ponsaelius

Yeah he'd be a cunt and I'd drop him in those circumstances anyway. He's under contract, we have no obligation to give him away for nowt just because some tinpot outfit wants to offer him a retirement package. Sorry like but it just makes no sense, I've never heard of a situation like that where a club is effectively giving away money for the sake of it. If we want him to stay the season then refuse all offers that don't meet our value we'd want to sell him.

Blokes under contract tho, fuck that. If we want to offer him a longer deal to keep him around or secure value for a summer sale then OK, I possibly disagree, but understand the logic. But offering him a pay rise so he can walk away for free makes no sense at all. Ultimately if the Saudi club really wanted him now they could pay a proper transfer fee now.

Offering him a pay rise till the summer makes literally zero sense. Why on earth would the club want to do that?

Presume it's Japan, but some of those host cities might as well be suburbs of Tokyo.

Not sure to be honest. Watching the Trippier/Almiron axis yesterday it is quite noticeable the physical drop off when you think how devastating they were for a spell two seasons ago. Full-backs and wingers go first in terms of miles on the clock. I think he's probably done at PL level. I thought Wood was done as well TBF but he's clearly not a player who relies on pace or stamina. He's got 3 players immediately behind him who bring all of that instead.

It was a shame Eddie took him off 8 minutes after scoring, particularly since we ended up with no striker at all not long after. Obviously there's some degree of motivation going on here but I think he'd have benefited playing the full game and maybe getting another.

Hadn't really seen anything to impress me up to now but that goal moved me, TBF. He must have something.

Would take him on a free mind, especially if we move on Targett and Trippier. He's probably one you could convince to be a squad player too, given he'd end up getting plenty of games on either side.

I think it's a bit stop gappy tbh, never been hugely impressed with Malen.

FA Trophy Winners, you'll never sing that

Slightly weak defensively on their goal but other than that was my MOTM.

Me too, can't see when else I'll get a chance to tick either of those off!

No that's true and they were a mess last season. Napoli have generally been very good at finding players and regenerating the squad over the years. This time they'll probably waste the money on a load of midtable PL plodders that Conte wants.

He's only on 1.5 million euros a year which makes him one of Napoli's lowest paid players. ADL is a cheapskate and wants to avoid another Osimhen situation, so can see why it's happening. All moves to PSG just seem a bit of a waste though to me from a football purist perspective as what's the point. To be honest though I don't actually think he's kicked on as much as expected compared to what Spalletti got out of him.

Alright Oswald

Dubravka is not as good a goalkeeper as Pope. He's aging, commands his box to an inferior level, doesn't come off his line proactively to sweep and isn't as good a shot stopper. He was massively exposed slotting into our existing team last year particularly with the defensive line and system remaining the same. We started conceding goals at literally twice the rate as we did with Pope in nets. However - there is not only one way to play football and defend. Having more control in possession during games, which Dubravka's composure and ability on the ball has undoubtedly contributed to (not the only factor obvs, but it's there) has allowed us to control games to greater degree and far reduced the number of shots and chances he's faced. This is proactive defending/goalkeeping, preventing the chances from happening in the first place. It's not too dissimilar to the endless tedious debates around Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool. Yes he is exposable 1v1 and gets caught out of position defensively and it can be immediately obvious on those occasions when it happens. However he's an exceptional footballer on the ball and the entire shape and mentality of the team changes when he's on the pitch for Liverpool. This not only means being better going forward but by design being better defensively as they are far more proactive.

I still think we might sign one player this Jan, but it's entirely dependent on somebody (particularly Miggy, but maybe also Longstaff too) moving out the other way. Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if we don't want to let Dubravka go partly because it would necessitate signing Trafford now - when we'd rather move for a wide player if it became possible.

Caqueret going Como. Seems Lyon definitely fireselling.

It would be a massive help if he could kick on a bit and help us out resting Isak. It worries me how raw he looks for a 21 year old though.

Yes, I know, but there's still a process. It's called a notice of demolition application. This was approved earlier in 2024. https://portal.newcastle.gov.uk/planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=131631

Eventually yes.

There's a planning application in but it's not approved yet.

This is not talking about the student blocks named after the area of the Town Moor, but the area of the Town Moor itself (the land immediately north of Leazes Park). Also a side point but the uni don't have permission to build the new blocks yet, even though they've cracked on with demolition of the old ones.

The other thing with Castle Leazes option is it's close enough to the city centre to still benefit local businesses, and use all existing transport infrastructure, but it probably is that bit further away that would mean more concession revenue on site like Spurs stadium gets if you created a very good/different offering to local pubs (similar to what has been achieved with Stack).

I think there's generally a conflation between the two sites, and somewhat understandable given the closeness and that you probably would need some impact on LP to do a Castle Leazes plan. But it's far more viable than a Spurs-esque rebuild directly on LP that would be, IMO, an absolute non-starter.