Heron

I know mate, not disputing it. Just think it puts more emphasis on the player adapting to the teams need and him doing the job unbelievably well rather than Howe claiming it was his mastermind tactics or whatever. It's the type of guy he is. Anyways all trivial stuff haha

I actually think Eddie would say this out of modesty anyways.

I thought we were good for the first 5minutes with high intensity but a slight lack of cohesion in the 15minutes that followed (regarding pressing) saw us a little disjointed and Southampton with the capability to pick pockets of space and counter with better effect than the rest of the game. Anthony Gordon looked out of position for me defensively - although I'm not sure if we were deliberately flooding the centre to force them wide, knowing that Schar and Burn could likely sweep up any crosses with relative comfort. Overall, I thought Gordon looked knackered and deflated and was probably our worst performer on the day, despite putting effort in, as always. I think the sending off, whilst not a sending off for me, was inevitable as soon as that cheating twat went down and Schars reaction actually gave a window of opportunity for the useless referee and them to get one up on us, which the latter were looking for all game. Schar was a bit silly as a player of that experience. I also think the sending off was a light bulb moment for us tbh where there was a realisation that our players must screw their loaf and work as a team out of necessity rather than a want. Eddie Howe's management of the situation was excellent, quickly adapting and ensuring we were fairly air tight defensively. Interestingly, that meant that we went from the attacking side to the counter attacking side and the game flipped and we capitalised on our one chance (of very few for both sides) across the game. They continued to prove they were there to niggle and cheat as evidently they had insufficient quality or capability to break us down. At this point, I must doff my cap to the while team but in particular 3 players - Joelinton who was absolutely unplayable. That cheating, baldy twat was climbing all over him from the start (trying to do what that Brereton Diaz(?) did to Schar and wind him up to the point of doing something silly) all game. Even right in front of the ref in the Strawberry Corner and the ref did nowt about it. It was ultimately the refs lack of control and seemingly attitude that "he wouldn't be manipulated by the crowd" that enabled the situation for Schar to be sent off. However, Joelinton exercised his aggression with perfect control and defiantly dragged their team about as if he was enjoying it. Bruno - he gave a real "lead by example" performance as captain. If he brings the talking element to his game I think he'll be a quality skipper. He made one daft tackle with about 10mins to go on the edge of our box but after that won 2 or 3 which were barely fouls and saw us out the game. Finally Dan Burn - who still wasn't getting the adulation he deserved for me from the crowd, but hey ho. He was a man mountain at CB and lead the team through fantastic organisation, positioning and tackling. All in all, a good, hard-fought win that other fans and pundits will assume "Newcastle struggled to beat promoted Southampton" which is great. Continue to fly under the radar and when the time comes smash the big 6.

Exactly this.

Officially pumped. Straight out the traps. Fear us. The Magpies will soar.

Lets do this shit.

10 more years. 10 more years. Make Newcastle Great Again!

He's fucking mint. 4 more years! 4 more years! 4 more years!

His handling of the Miggy questions at the start.....👌🤍 damn he's good like.Same with the Tino questioning. Just gives really perfect answers.

Looking forward to this first presser. Eddie Howe man, our loveable, measured, manager.

Real Madrid (a) guaranteed 3rd round draw.

Money is killing the game.

Sean Longstaff <3

We're gonna win La Liga too.

We're gonna win the league.

Will see if I can dig out a pic

Aye not sure if we have these as mini flags like but can maybe see if we can get a batch in if yous are interested.

Which one, sorry chaps?

Interestingly, the club asked for our support to help them with flags after they connected with fan groups out there. We've been chatting with Wassy and a few others for several weeks now. He's a really sound lad it seems. So nice to see his effort was rewarded and how much it meant. Not sure how aware folk are but they used the PSG Monty to make their own large static Japanese version and there was a multitude of various flags like the BMX one where they'd changed it for a Nintento Switch Makes me so proud seeing stuff like this. We wanted to create a culture for Newcastle fans and this suggests it's working. Hopefully our Brazil display is doing the same for the club there too.

Steyve Brewce marra. FTM.

Had this discussion tonight too. Our time will come my friend. Never despair.

Play to Kane or play without. We didn't neither.

Accurate enough for me. The media will be absolute DCs to generate sales and they should just fuck off. Close but not close enough. Thanks for the effort Gareth, you're a good egg.

Yep. Absolutely.

One of my final thoughts here will be to back Southgate. Will he be able to say he goes out on a high? No. But he goes out with moral stance in tact. Be as bitter as you like about what could or should have been. But Southgate has done all he can in as respectable a fashion as he can and for that he must be respected.