every day, even staying when we went down to the Championship and saying no to other offers — bigger offers than the one I recently accepted with Dalian Yifang, by the way. If I was only interested in moving “for money”, as Charnley stated, I could have done it much earlier. Over my long career, and especially in my time at Newcastle, I’ve always shown commitment to my club, its city and its community and I’ve done it with professionalism and honesty. I want to remember the good moments I spent in the north-east — and there were many of them — and not have to keep denying things about my time there or about my departure. Newcastle’s board had a year to sort out my contract but, when we met after the end of last season, they didn’t make me a proper offer. They told me they didn’t want to invest in the academy or the training ground — if they like, I can explain the reason why Mike Ashley refused to do that. Their idea of a project was a policy of signing players under 24 and, in my opinion, the budget available was not enough to compete for the top 10. After that meeting, I knew they would not come back with a serious offer and, when it arrived, 19 days later, it was for the same salary as three years earlier and with less control over signings. Charnley’s comments in the programme about having a deal agreed for Joelinton in February explains a lot that I couldn’t understand at that time. After three years of unfulfilled promises, I didn’t trust them. When we finished 10th in the Premier League in our first season back, all players and staff were paid a bonus — aside from my coaching team. That felt like a punishment for me not signing an extension. So, by the end, I knew there would not be a proper offer and they knew I was not signing. I couldn’t explain that in public because I was not allowed to talk to the press without their permission, so I was waiting until late June, like every fan, hoping there would be good news about Newcastle’s prospective takeover. The time was passing and we were losing job opportunities in Europe. I couldn’t wait forever. I’m a family man and I have a responsibility to them, my staff, Paco, Antonio and Mikel, and their families, too. I don’t like to gamble with the future of my people. In front of us we had three options: nothing serious from Newcastle, the hope of a possible takeover or a different project. Yes, it was a big offer in China — I have never denied that — but it was also another continent and another league, from a club giving us a lot of recognition and respect. That decision wasn’t easy, but it was clear. So, here we are in the Chinese Super League with an ambitious club that has a big company in Wanda behind it. At Dalian, we are trying to build something important in this massive, fascinating country. It is another level, another way of doing things, another culture, but they believe in us, they listen to us and their priority is not just to make a profit. They are investing big money in developing a new scouting department, they are building a new training ground for the academy, the under-23s and, obviously, the first team. And, yes, they are using our experience to guide them. The CSL has 16 clubs so that means 30 league games plus the cup (we are in the semi-finals) and the Asian Champions League, if you qualify. Over the coming weeks, I will talk more about that and more about what’s happening in the Premier League but, as I have started with Newcastle, I will finish with them, too. What can I say about them? Before their first game, I wished the players, fans and Steve Bruce all the best and I meant it sincerely, because they deserve it. Arsenal was their first match of the season and their first with a new manager, so we have to give them time. The signings we made to take us from the Championship have more experience in the Premier League now. I think the combination of “our” young players, like Jamaal Lascelles, Isaac Hayden, DeAndre Yedlin and Javier Manquillo, the new squad members like Miguel Almiron and Sean Longstaff, together with the experience of Paul Dummett, Matt Ritchie, Martin Dubravka, Fabian Schar, Florian Lejeune, Federico Fernandez, Jonjo Shelvey, Ki Sung-yeung, Ciaran Clark, Karl Darlow and Christian Atsu will be enough to stay up. The new players will have to make the difference if they want to finish better than 10th, but they will need — and they will have — support from the fans, even if they are not happy with how things have been done, because they know the club is bigger than anyone. They have to be United; Newcastle United. On Sunday morning, I switched on my television in Dalian and there was a documentary about Alan Shearer being shown. Can you believe that? It’s true. I saw joy in the faces of Newcastle fans after every goal. I didn’t need the reminder, because I was there so recently, there with all my heart, but it made me think again about that history and potential. And it made me consider something else: what would an 18-year-old Newcastle supporter think about his club now? Best wishes from China, Rafa

That’s just a lazy comment. Bruce can be criticised of a lot of things but he knows what is good or bad defending. Stop hoping the worst of the players; we’ve some decent ones, if they don’t improve as a team then Bruce will get everything he deserves. Nah your alright. I'm genuinley curious as to why you think it will improve from here. New players to the PL, first time Bruce has seen them in a proper game. If it doesn’t get better Bruce will be gone be Xmas. The game today was won and lost on individual errors, I wouldn’t have taken Shelvey off for Willems and Christ knows why he came on and positioned himself in an advanced midfield role but that didn’t lose us the goal. It was a shocking goal, simple as that.

That’s just a lazy comment. Bruce can be criticised of a lot of things but he knows what is good or bad defending. Stop hoping the worst of the players; we’ve some decent ones, if they don’t improve as a team then Bruce will get everything he deserves.

Not really, how the f*** can you be so open at the back there at 0-0, that's tactics, or lack of. Because Shar switched of, stayed where he was while the ball played across field to Willems was as weak as the rest of the piss poor lame passing, this easily read by Maitland-Niles leaving the whole back four open. He's bang on about school boy. Schar and the pass were awful, Williams was caught not coming to the pass, but I guess he would have expected more given the wet pitch in terms of zip. There were no excuses for the passing today, it was abysmal. Bruce aside. Willems could see that the pass was under hit, he half started to go to ball then stopped. He spent the next 5 minutes berating himself. We could just have easily won that game than lost, there’s folk on here celebrating and looking for things to criticise. There were plenty of empty seats, the crowd got behind the team, most got absolutely drenched and we lost not because of tactics. Joelinton looks a prospect, Almiron was fairly poor, ASM needs to be aware of his team mates and as a team we need to shorten the gap between the midfield and attack. Arsenal started very deep today and we pressed up to their 18 yard line, we became tired in the 2nd half and that created a big gap between our front line up to around the half way line . We’ll improve from here.

The goal was down to a shocking bit of play by Willem not sure why Bruce took Shelvey off when he did

Forget tactics the goal was down to an individual school boy error.

https://www.football365.com/news/dirty-city-solskjaer-was-right-to-call-man-city-on-tactical-fouls Thanks. I also found this video to explain it further in detail. I was a bit surprised Burnley are the cleanest team according to the stats in the video. Two things; Ole can fuck right off about tactical fouls and Ashley Barnes is built like a shit house and goes down quicker than a cheap whore. Other than that top teams know when and where to foul, referees need to recognise this more.

80 with Joelinton and Schmeichel to play, would have been a few more if I’d captained Sterling or Kane instead of Salah. Will all go to shit from here on in.

Why weren’t Watford given a pen?

Just as well he scored or he might have had to take it again