Gallowgate Toon

Aye, I think it's pretty clear he's got a plan of some kind to play him there if everyone is fit. Don't buy the defensive shift stuff either. ASM is hardly a workhorse, we simply shifted Joelinton's out of possession position last season to cover him when he didn't track back and ASM popped back into more of the LCM role. When ASM tucked in going forward then Joelinton would often make the outside run.

I think he might go with the same team as vs. Arsenal, to start with, as it's so solid defensively and we'd have good options from the bench in Isak and ASM. My only concern there is Joelinton, it'd likely rule him out of a start vs Fulham.

Bit weird that Emery played such a weakened team considering he's got a good cup record and they're likely going to finish midtable.

We're quite positionally fluid in a few spots so I wouldn't think of Isak as a 'LW' when we're going forward, and I imagine Wilson will have to do more rotating than he has before. While he's definitely a striker first, a lot of Isak clips see him drifting out wider and driving into space - it seems a very natural part of his game to search for spaces and get on the ball.

Isak scored more league goals in a major division campaign than Wilson ever has just a couple of years ago. Iirc, his first 2 seasons at Sociedad he was averaging a goal or assist every 150 minutes or something (he was often a sub in his first season there, from memory). Was obviously poor last season.

Seems like he ran out of gas after about 30 mins. Might be a little while until we see the best of him.

It's kinda mad that prior to wood coming to Newcastle, he had an almost identical record to Wilson in the PL. They're so different. He had some very tidy finishes for Burnley too, wasn't all just box skirmishes.

Howe will be calm which is exactly how he should be. Never too low, never too high; keep focused on the important goals. Those players will know that tonight wasn't good enough, but I also think Howe will empathise with some of them - lots of players getting their first proper minutes in a while against a fired up side isn't easy. It's not like the effort wasn't there. Isak's performance is a testament to the importance of getting regular gametime. I think we had to rest en masse, tbh.

Mad how many chances we couldn't put away.

How can such a good penalty striker miss that badly? Tbh, I feel sorry for him in a way as he clearly gives a lot of effort, but misses like that from a striker are unforgivable.

Honestly, not too fussed this year - we've got enough going on. Well done, Wednesday, and a timely reminder to the board.

No shit

Needs more gametime. He had some good cameos early on in the PL and evidently has talent, imo.

Pretty much to be expected - rusty players but managed to generally keep decent control.

This'll be a tough first half, I think. They're in good form and will be well up for it while most of our lot have barely played. I reckon we'll win it in the second half.

It could be a sign that he has big plans to play him during the second half of the season...

This sounds bad on the surface but you're talking about a 1/2 minute variance at most. La Liga is the worst of all leagues for in-play time, iirc, at about 51 mins when you'd think it'd be the best considering the possession approach. It's not abnormal in football.

Yeah, they're often wrong too - bet the 43 minutes is a load of shite. Last time this stat was rolled out was against Liverpool and it was wrong. Average in-play PL time is 55 mins which is one of the best in the world.

I think Howe said this fixture would be an examination of how far we've come. Basically, we're bloody immense defensively when we get set, but we have a lot to work on going forward still. For me, the midfield balance against these sorts of teams still doesn't feel consistently right and that sets the tone going forward. I thought Longstaff was anonymous going forward & back, Bruno had moments but struggled to find space while having to sit deeper, Willock improved but his best moments came when drifting out wide rather than making things happen through the middle.

Isak coming back is potentially huge for us. Get some minutes under his belt over the cup games to prep for assaulting Fulham.

Thought he was absolutely wank in the first half but much better second half. Great outlet when he gets going, just feels like he plays within himself sometimes.

22. Bonkers.

Class. Think we could've done so much more on the ball but we're a work in progress with some limited squad resources. Arteta can fuck off. What a fanny.

We can do better than this. Need to sort that midfield at half-time because it's not doing enough.