alexf

with his headers, like a lot of players, he seems to close his eyes and dip his head at the last second.

has he scored many with his left? I'm starting to rack my brain now and can't think of any? That 1v1 chance he had should really have been going with his left peg and trying to drill into the bottom corner but he tried to contort his body to get around it. Still though, just shows even if extremely one footed he is a pretty lethal player but even now you can see areas he can improve further and develop into the best striker in the world if he keeps pushing himself. *Edit* just remembered that left footer into the top corner vs Sunderland.

Only thing I'd say might be an issue for him making it to a high level would be his athleticism. Looked painfully slow at times last year, which unfortunately is a much needed attribute for the real top players at PL level. However he has the potential to develop everything else. Definitely has a good footballing brain and does the simple things very well. Could develop into a bit of a Michael Carrick type perhaps.

Needs a goal for confidence it feels. His all round play is still good and off the ball he works really hard, which is what keeps Barnes out the team. But his finishing this season has been so wasteful. Looked alot more composed and clinical last season.

Really dreading the idea of a Burn Kelly double left foot CB pairing for some reason. Is there many examples of two left foot CBs playing together in a back 4? I know it happens with right footers all the time so in theory it should be fine. But we are so reliant on Schar being the one to play out from the back that I can't even imagine Burn or Kelly playing RCB and trying to pass it around. Any chance Krafth might be back?

Couple of times today caught myself just being stunned at how quickly this lad has developed. Just the around composure and confidence in his game now compared to when he first got games. I was one of those perplexed why we weren't giving him a run during that injury crisis. I totally get in hindsight it looks like Eddie played a blinder, but perhaps he just needed a run to get up to speed like he eventually got later in the season. But even so, I didn't expect him to look this comfortable as our starting left back so quickly.

I know Isak got the hat trick but I thought Sandro's all round performance again was incredible. Lost count of the amount of times he nicked the ball off them. He's just everywhere. Got all the athleticism that Bruno lacks and has now made that role his own. It's such a shame that we lost a whole season, there's no doubt we would have had a much better season last year if he had been available for all of it. He would have needed time to settle ofcourse but even just to be an extra body last year amongst that injury crisis. He looks every bit the future captain to me, in terms of his onfield presence. Certainly added himself to the "purples" list now that's for damn sure.

Big game this Villa one. Feels like they are out closest rivals over the last and coming years. Howe has gotten the better of Emery a few times now and let's hope that continues. But should be a good game, as both teams look bang in form after today. We are definitely going to face a stronger challenge than the last 3 opponents, but likewise, Man city looked shocking again today, so we will prove a much stronger test for villa also.

Jesus Christ some of you are relentless at seeking out negativity. Sure he was probably the quietest of our players today, and it was surprising as I thought this sort of game would suit him, but give the lad a break he's not really started for awhile and it was only a few days ago he came in at halftime and looked bright.

That looks alot better. Although Forest need to slow the fuck down

Tonali is fantastic. Bit more clinical from Isak and he'd have had a first half hat trick. Hopefully gets it early 2nd half and then we can wrap up all the purples.

I think 6 league titles in 7 years or whatever it is, plus the recent treble probably buys you atleast one really bad season even for an "elite" club. However I did always wonder at what point a wobble might occur, they kept letting players go and not replacing even last year when they flogged Mahrez and a bunch of others. Plus letting Palmer go just as he was breaking through. But this season the combo of losing Rodri, De Bruyne not being the level he used to be, aging players like Walker and Bernardo and maybe selling Alvarez seems to have been a step to far. He possibly got arrogant or perhaps with all the legal stuff in the background they were trying to bring in as much money as possible. Either way they have probably built up a substantial amount of PSR room to go mental if they wanted to this January.

Why would you fear that as a Newcastle fan?

Will always be thankful of his form that helped fire us back to the champions league for first time in 20 years. But like Wilson, we should have cashed in that summer where their stock was at its highest, as it was always unlikely he wasn't going to be able to maintain that purple patch. Same way it was always unlikely Wilson could maintain his fitness.

