Gallowgate Toon

Unless he has a knock, that's a very poor decision re: Barnes. It just sends a really poor message and is entirely counterproductive. What motivation is he going to have to perform if there's no consistency to him starting? I'd get it if our other wingers were class but it's Murphy and Almiron ffs.

Just caught the press conference. Some of the journos are absolutely desperate & shameless Hope and Bird being the worst. Horrendous framing of questions.

Surely CONTROL FREAK, TRAINING GROUND TYRANT Eddie Howe would be furious some fitness bod is encroaching on his BELOVED training ground grass?

Genuinely curious, which of his teams has won anything while he's been there?

Talking about overpaying for some of your current players is an interesting way to go about things. Referenced himself in the third person. Giant red flag.

Howe has spelled it out quite plainly over the last week - we aren't equal match fitness across the team yet. You can't really adopt constant pressing if you're carrying anyone, they all need to be on it. Gordon is a massive press trigger for us and he's the least sharp of them all.

Quality attacker, like. Could easily be a consistent difference maker against 3/4 of the league's defences.

Fantastic result after a tough week. Another sign we're still not 'old Newcastle', Howe has developed a resilient team.

Didn't everyone want him to be less tactically predictable last season? Seems like he's managing a few things that stop us from trying plan a, so we've gone for something else.

Absolute engine on this lad, man.

Was shocked he wasn't hooked.

Feels to me that he doesn't have confidence in our fitness/sharpness so we've reverted to countering. We looked so slow to me today reactions-wise. Lots of dallying, delayed play.

Not mad at Hall not starting this. Great option from the bench and also a handy midfield option should we need it. Shocked at no Sandro but 2 starts in 5 days might've been a bit much. Barnes and Gordon

What are the big deals to his name? Feels like he's become well regarded for finding lower cost gems which feels like it'd be easier to negotiate/see through.

I think Howe knows the biggest lift he can give the fans going into this is Tonali. Harsh on Longstaff after his penalty heroics and steady enough start to the season but this is a massive game for us.

It's too early to say with him really - I'm just happy for him that he's likely to get consistent game time. That video of him looking at our fans on Weds was pretty sad, tbh.

Weirdly confident we'll get another positive result. 3-1.

Kelly is a genuinely good pick up as long as he's fit - he's a good footballer, potentially very good. I expect Osula will have a quiet next few months but feel he'll also surprise us in the second half of the season onwards. Outside of that, it was bad. 2 positions outlined as key and neither filled, somehow ended up with a bizarre keeping situation. 3/10. Lascelles and Botman aside as we'll likely see neither until 2025, I still believe we have a first team that's extremely competitive. While a few clubs have been busy, I'm not they're much stronger in terms of actual quality. Maintaining good fitness will be key for us, as obvious as it sounds.

Is this the place where we can discuss if the DoF model is overrated, btw? Long-term strategy role but the vast majority all seem to hop about every couple of years while talking a load of management speak shite. Similar to managers, the good ones are really good and the rest aren't. Feels like everyone thinks they need to have one in some guise but I'm not sure that's the case.

I thought Howe's comments on players being unsettled was actually quite masterful - extremely out of character for him to say something like that so it felt purposeful. Well, it worked for me, as it immediately took my attention away from anger/frustration to thinking about support for Sunday. Maybe it wasn't by design but it tied in very well with his unity comments from earlier in the presser.

Obviously, it's always been part of the game, but that Longstaff quote is really, really sad when you read it in his voice What an abomination PSR is. The whole thing is fucking disgraceful.

Yes, you can famously only work to solutions with other grown adults through hypnotism. His role is meant to be the strategic figurehead of all football operations ffs. Surely, any DoF worth their salt would be working with the right people to set up the processes they believe in? Working with something he doesn't believe to be right/sustainable and instead succumbing to it while collecting big wages would be very poor indeed. If Howe was to go, Mitchell would be instrumental in that decision and the main lead sorting his replacement. He has plenty of power.

If Mitchell is 'dancing to Howe's tune' and going against his own beliefs then he simply isn't cut out to be a DoF and he's stealing a wage. Luckily, he isn't.

I really don't rate their business that highly squad feels imbalanced and I don't think their spine is strong. Big unknowns with the coach too. Obviously, I'd love to have been as busy as them in the window.

A proper Howe streak with some batterings will get everyone back in good spirits.