Heron

I mean he'd still start at around 10PL teams at least.

Got to be a C surely. Think giving him less is very harsh.

He's a C for me. He isn't gonna tear it up anywhere but he's reliable enough like.

TBF I wish folk would stop clapping. Ruins half our songs We no longer clap in things like "United" and do that shit thing that makes no sense "Toon". If anything it should be "New-cas-tle" but even then it was traditionally 3 claps as far as I am aware. Then we clap along relentlessly to every other song half of which should just be sang without any clapping and fairly slow so that the song carries and not just a mumble of people MCing. Half the ground don't join in with the corner because the corner finish before they themselves have even started.

That may be the case for some on here, not others, but even at the stadium this level of imbalanced criticism exists. The amount of folk who kick off at Murphy by comparison is farcical. As soon as he makes any mistakes "He's fucking shit". Etc. It's bollocks.

I get it's a forum and football is all about opinions etc. but I honestly find it a bit strange how much folk go out there way to criticise certain players like He shares the same number of goal involvements as Gordon this year and I think it's pretty unanimous who folk think the better player is (ability wise). That suggests to me that Murphy is actually performing at a higher level to achieve the same, and yet Gordon gets zero shit.

Hadn't really considered that tbf. Fair point.

Our player of the season, thus far. I don't mind saying I felt he was our weakest defensive link in the opening weeks but his relationship with Burn and Gordon is fantastic and I think Howe has man managed him superbly. A real talented player.

Commanded his box fairly well but felt he should have done better for the first goal and his kicking was shite.

He's better with the ball at his feet than Pope. I actually think he's our more in form goalkeeper too tbh.

I don't really think this is a game where we can sit back and hit them on the counter like we have done against the likes of Arsenal. I think our best chance of getting anything is to really go toe to toe with them and if the game gets stretched that will benefit our front 3 in particular. My concern would be more around our two centre halves though, because, despite Burn being one of our players of the season both he and Schar aren't particularly quick. That's why for me Dubravka also starts and acts as a sweeper keeper.

I find him canny frustrating this season tbh. Feel like he's never really got going with any real consistency. Clearly a very good player and when he's on his game he's unplayable, just don't think he's found the form he had prior to the Euros.

Will give him the benefit of the doubt. He's played little football for a sustained period now. Feel a bit sorry for Osula though - he'd have been a better fit today.

Yep. I think SJP is one of the worst grounds for nervousness transcending to the players too. Can feel it around the 60th minute mark nearly every time we're leading.

Agree with a lot of this but not that Forest deserved anything. Thought they were fairly shite tbh. Offered very little and simply tried to disrupt and bully and bombard our penalty area. I'll be genuinely surprised if they make the top 5 by the end of the season. I thought it was a game of two halves ultimately and neither side really blew the other away. They were piss poor first half and we sauntered through them numerous times. Could have probably been several by half time for us. Second half we were dogshit and they didn't really show enough quality to benefit from it. That being said another 10mins and I think we'd have drawn. We got what we deserved for me, as did they. Really need to learn how to control games though from winning positions.

Dont think it's embarrassing that folk want to join together and have a good time to be honest. Just think it's more of a concern that we're kinda happy-go-lucky runners ups. Really want the fans and team to bring their A game on the final day and not the night before this time.

Possibly a really stupid question, but is it just like North Eastern teams who take over an area of London when at Wembley? Like are Liverpool fans being advised to go to another part of London and congregate somewhere like our lot are? It seems like it's only our side (perhaps for the distance we travel and lots are staying overnight)...

O'Nien - was that their last time in the PL?

I am keen to see some of the RTG gems that will be unearthed following this debacle.

With a Shelvey winner...

What makes it better is my plane taking off late so all the obnoxious Mackems on board missed kick off. #RyanAirMagz

What a fucking crease.

That accent man

It is also worth noting that we didn't have the same start as some clubs with regards to our expenditure. We were absolutely stripped back to the bare bones as a club and almost nailed on for relegation. Howe has been backed, but has been limited in the backing he has received owing to PSR and FFP. When we got out of a relegation fight and almost into the top 10 in half a season that was almost miraculous. When we got into the CL that was almost miraculous, given the general standard of around half (if not more) of the playing squad, to see us nearly achieve European football last season given the horrendous injuries we had to deal with (and the difficult cup ties across all fronts) was almost miraculous. You only have to look at Spurs and the bad luck portrayed by the media every other week - and big Anges whinging and whining each week. None of which we really received or took part in when it was us. Howe did a great job last year with the players available. We haven't seen anything of that level this season but again, we're 3 points of the CL spots and in a cup final with another potentially on it's way. So by the end of the season, it could quite rightly be miraculous. Howe is getting the absolute maximum out of half a dozen players who regularly play for us. When they don't play to their maximum we get dicked. If Man City don't play to their maximum they bring on top drawer players to fill the gaps. It is more alarming the games against Fulham and Bournemouth, etc. But even so, all this immediate talk of Howes day's being numbered and questioning how long he has as soon as we have 2 or 3 bad performances or a bad loss away at Man City who were the best domestic side in the world around 12-18months ago and who won the league last season is just a bit (to say the least) toys out the pram and knee jerk. We are 90 (albeit very difficult) minutes from him being immortalised in our clubs history. If we win that, then what will folks excuses be when we have two or three bad performances? Last time (before Christmas) everything was his fault for the transfer activity, it was him versus Mitchell, it was he's a one trick pony, he's hit his limit. Now it's, he can't win big games, crunch games or season defining games. What would people have done differently at the start of yesterday's game? Trippier out maybe? Okay - fair. But what else? Like it seems to me plenty of folk offer radical statements and problems but I see very little by way of alternatives or solutions... We all know the Saudis may not be as forgiving and patient as the fans - but so far - I've seen a lot more evidence of toys out the pram from supporters not the other way around.