Doctor Zaius

How bad is Casemiro btw. Fair enough, his legs have gone and he's unable to get around the pitch, but everything about his game was rubbish. Passing, shooting, positioning. Zirkzee is probably the worst Man Utd player that I've ever seen too. Not even exaggerating. Can't think of any worse?

As good as any time to play them. Think the players are losing faith in Postecoglu and his refusal to adapt. There'll be goals.

What if you don't have the players to play your 'idea'!? The lack of pragmatism from these types of managers is incredible. He'll have to adapt, learn and tailor the system to suit the personnel or he's doomed to fail. See Postecoglu at Tottenham. Another dead man walking.

Some of them in that crowd would have got tickets for Christmas, possibly at OT for the first time. HARK NOW HEAR, THE GEORDIES SING

Entirely the fault of Amorim that was. How naive do you have to be to start Casemiro and Eriksen against our midfield? We cut through them like butter and by the time he rectified his mistake we were 2-0 up. They actually looked way better and it suited us less when they went to a 5 man midfield. Do that from the start and it may have been different. It's just breathtakingly poor from him. Is it a lack of preparation? Is it assumption you have the better players than the opposition like you did at Sporting? He'll not last very long if he's unable to adapt. Incredible stuff. Thought we were magnificent in the first 25. Could/should have been 4-0 up. Still worry about us in possession away from home. Bruno was my MOTM, thought he was class. Bang in form, 5th in the league. Well done Howe.

Down to the coaching for the most part though surely. At this point making Man Utd relatively solid and hard to beat is an improvement, then transitioning into a side that plays more attractive football. Back 5 is alright. Mainoo has talent, Fernandes (although banned) can play, Diallo is an outlet. Shouldn't be as bad as they are.

Nothing logical. I'm not sure my brain allows me to think that we'll beat Man Utd at Old Trafford. Have difficult believing Newcastle will win any game of football if I'm honest. Logic does say that they've looked awful recently and we haven't. Still somewhat worried about our away form and whilst they're shite, they're better than their current showing. Martinez, Yoro, De Ligt has the makings of a decent back three at least.

Got a horrible feeling we're going to see a Man Utd performance out of nowhere and get thoroughly dicked

Nice to see an unfancied team smashing it but we need them to start slipping up if we're going to get top 5 I'd say.

Im probably as confident for this as I was for the West Ham game, so yeah...

Raahford in that game at SJP put in one of the worst performances I've ever seen from any player, ever. Players are often shite but it's actually quite rare to see a player so brazenly not trying. Wasn't even bothering like.

If Joelinton plays well, Newcastle play well.

HOPE THOSE STEWARDS BONUSES FIX IT JIM YOU GIMP

Nowt to do with American nationality per se, but more to do with American owners with knowledge of American sports and trying to implement ideas and culture from there in order to make PL clubs more valuable. You can see it clear as day, American owners in shock at the value of PL clubs in comparison to NFL franchises. "Let's use our experience of US sports/leagues, and increase the value of our investment". More commercialisation, less sporting jeopardy. Football is in a dire shape. The PL is anti competition, and it's the same teams winning over and over again. Stale and boring. I welcome any shake up to the order but going the way that US based owners want to isn't the answer. Itll just lead to the whole thing getting even more plastic than it already is. I don't want to see any more US influence the PL but it's certainly not due to xenophobia.

Spurs are abject. Constantly wide open like. Can't see Ange turning it around.

Massive game. Win and were right back amongst it. Lose and we're back to chasing again. Has the potential to set the tone for the rest of the season. That big win last season will live long in the memory for Emery. Both him and Howe are capable of doing each other over tactically. Shame it hasn't fallen after a CL week for them.

Best player suspended and without a home win in the PL since 2002... Nervy 2-1 for us

Why does this sound like a pre season friendly?

Wolves have enough talent in that squad to stay up with the right appointment. Don't think anyone would keep Southampton up. Where do you even go? Bring in a progressive, forward thinking manager and carry on getting hammered, or bring in a conservative pragmatist for a bunch of players not used to playing that way. Leicester are the ones that'll struggle for me though. Not sure why they appointed Van Nistlerooy. They've went from Maresca, to Cooper and for some reason RVN. Suggests they have no clue what they're doing

Flooding out after 25 minutes. What a waste of a Sunday evening

Southampton are miserable like

Shit for the away fans but I like 7pm Sunday kick off time.

Crap this like

Have to win here and I think we will, by two clear goals.

Vlachodimos played 150+ times for Benfica and is a current international. Better option than a soon to be 36 year old Dubravka?