alexf

Ugh felt it coming. Caicedo alone probably cost more than their entire club. The commentator going on like this has been some sort of mammoth achievement.

Good possibility any deal was subject to them not getting promoted perhaps.

Thought that's what it looked like

Can see Betis fading sadly second half but they played a good first half. Would have been great if hey had taken that chance to go 2 up.

See Chelsea fans were doing wonders for the reputation of British fans abroad once more.

Betis look better than anything Man U or Spurs had to face in the apparently more superior competition.

Yeah was the only downside of that final day that these guys also got to benefit and finish above us aswell. Want them to suffer and be consequenced but they never will be.

Used to love abit of Betis back in the old revista de la liga days. Where the fuck did Isco go for about 5 years? He used to be quality for Madrid and then suddenly pops up and looks decent again for Betis.

Yeah when he's laid back and quiet he actually comes across quite likeable. But it's almost like he ramped up the loudness and incessant laughter originally to cover his lack of football knowledge and then once that "character" was established he had to double down. The clips of the CBS show are him at his worst , "Brest...hahah", "who's your favourite on the show" etc. just pretty juvenile stuff. However I'm 36, I bet kids probably love him. He is young enough to just about get away with it, however Carragher on there is pretty embarrassing. Trying to keep up with Micah's level of loudness and silliness but it leads to things like his famous "loyal...not to Malick" moment which was just super awkward.

Yeah watching back some of his performances earlier in the season compared to any of his games after missing that Liverpool league game and you can see the contrast. His athleticism and agility were different levels. As much as the rest of the media have jumped in the Isak train this year, I still think he's actually underrated. Because his numbers aren't matching his ability. Like last year he is playing many times hurt/fatigued and it's affecting his level of impact. If we can get suitable backup and be able to rest him correctly when required and not play him when he's clearly only about 30% fit, then his numbers are going closer to Salah and Haaland levels.

I wonder if there was a rule for these circumstances where a team can decide if they want a red card or to give a goal to the opposition, how many would choose goal? I know we would have certainly with Pope against Liverpool two years ago. I think Arsenal and Lehmann back in the 2006 CL final etc. I think going a goal down is far better than playing the majority of a match with ten men.

Cb's are difficult to rate like that I find. We give ours alot of protection most of the time through our midfield. But when you see them get exposed there are few worse than Burn and Schar and possibly Botman (post injury so hard to judge), when they are left 1v1 etc. Whereas if an Akanji or VVD or Saliba etc are isolated they can hold their own most of the time. So whilst I appreciate our CB's for their individual qualities, I do feel they can also be a weakness if we ever open up too much and try to be more attacking.

Also has the freedom of the Newcastle boardroom it seems too, am I right?

I guess we haven't had chance to see it under Eddie as we have never had much of a squad outside of 12-13 core players. But history tells us he never likes to change his back 4 unless to go back 5 for the odd game and generally never changes a winning team either. So yeah I think it would require him to trust the squad and not be afraid to rotate.

Here's a question. So obviously we lack squad depth etc. But I see a slight issue that I don't know the answer to. Say we signed Guehi and Mbeumo and the went straight into the first 11. Great, we have upgraded two positions and then it also means we have more depth in that Murphy and Schar/Burn are available to step in when needed.... However as we have seen, most players need sharpness and regular matches to play at their maximum. So if a Burn or Schar become a bit part player at their age, we can't expect the same level of performance as we have seen this year if they need to step in at short notice to cover injury or suspension. Similar to how bad Longstaff has looked in comparison to when he was playing week in and week out and to a lesser extent Willock, although his performance drop I would put mostly due to injuries. Not sure what I'm getting at here as clearly we need depth, but I'm just saying the players we drop to the bench, won't be as useful as they are now in theory.