timeEd32

The first game (or two) of a season is always dissected to an extreme degree. Look at a search for NFL week 1 overreactions - it's content fuel. The biggest issue is if it's not blatantly great or terrible then it's going to be full of confirmation bias. This game will probably have telling things when we look back a month or two from now, but at the moment you can basically twist it to fit any narrative. Positive: When Newcastle United surprisingly finished fourth in 2022/23 they did so with the league's second best defensive record (behind only perennial title winners Manchester City). Eddie Howe probably dreamed of another opening day demolition like last season's 5-1 win over Aston Villa, but he may be even happier at this weekend's hard-fought three points. The defence was already thin with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles sidelined long term and Kieran Trippier still recovering from England's Euros run. The 28th minute dismissal of mainstay Fabian Schar and a makeshift back four could have led to the type of calamitous defensive performance seen too many times last season, but instead the Magpies kept their shape well, used their press to create a goal, and started the season with a galvanising three points. The attacking outbursts will almost certainly come, but if Newcastle can also get back to defending well and winning ugly then a return to the Champions League could be in the cards. Negative: It's been a summer to forget on Tyneside with ownership and executive changes, a PSR scramble, perpetual rumours linking standouts Anthony Gordon to Liverpool and Kieran Trippier to somewhere, and only one new face in free transfer Lloyd Kelly. Newcastle would have been hoping a home start against Championship playoff winners Southampton would have provided the right tonic, but instead they hung on for dear life to claim the three points. It was a performance that provided more questions than answers and Newcastle, already thin at the back, will now be without leader Fabian Schar for the next three games. Eddie Howe used some of his goodwill last season as the Magpies limped to a 7th place finish and no European football. With his boardroom pal Amanda Staveley now out of the picture the pressure will be on to deliver better performances than this one. I can do it for Southampton too... Positive: While surely disappointed to come away with nothing from a 10 man Newcastle, there's a lot to like from Southampton's return to the Premier League. St. James' Park has been one of the league's most difficult away trips in recent seasons and the Saints were the better side by basically every measure but the scoreline. 78% possession, a 19-3 shot advantage, and 1.77xG to Newcastle's 0.25. There's been questions about whether Southampton's possession-based football would translate to the top flight and the early signs are promising. Negative: Southampton were given a gift in the 28th minute when Fabian Schar's gentle headbutt of Ben Brereton Diaz sent Newcastle down to 10 men. But the Saints, who have only won one away match since April 1, did very little with all their possession. This is a familiar story from last season when the Saints enjoyed possession of 55%, 58%, 65% and 66% in their four games against Leicester City and Ipswich Town, the Championship's top two teams, but lost all four by an aggregate score of 13-3. Adam Armstrong bagged 21 goals last season, but he's unlikely to repeat that record in the Premier League. Southampton may have problems at both ends of the pitch

I kind of agree, except announcing a plan to leave SJP without a location and renderings will go down like a lead balloon.

The painful part of this is he could have been a solution at RW while costing next to nothing. That would have been massive for us in our position. There’s no doubt being forced to give that up is a failure, but making a £25m profit in a year is a success we’ll be lucky to replicate any time soon. Both of those things can be true and it’s definitely true that if he was a CF or LW there’d be a lot less angst.

I’m not allowing myself to worry about this until we know the specifics. Maybe they’ll be phased in? Maybe penalties will be published and include escalating fines before points deductions? Sales would likely be averaged over a three year period like UEFA. This is the math I did for UEFA’s rules, which are much more immediately relevant (does not include Guehi):

Glad to see this is being handled as well as our first loss will be.

He’s had info before, especially on injuries. You don’t have to believe a word of it if you don’t want to.

If Shearer had gone to Man Utd from Blackburn he likely would have ended up at NUFC well past his prime for some inflated fee.

We are willing to spend £65m on a player we think is worth that. It doesn’t mean we’re going to spend that on anyone and we’ll happily tell other clubs that.

I didn’t think we’d do this again based on how June ended, though how nervy it is greatly depends on the size of the gap. But the new Premier League market advantage is having money to spend in June. Hopefully we can get ourselves on the other side of it.

He won’t consider the downside. This feels like a no lose for him. Barring disaster in 2026 he could have this job for at least six years if he wants (and the many millions that will come with it). If he does anything of note he’ll be a success; if he fails he can fall back into club management with a million pre-written excuses.

The average Liverpool fan would probably say the only thing that stopped Klopp from winning at least two more titles was City’s rampant cheating.

The difference is the player seems far more interested.

No idea, but that feels solvable somehow if the rest of it can work (knowing the short term economics may be painful).

I think he means if we sold Bruno / Gordon / Isak.

I know it’s been written off by most due to the logistics, but I really don’t think a rebuild on the same site is out of the question. Whether done in stages reducing capacity along the way or all at once necessitating a ground share, I think it’s probably the leading option assuming a repositioning of the stands / pitch allows for the right capacity.

It’s almost as if there are rules making this more difficult.

Reality has been misinterpreted as pessimism all summer.

Unless all the costs belong to SELA and all the revenue belongs to NUFC... We know that's what Chelsea would do.

Better than Gordon to overall game is atrocious. Covering a lot of ground today.

Let's hope, a RW depends on it.

Not afraid -- just don't want to rehash it. That transfer was different though - we knew what we were getting and we didn't think it was an elite player. It's why I think it's irrelevant to the point I'm making.

Am I? Started in summer 2022 mainly because I didn't want to inadvertently start a Chris Wood discussion again or a Dan Burn debate. But.. Targett loan - hit Trippier - hit Burn - hit for the price (no discussion allowed) Wood - no rating to avoid debate Bruno - hit of a lifetime

I don't think there's any doubt that he's a good player who will produce goals. Whether that was the optimal use of funds can very much be debated.

You can critique various parts of our transfer strategy, but we are virtually flawless on talent spotting and development since the takeover (especially after the desperation of January 2022, not that that was bad by any means): Pope - hit Botman - hit Targett - we know he's solid; just bad luck Isak - hit Gordon - hit Tonali - jury still out Tino - hit Minteh - hit Barnes - hit Hall - hit Once Tonali repays us this season we're basically flawless. Totally fair to question how we've allocated our money in terms of the cost, which positions we've prioritized, or whether we should have had better info from the Italian underworld, but Howe and Nickson have not missed on the very basic question of "is this player good?"

In terms of where their current stadium is (downtown on the lake) and where that would be, it is almost the identical equivalent to leaving SJP and building a new stadium next to Newcastle airport.