John P

I mentioned earlier in the thread how I was surprised at how good his decision making in the final third is and how good his final ball is, as the reports from France seemed to suggest he was a great dribbler and not much else. He just looks a fantastic player to me - final ball is excellent, knows when to pass, happy to play other players in, good shot on him, works hard, tremendous strength and pace and dribbling ability. He's mint.

I've said a few times, he's not ready to be a number one striker for a shit side, but would be quite happy to see him coming off the bench with no pressure. He's understudy material, not the finished article. Never in a million years will this bloke be a number 9 or centre forward. Use whatever data you want! If you listen to what I posted you would find that they agree - he's never been played as a number 9 or a centre forward and in such a restrictive system before.

https://mrkt-insights.simplecast.com/episodes/introduction-to-mrkt-insights Some interesting comments on Joelinton from just after 33mins onwards here. These guys do data and scouting analysis for Swansea City amongst others. I reckon Joelinton might be worth persevering with under a different manager and used in a different system with hopefully a few better players around him.

Yeah I've seen him in York a couple of times, so guessing he lives around here. There have been a couple of people on the "Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?" podcast who were asked about him and they basically said he had very little interest in football, he was just very very good at it and did it as a job. One of the players they had on (can't remember who) said that Blackburn had a title-winning reunion a few years back but he didn't turn up to it and no-one is really in touch with him any more.

he's not been in charge for that many has he? Including west brom I assume. looks like 8 games to me, one of which they won, not sure if all league games tho Apologies, it is 1 win in 8 for Pards (I didn't realise he wasn't there for the others). The one win was at home against the team bottom of the league, who had 10 men. Approaching peak Pardew.

1 win in 15 in the league. Peak Pardew.

Great read. Yep, just came in here to post that myself. Very good.

Absolutely love this lad. It's brilliant when he scores or assists to top off the quality, hardworking performances that he puts in week in week out. 6 goals from attacking midfield with a fair bit of the season to go in this shit team isn't even that bad (yes I know 4 were against lower league opposition but come on, it's Almiron, let's be happy for him. Look at his big grin.)

Yeah he has more end product than I thought he would based on the reports on him in France. He isn't the usual head down and run type, even though he sometimes obviously does that, he actually quite often looks to pick a pass at the right time and there is often a lot of quality in his passing. Has a good shot on him too as we've seen on a few occasions.

I would say his performances in the last 12 months warrant a new contract. Our most reliable full back?

Good article. Sounds like he absolutely loved it here and was desperate to stay. Shame he's an OAP.

How do you know that for a fact? I’m not having a go just curious A very close friend of mine is friends with a first team player and told me about a new contract that was signed months before it was announced. Very close friend? Not close enough to introduce you to his other mates though? Yes, a very good friend I used to work with who still lives in Newcastle. I don't live in Newcastle any more so only see my mate a few times a year at weekends when, funnily enough, the first team player is a bit busy.

How do you know that for a fact? I’m not having a go just curious A very close friend of mine is friends with a first team player and told me about a new contract that was signed months before it was announced.

I know for a fact that some players at the club agree and sign new contracts months before they are actually announced. I'm guessing the club do this so they can announce them at an opportune time. However, I don't think that's the case with Longstaff, I reckon they're probably just offering him fuck all and he understandably doesn't want to sign a shit contract.

There was an Athletic article on him last week and I think it mentioned that some of his social media stuff is done by one of his best mates from back home who is now part of his team, so I'd imagine he has some input into it.

What an annoying prick this guy is. Aside from making absolutely ludicrous comparisons and writing utter rubbish, the way he speaks and responds to people on Twitter is incredibly condescending and patronising.

Another fantastic article from the away end by Caulkin in The Athletic this week. He really seems to be enjoying the licence to write what he wants, complete with lots of swearing, it's brilliant.

Yep He's really calm when he gets a chance, you don't often see that with midfielders.

"Here lads, do you fancy loaning us your best player?"

You seen that JDT had ability and was an international striker, he just had wretched luck here with Shearer's injury. Whereas Joelinton is not even fucking league 1 standard as was pretty evident Saturday I remember going down to watch training after we'd signed JDT and he was pinging balls in from all angles, he looked fucking brilliant.

Genuine question - do you think that his prospects are better at Sunderland than at Newcastle? Thinking about coaching, facilities etc. I have no real knowledge of Sunderland's youth programme, but I know yours has been a bit sketchy over the last few years. Dunno, last experienced NUFC’s system personally over a decade ago, know lots of young coaches there, parents with kids and know they are also interested in my son. Wor lass’ friends/cousins has a few kids in there too and one who I won’t name will be a top player and we have very good coaches at under 11 down. I’ve heard very bad things about them though sadly. For now, I’m just treating it as another form of training for him like his Futsal, but if he likes it and they like him I’m gonna push him because this is all his own doing seriously, since watching the WC in 2018, I don’t push him at all, I’m just his taxi and cash machine for strips etc. And thanks man Think I’m more excited tbh! There's just no way you can tell at a young age whether someone will be a top player or not. So many incredibly talented young lads don't even make it as professionals in League One / Two for a whole host of reasons. Pleased for you and your son though, hope he enjoys himself

See also Sunderland last season. When they were in the automatic promotion places this time last year the guy who owns Statsbomb said they were massively overperforming their xG and that they would almost inevitably tail off in the second half of the season. Look at them now.

I replied to someone on Twitter talking about Bruce. I mentioned xG and xPoints to highlight the fact that we're in a bit of a false position and was met by several replies along the lines of "Actual goals and points matter, give Bruce a break!!!", "That is the most ridiculous stat anyone could come up with - a pointless statistic", "Stop looking at stats and start looking at results". Twitter is full of fucking morons. I won't be commenting on anything again as I can't be arsed explaining how xG is actually a really good indicator and predictor of a side's true performance to some fucking imbecile.

There is an angle that makes it look like he’s offside. Disappointed MOTD didn’t take another look at it to clarify it. He literally overtook Fernandez after the ball was played, not even close. When the ball is played he's offside relative to Fernandez (which is why I thought he was off when I saw the first replay), but Schar on the far side looks like he's just playing him on, which I didn't see at the time. It is close though. Nah. Ja https://imgur.com/mJDZgoS

There is an angle that makes it look like he’s offside. Disappointed MOTD didn’t take another look at it to clarify it. He literally overtook Fernandez after the ball was played, not even close. When the ball is played he's offside relative to Fernandez (which is why I thought he was off when I saw the first replay), but Schar on the far side looks like he's just playing him on, which I didn't see at the time. It is close though.