alexf

Channeled that anger really well at half time. Wasn't sure if he could carry on at halftime but I was proven wrong he came out with a brilliant attitude.

Ref helped ignite it at the end of the first half.

I'm still convinced we were only top of that because Trippier used to take all our set pieces back then and used to take an absolute eternity to take the fuckers

Barnes. 90+12 To be fair it felt like there could have been more thanks to all their time wasting and then the Schar injury.

Their time wasting was ridiculous, but it cost them in the end so can't really complain too much.

Yeah probably needed a rest in hindsight. Was having an all time shocker. Everything he did was way off it. I know it's hard for a player to be hooked at halftime like that but I think it was best for him and us that we did. Hopefully he got all his errors out the way in one game and can return to his exceptional form for the next one as we are gonna need him now as our only fit right footed cb.

Pleased he subbed Gordon and kept Barnes. Was gonna do it sooner but the Schar injury caused a change in his thinking. But he went brave and didn't go for the Alex Murphy option. We could have lost the game obviously but our downfall was mainly individual errors tonight. Just don't get why any fan would doubt him. He always bounces back. It's a weird thing in football that people always want something new and shiny rather than keeping faith with the guy who literally gave us a trophy less than 12 months ago and has us still competitive on all fronts this season. Sure it's not perfect, we have a few injury issues, we're still adapting to losing Isak and trying to balance a busy schedule. But cut the guy some freaking slack. He has never let us down so far.

Didn't even think about that. Pretty nice tribute to the man but hopefully he's gonna pull through.

Yeah seemed so. Don't agree Joelinton full on dived but he wasn't fouled either.

I'm full of cold and feel dreadful but even I lost my shit at that winning goal. Such a great feeling. Amazing what difference a late winner and 2 extra points can do for the whole complexion of a game.

Fingers crossed for him. At first it looked like a leg/ankle break. Would be gutted for him if that's the end for him here. Been our best defender in my life time all things considered. Might not be, but at his age, if the injury is as serious as it could be then it's unlikely the club would renew him. Unless they wanted to reward him for his service but don't think clubs can afford to be that sentimental these days due to all the psr bullshit.

Get to the bench Anthony. Harvey is the fucking man.

I'd say we don't have much choice but to hook Big Joe. As soon as he breathes on a player he's getting a 2nd yellow. Shame as he's probably been one of our best of an awful bunch.

All timer from Thiaw absolute shocker. Needs to be hooked just for the walking red card he is. Hope Botman is ready to play. Probably bring Tino and slot Miley into midfield. We've been pretty honking so far bar our goal.

We have started fast in a few games lately. Scored twice against Burnley and the Wissa chance last game. Let's hope we can nab a goal quick and put them under serious pressure.

Until he contributes something then I think he will find himself in that role for foreseeable. Will likely start in the cup. But the new lads (Elanga, Ramsey) need to take their chances like Thiaw did when he first got in and made himself undroppable.

Will come on to cripple Ramsey again.

Felt that as soon as I heard him speak for the first time. Has that proper, really careful what he says, slow delivery. Reminded me of Scott Parker.

Doku is great. Feel like he's a vastly underrated player.

Might struggle with attacking options off the bench if no Elanga or Murphy as options. Hopefully the others can do the business.

He has. But it is abit like a goalkeeper. Their main purpose is to keep the ball out the net and make important saves. They can play well in general but they will always primarily be judged on the stats. Centre midfielders and fullbacks etc can get by on general performance rather than goals etc. But unfortunately for Gordon, wide players and forwards are really judged on goals and assists rather than how many sprints they have made etc. Hopefully it will all click and he will put it all together but this version of Gordon has been below the levels he set previously for about a year now. The better players will always get more attention and criticism unfortunately because fans know their levels can be higher if they apply themselves and have the right mentality. Just look at how much Saint-Maximin and Ben Arfa used to get criticised by certain quarters.

It's the old adage that being fast and running around alot makes you look better than you are. It's why Gordon has this perception of being the better player compared to Barnes. Also because he's younger maybe. But as a wide forward, unfortunately for him, it really is about numbers. Sure he's tidy on possession sometimes and can be a nuisance to full backs but he has to start creating goals or scoring them again to be the player people thought he was going to be. I couldn't sleep last night and ended up watching the full 90 mins of Liverpool game from 2011/12 on YouTube. Ben arfa was fairly quiet in the game, but literally every time he touched the ball he made something happen and got two assists. It's why despite possibly not having the same potential or ability I would probably rank Murphy and Barnes our best two wingers, purely because you know eventually they are going to put in a cross or shot that will directly relate to a goal. Whereas so far this year, Elanga and Gordon are faster and more chaotic but just aren't translating that into real impact.

This is gonna be it in a nutshell. He knows he's got no chance of playing right wing with Saka there so he wants to be seen as a left winger only. That's fine. I don't like it and I think from a Newcastle perspective I want our players to be willing to give their best wherever they play. You could argue Dan Burn should probably do the same when Eddie asks him to play left back when he clearly isn't suited to playing that role anymore and has been excellent at centre back for us, so all it does is hurt his England chances of selection by him looking poor in games and not playing his main position in the build up to a world cup. But he did it for the team and what his manager asked him. If Gordon refuses or is basically saying he won't put in the same effort if asked to play right wing then quietly frankly he should be benched until we need him for left wing. Especially when we have arguably and statistically a better player waiting to slot in at left wing anyways. Quite frankly if it was me I'd be telling him you play where you are told or you don't play at all and then see what that does for your world cup squad hopes. It is odd Eddie has revealed this. It's thrown himself and Gordon into a bad look and usually he would have batted away a question like that.

Makes Forest sound bad in that interview. But to fair it looked that way from the outside when they were signing all those players. It helped them have a great year last season but Probably contributed to their down fall since. Shelvey was pretty honest and gave a few insights to his Newcastle years. Revealed what I can imagine we all assumed which was that Mike couldn't give a shot about progressing the club and just wanted to have a drink with the lads whilst Rafa was trying to talk football with him and make us better. Likewise he reveals what was kinda assumed about the players back then that for some of them they were content with being shit and having days off and easy training with Steve Bruce and 6 year deals of Mike because if the club was ambitious they would lose their place. Which is exactly what happened to Shelvey once the likes of Bruno came in etc. Contrast that to people like Schar who clearly despised Bruce and wanted what was best for the club and backed himself to grow with the club rather than just exist like alot of them did.

It's like the Isak/Wissa Vs Gueye shite. Two players got rewarded for being unprofessional, meanwhile Gueye didn't get his move because he didn't kick up a fuss. So if Barnes threw his toys out the pram and refused to play on the right aswell then would he be rewarded with more games on the left? What if Miley had refused to play right back, Dan Burn refused to play left back when he'd been playing great at centre back and got himself into the England squad. Joelinton in all the variety of positions we ask him to play. This is poor from Eddie if it's true and it's the first time I have ever felt disappointed in his stance on something. Gordon should not be being rewarded for being selfish and putting himself ahead of the team. Especially if he's not even pulling up trees in his preferred position.