If Eddie had the squads of Spurs, Man U, he would have them in the top 4 right now. Genuinely believe that. Id even say Villa although Emery has been equally as impressive as Howe was for us, but again I think he had a stronger squad to build from. So when the comments on here that wages etc don't matter, and that we should be guaranteeing European football this season, I can't agree. Yes, you can make an argument that our strongest starting 11 can match all of those teams and in some positions we have the better players. But go and take a look at their squad depth in comparison to us, remembering that Howe has proven time and again he can get out of form players to perform above their level. He makes the odd mistake and can be stubborn at times, but I believe the main thing holding us back from progressing is PSR and squad depth, not the manager.

don't think we need someone with outrageous pace on the right either, if they are going to be hard to find. I think a more technical player who can link well and cut in and shoot would suit us, considering we already have 2 rapid players in Gordon and Barnes on the other side, plus Isak making those intelligent runs in behind.

Would love to know who all the anti-eddie brigade would like to replace him with.

Doku is great, I hear alot of criticism of him but I think he's a fantastic talent and far from the problem at City. Would love him here. There's few players as exciting as him around anymore when they get the ball.

Unfortunately with the squad we have we are entirely reliant on the key players staying injury and suspension free. Isak, Gordon, Bruno and now Tonali are crucial to our form. Right now they all seem to be getting into their stride and playing some nice football. We weren't amazing last night but there were moments where we passed it around and you could see the potential. Remember that little back and forth interchange between Bruno and Tonali that lead to a near post shot. But form and confidence are brittle and you take out Isak for example and if he missed Villa or Man U, would we have much hope of going there and winning with Gordon or Osula up front instead? Don't think so. So I'm trying to be realistic and temper my expectations that while at times we are going to look great, we are still likely to be very inconsistent. Plus we are likely going into the 3rd game in a week with the same line up minus Joelinton. Fatigue will set in over Xmas if we don't rotate them. But we saw what happens at Brentford when we rotate even just a couple. I'm glad he's starting to sub abit earlier but even last night as soon as that 3rd went in I'd have been hooking the likes of Isak immediately but he still waited until about 75mins.

To be fair there's not a whole lot of competition out there at the moment. Although thought that Lewis-Potter looked decent tonight. Take nothing away from Hall though, he's grown into the role massively in a short period of time. That little spell in the side at the back end of last season thanks to all the injuries was crucial to his development and so glad he's kicked on from there. Who knows if Eddie would have played him at all without the injuries but in his case they seem to have been a blessing as we now have a real player in our hands.

Really has grown and settled since his return. Especially since the Chelsea cup game and being played central of the three. Been our best player pretty much everytime he started there. Has a really high ceiling and is starting to stamp his impression on this team and look like a leader. Really chuffed he got the goals his performances have been deserving and hopefully a sign of more to come.

Some really nice little chipped passes into midfield tonight which when contrasted to the normal Pope distribution was actually quite nice to see. Still sticks to his line too much compared to Pope though, and with our slow backline, it might cost us a couple of times again like it was last year during Popes injury.

Would say quite the opposite actually. His left footed efforts have been poor and shows he needs to work on it if he's playing from the right and cutting in. There was the first chance against Leicester when you watch back really shouldn't have been hard to put on target at this level and then here was a similar one tonight. But take nothing away, he has a decent right peg and as have said a few times recently, balance in teams is vastly underated and you can have lesser players in great teams if they know and play their position well.

I know I try not to think about it as it's so infuriating. You're right, no matter which position we strengthened, we would still have been short in 2/3 of the other positions needed. The fact we got 0/3, unless you count Osula, just made things all the more frustrating, especially whilst also losing a potential up and coming first team RW in Minteh. I really hope we can do something in January and manoeuvre some of the deadwood just to give the squad a lift going into the remainder of the season. 🤞

I know 100%, but from the perspective tha the rules were set in place. It's not too unkind to suggest our recruitment for building the squad has left us short in some areas. We knew Botman and Lascelles were long term injuries way in advance of the summer window. Granted we tried to get that Tosin guy who went to Chelsea and then picked up Kelly before throwing all our eggs in the Guehi basket. So I guess they tried, but it doesn't excuse the fact they failed. Perhaps they expected Kelly to be better than he has shown. None the less even then, just having 3 fit senior CBs in the squad when two of them are around 32+ I think was too risky. We're already a little screwed by the fact Schar is now out of the 1st leg of the cup and I believe is 1 booking away from a league suspension also.