Stottie

A win in the Saudi green strip! Great finish from Longy, a part of his game he struggles with. A probably deserved MotM for Burn, a fine example of him getting the job done without perhaps looking all that convincing while doing so. I watched the first half on ESPN and the second on ITV. ESPN's co-comm was Danny Higgenbotham, who made at least half a dozen accurate observations about our season. His opener was "they've been struggling defensively as Dubravka won't leave his area, causing the defensive to fall back and creating far more space for their midfield to try and cover". I was stunned. It was like "this guy actually watches us play". A dodgy river sent me over to ITV for the second half, which was just the bitter uninformed ramblings of Lee Dixon.

There's a potential banana skin here for the new manager if Salah goes or stops producing. The age profile of Alisson and VVD does not bode well either. Those three paper over all kinds of cracks and vulnerabilities in other positions.

Just a guess, but Casemiro replacement for Man U? If it brings money in, which is reinvested and turbocharged the way FFP allows, then it's probably a punt we have to take.

Goals and xG in the last season and a half are the same as Raheem Sterling, who is worth more than "10M" as a player of the same age. If we get 20M plus, then as a 29 year old, he's a sell. We need the money. Miggy looked a bust for the first half of his time here, but it was great to see him find redemption. His goals were vital in pushing us up the league. If Trippier goes too, that's a whole new right side.

Kane had one year on his deal but went for 100M, so squeeze em till the pips squeak etc.

Decent servant, so so long and farewell. Amazed he is still 29 to be honest. How old was he at Liverpool or the mackems? Targett is 29 in September.

I dunno, if we have leeway to get a largish fee for one player for Saudi without kicking up a stink, Miggy would be the ideal one to sell. A lot of it is age profile, Miggy fans! Liverpool sold two and Chelsea however many it was, but my guess about PIF PR would be we get one sell-to-Saudi per window max. As TRon suggests Matt Richie may actually be more mobile and less of a red card risk than Fabinho, but we are not the glorious reds beloved by Guardian readers and don't get to sell to Saudi with impunity.

We need them to buy Almiron, not Trippier.

Pretty wild for Bayern to have Kane banging so many goals in but still not be top of the league. Go Leverkusen!

I doubt other Prem teams would fail to notice a glaring hole in our midfield until someone else discovered it. I therefore reject the idea that we have been "found out". The coaches at PL level teams set their teams up better than that. I just think we had a more energetic team last season, due to fewer injuries and less fatigue.

CLASS!

If Miggy is Jota in a red shirt, he dives after Ederson touches him and gets a penna there.

Clutching at straws says that if we are overrun in midfield and/or don't cope with Foden, it creates more pressure to get Phillips in.

I read this and thought "Yaya Toure" but looking it up says he was 27 and much more than 20M. From Transfermarkt, it doesn't look like City bought many impactful players over thirty. That was only in the Mark Hughes era and I think we have already surpassed that. We need to buy David Silva, not an ageing Gareth Barry. If we do want the latter, cough cough Jordan Henderson sounds like he's available.

FFP only makes sense when it is stopping unsustainable investment in the team, i.e., speculating with the club's viability as a club that has traditions simply to get short-term success. Its not about "fairness", such as a salary cap or something that would actually level the playing field between all 20 participants in the Premier League. FFP does not say Liverpool and Manchester United aren't allowed to continue profiting from historic success. If anything FFP ensures those clubs will be able to pay higher wages than anyone else. It enshrines unfairness.

Do Arse have FFP problems after buying a 100M player? Oh, the injustice of it. No players in for us and its already January 10th. When is the "Acceptable or not?" poll scheduled for?

Would Murphy have been a sell if he were fit? fwiw, I like him and rate him, but its too easy to imagine him helping keep a relegation threatened team up and that's worth a lot of money in the January window.

In case anyone missed it but the mackems managed 0.20 xG in this match. I watched an international feed and they displayed it as 0.01 xG in the first half. The match was effectively over 30 seconds later.

I hope NUFC TV can put up highlights with a Razor and Ando commentary. The rights people didn't let them for the Carabao.

Time for a separate JT appreciation thread on here? I couldn't find one in the first two pages. I think he deserves it. Even just a collection of him clipped from the victory photos.

13 now for the season in all comps, one goal per 117 minutes (one and a third games). https://www.transfermarkt.com/alexander-isak/profil/spieler/349066 Absolutely dripping with quality and makes it look easy.

Get in! Great win! Pretty much gifted to us, but our lads still deserve credit for keeping them at arm's length and not letting any typical derby-game madness creep into it. That meant it ended up as a walk in the park. Eddie gets a free hit for the rest of the season. Hope we finally, finally get an easy draw in a competition now.

Pickford in the crowd with a C on his cap. We all know what that stands for.

Steve McManaman initial reaction "that's a brilliant goal!"

A team, even one in a lower league, doing this for opposition corporate fans man. Their arch rivals as well. Absolutely pitiful. Yet more evidence of the game as we knew it having "gone". Never mind VAR or FFP. This is worth an extra verse on the monkey mackem song.