timeEd32

We’ve been on top ever since we sorted out the formation. Clearly taken by surprise they went four at the back.

Hall just turned into Messi for a moment.

Fake hamstring injury to change our tactics? Looks like 4-3-3 now

It will be a good day when I no longer have to watch Ramsdale defend a corner.

Tim Howard thinks playing away is an advantage and will give us some energy. You make no sense Timmy but hopefully you look smart in 2 hours.

All about “United” in the US as well though Neville did say something nice about us in the 20 seconds they could dedicate to the other side.

Ramsey arrives today

Do think he’ll come good eventually (or at least much better than now), but I feel a lot better about those quotes applying to Ramsey in the near term.

So annoying that we’re in the same position as last year where our two best wingers play the same position and one of them spontaneously combusts if you put him anywhere else.

£1m is nothing in the grand scheme of things, so I don't think it signals anything. I do wish we'd get some news though.

And some of his metrics are better or equal to what they were in those seasons, except the goals/assists are nowhere to be found. If he can stay fit I could see opinions changing on him very quickly.

Looked at some stats and one thing that surprised me is Ramsey is second on the team in shot creating actions per 90 min (behind Bruno). He's first on the team in shot creating actions from live ball passes. What's interesting about that list is Ramsey is the only one on it whose actions haven't resulted in a goal. That should mean positive regression is coming.

They are being coy with the details on the ankle.

Now you’ve just created a new dream - Isak gets embroiled in a PED scandal, every Scouser from the Wirral to Wuhan becomes an expert on doping regulations, and in the end it’s all Newcastle’s fault for denying him a preseason and ruining his career.

Very, very roughly we've earned the following money we likely didn't budget for: ~£4m in LC home games £6m in CL win/draw bonuses ~£5m in league phase bonuses (absolute minimum assuming we finish top 24) ~3m extra CL home game (again assumes top 24 finish) Now if we actually finished 11th in the league we'd give two-thirds of that back in lost PL revenue, but the table is so tight we shouldn't be worried about that. Considering we're still in four comps and there is real financial upside to be chasing I really hope we're ready and able to spend.

Can't believe those people. The same fools who think birds are real.

Based on NFL injuries it really depends on what happened to the ankle. An NFL player returned in 7 weeks that was fibula fracture only and another played on one (until he ruptured his achilles). But if there's more extensive ankle problems then you're probably more in the 4-5 month range until he's back. Considering he has a heart the size of a pea I don't see him aggressively pushing any timelines the way some do. April/May seems likely as best case and then his performances for the next 18 months will be excused for a lack of preseason in 2025 combined with an injury. It will be 2028 before anyone is allowed to properly rate his performances, coincidentally the same year we have to stop recognizing profits from his sale.

And yet he's never out-performed his post-shot expected goals against, while Pope has done it every year at NUFC. Posted the stats here:

Sure, but one could make a longer list of all the goals he's prevented. Ramsdale hasn't given us a howler (though the Romero bike was bad), but he's basically never going to bail us out. This is the story of his career; it's not changing.

Ramsdale is an average version of what you want a modern keeper to be. Pope would have been elite a generation ago. I am happy to live in the past for now.

Some great stuff in this and the preceding post and totally agree the biggest problem is very simply putting the ball in the back of the net. The best defense for a one goal lead is to score again and we we haven't been able to do that this season in the way we have in the past. In recent weeks that is combined with having a keeper who is basically never going to help us out by making a big save vs. one who did regularly. The far right column is post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed.

Out of whack expectations are the biggest problem on here and everywhere.

You can debate the benefits of his feet and whether he should have stopped this or that, but I'm not sure how anyone watches the four goals conceded against Spurs and Chelsea and isn't dying for Pope to come back in.

We've been dying for what he added to the team. Really want to see him and Nick together and I think we will at some point. But for the time being we're going to have to rotate them. Excited to see more of Wissa and hopefully less games and continued learning will help Big Nick. He's got to offer more in the penalty area.