alexf

But he stated three things. He said Dias wasn't available. He was. He said Liverpool "schooled us" last season. Which is just needlessly antagonistic. Also in my opinion wrong if you actually watched the game. He also says Howe is under pressure if he loses the game. Which if you honestly believe that then you rightfully should get torn apart for having such a poorly researched opinion. If you don't believe it, then you're just attempting to irritate a fan base on their own message board which is very sad.

Stand by this preseason prediction now that we are two games in. Man U really need this new striker to settle early otherwise they are overly reliant on Rashford again. But the other teams are stronger this year so that wouldn't be enough for another 3rd for them. Hojlund could turn out amazing, but it's a big ask for a young player in a new league.

These can't keep the ball in the same way Man city can so straight away it's going to be a different game. They also can't play through the press like City could either so I think we'll see a return of the high pressure. However on transition and counter they are lethal and I get shivers thinking of a ball over the top for Salah with acres of pitch to run into against our back line. So interested to see what Eddie comes up with, but we need to learn from the game up here last year. Hopefully it's like Villa and Man U where we have learnt and adapted and now give them some payback.

I don't usually respond to the obvious baiting by opposition fans on here but disappointingly you managed to hook me this morning. Dias played, did his best crying act twice to try and get Gordon sent off. Don't think anyone is in denial on here, seems agreed across the fanbase we didn't lay a glove and have a long way to go to compete against a pep team still on that showing. Finally, Liverpool far from schooled us, they had about 3 attacks from memory, scored 2 goals and got Pope sent off with an unfortunate error. We were clearly the more dominant team on the day even with 10 men and hit the crossbar twice and Wilson also missed from point blank range. Unfortunately it was right in the middle of a period where we struggling badly for goals and not converting chances. Dunno why every opposition fan eventually has to resort to stupid baiting on here to get reactions but congrats you got a bite from this morning so enjoy.

There was a brief moment in the first half where the ball was drilled into Isak on the half way line and he turned brilliantly and got us running at their back 4. It was the first moment of quality by us that matched them and it made me wonder if we used Isak incorrectly last night. He was starved of service and barely got a kick. Perhaps if we could have found a way to drop him into a pocket of space, similar to how Foden worked for them starting wide but with license to wonder. Almiron and Gordon worked hard but they don't have Isak's dribbling ability and open up space. But benefit of hindsight. Man City were just too strong. Press them hard and Ederson just pinged accurate passes over the top. Don't press and they just pass you to death til you lose concentration.

Our formation looks abit archaic when up again a Pep team. They just had the extra man all over the pitch and have us well scouted which to be fair probably isn't too difficult as we never change. But expected abit more energy. Dunno if it's just cus City are so good at keeping the ball but we look really slow to react and press the man in possession. We also rush the ball way more than them and try to force the forward pass. We could learn from them in terms of being patient and waiting for the gaps to appear.

Watching ep2 of the amazon thing, I forgot how easily Foden walked through our defense last season. It would be a big step if we can actually score there for a change.

If ever a face matched a crime. Always makes me laugh when he acts all hardman to linesmen when he doesn't get a decision. But if he's done what he's accused of then he really is scum. Puts Man U in further PR hell with the timing aswell.

I love that you can see Eddie's coaching on him already. Even just the instictive way he spun back for a give and go from Joelinton for the Tonali goal.

Joelinton got booked a shit ton ?

That seems worse than Toney no? Toney was never accused of bets on his own games was he? He just bet on other matches. It Paqueta is directly influencing matches he's involved in then that's very bad. Always makes me wonder aswell with the amount of money these players already earn, maybe there is outside influence and he might be only going along with it under threat or something? Either that or he's just a very naive idiot.

It's nice to know that even though the league and other clubs are doing everything within their means to stop us. Even when playing by the rules we got a cup final and top 4 in the first season. As said above, they may be able to slow us down but they can't stop this train.

?

Can anyone point me in the right direction for some stats on last season. Basically I'm curious about this whole "Newcastle are time wasters and have the least ball in play time in the league" I have a theory that we won a shit load of corners and even free kicks last season compared to many and with Tripper taking almost all of them and being a bit slow when trudging over and setting himself for a shot/cross, probably played more into it rather than Pope wasting time or "dark arts" so to speak.

Yeah I got accused of being a "glory fan" last night ?. I was like, I'm 34 and I've been though many bleak years.

Not saying we will as still expect a loss here, but if we did win, you know the media will focus massively on Man City not looking as good as last season/ let too many senior players leave, door open for Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool , Chelsea to mount a title charge etc.

Was at my 5 a side football tonight and was fun overhearing lots of players gushing about Tonali's performance for us. None of them Newcastle fans either. However what was infuriating was hearing how fans of other clubs just hear shit and make it fact. Over heard loads of them saying "....and he didn't even want to be there in preseason, apparently was asking to go home" etc ?

I know there are alot of jokes about how many times it's been mentioned who he supports etc. However, I do think it's another shrewd move by the club. If we look at Burn, Longstaff and Murphy. I feel it does eek out a little bit of extra % from the players who have additional incentive to give their all. Also helps I think bond the players to local fans abit more, seeing players living their dream like we all would want to, by playing for their favourite team. It may also help foreign players settle into the area with more of a "fan voice" in the dressing room.

Man U looks far too much like a Liverpool away kit for me.

Yep shame for him. He was getting in behind Robertson with ease last week which is no mean feat. Feels like one of those players where once you get stuck in that endless cycle of injuries it hampers the rest of your career.

If we want to get anything from the game we will need to be more clinical than we were last year. Likewise, City will need to be on their game to beat us, rather than strolling through it like they do against other teams.

Eddie seems to like an English signing. We could field and entire 11 of English players and still have a pretty impressive line up and not some shitty Burnley EDL types, actual exciting highly rated talents.

It's still taking some getting used to that £30m seems like the baseline fee for any half decent player.

The cynic in me feels like his "team" probably strongly hinted to him, if he doesn't want to go to prison and lose his career, his only option was to convince the girl to get back with him and stay with her.

I feel like if we signed a rcb and bumped Lascelles down to 3rd choice it would kinda be a slap on the face to him in terms of the patience he's had to show and not kicking up a fuss about never playing. I think Howe has probably kept him on side by him still being official captain and with the hope of it Schar is out then he gets to play. Not that it would bother me as I don't rate Lascelles that high but Howe seems high on team morale and cohesion.