Stottie

Twenty to go. All to play for. Anderson on for Tonali. Howay the Lads!

With this ref, I'd like to see Joelinton playing. Milan very rapid on the attack. They're cutting through us better than anyone I've seen us play competitively since Howe's first half season. Some great movement from Theo and Leao, a level above what we normally play. We've hung in there though and it's still all to play for.

Desparately searching for the "like thread title" button. As for the game, give it a go and see what happens. It'll be emotional for him, so I hope Sandy has a good one.

After the five hardest opening fixtures anyone can remember, we are fourth in the league in xG against. Pope's not been on top form, so actual goals against is higher. Two unlikely finishes from Nunez, who's missing easier chances against everyone else, didn't help either. Our defending against Brighton was more uncharacteristic error-strewn than systematically poor. We lost the midfield battle, but everyone does against Brighton. We've struggled a bit to create, but c'mon, Man City and Brighton away. Our group games in the CL Group of Death may prove easier. I expect more goal involvements from Barnes and Gordon as we learn to use their talents.

He did indeed. He's completely league proven, and showed it in this game. We just need to make the most of it. fwiw, despite the stat quoted when he was signed, he also beat his man several times and can clearly dribble a bit. Not many of them fabled Harvey Barnes 1-2s yet, but as with the crosses, give it time.

Great result. Now above Man U and Chelsea, so someone else's struggles can be used to fill column inches. First clean sheet in what seems like an age (minus Leicester home)

The key factor with Harry Kane is not where he's playing but whether you have runners ahead of him when he drops deep. Spurs did this mainly with Son. Kane has incredible #10 skills, better than Sheringham was. He gave us a football lesson from #10 in that first Howe season. I seem to remember both their fullbacks scored in that game.

The latest article in the Athletic suggests our summer recruitment was driven by the biggest dropoff from the first 11. So Tonali for Bruno and Livramento for Trippier. Tonali can also likely play alongside Bruno, given more than four games' time to settle of course. We've had a couple of bad results, the freak loss to Liverpool from that position and the error-strewn game at Brighton. Ten Hag lost 7-0 to Liverpool last year but still finished above them. Shit happens and you just have to move on.

I think the "old Newcastle" is gone, and has nothing to do with why we didn't beat 10 man Liverpool, but nothing would be more old Newcastle than selling Bruno for less than Caicedo went for to a club below us in the table.

It was mentioned in passing during the Liverpool-Villa game earlier, but last week Allison made eight saves, the most he ever has in a single match for Liverpool.

I hate to take anything away from Ferguson, who's a good young lad and really coming on, but our defence for that second was like the parting of the Red Sea. Christmas come early.

That's all true. It's not Trippier's side but I understood our approach against Liverpool because Salah is about the best there is on the counter and them going down to 10 doesn't change that. The issue is that if Trippier stays back, what other creative patterns do we have? He's a huge part of our play. Almiron doesn't cross it. Bruno has also done good work for us in the right half space with Trippier nearby. Those loopy passes to Almiron in behind etc. As Kanji says, hopefully its just an opponent based thing and won't be an issue till we play Martinelli and Arsenal.

Just my own concern but Trippier's not getting forward anything like as much as before. We've gone from a team that hits loads of crosses to one that hits very few. The Villa game started with two goals from crosses but we've not seen many since. Almiron's biggest chance against Liverpool was from a Joelinton cross.

Yes, their goals were very much created by us, albeit in a backdrop of them controlling the ball. Isak should have worked the keeper when through 1x1 or off the Tonali cutback. The Guardian usually winds me up but their match report this time is written by Jonathan Wilson and talks more about us than them. This often happens when the established big clubs are involved, but I don't think that is such a factor here. He heaps praise on Ferguson, but admits the second was unchallenged in a laughable amount of space. Like the Villa 0-3 last season, it's only one game and what matters is how we react and adjust.

Poor today, much worse than against City or Liverpool and more concerning because of it. Its a bogey ground to start with, and boy did it feel like one today. Lots of poor performances across the pitch, so no point in singling anyone out and maybe lucky to escape with 3-1. I presume Brighton have another gear they can access when not being handed gifts like today.

Heads up lads. The game's gone but you've got to keep going for yourselves and the fans.

Lacking shape, especially in the middle. Pope mistake aside, we've kept them mostly at arm's length, so not a disaster, but not good either. First 10 minutes showed we could get in behind, but we didn't/couldn't build on it.

170k a week for Maddison. Maybe we can pay that next season.

Great shot, unstoppable even with normal length arms.

In the last Group of Death, Japan beat Germany for the first time ever, and then beat Spain, for the first time ever. No Messi, Neymar, or Bellingham and Tonali is now in black and white. Just believe!

It's hard to explain, but I think we've reached a point where to move forward, we need more competitive games against hard opposition to learn how to play hard opposition on equal or near-equal terms. I suspect this was a problem against Liverpool at the weekend. Aside from the revenue, getting into the CL so early in the project should be a great experience for the lads in this regard. In this Carabao cup game, City will not be at anything like full strength, but they will still be playing City style football and Pep will be calling the shots and managing the game. They'll be more to gain from this experience than we'd get playing a Mansfield low block.

I strongly suspect the same about Lavia, who must be below Kalvin Phillips in Pep's view. I'm much happier about us buying Hall and Livramento as ex Chelsea, insert long list, than players who are ex Man City.

Sorry if Giggs or mentioned in UK commentary during the game, and for bumping the thread, but Liverpool have now not lost in their last seven games when down to 10 men. That's a pretty wild stat. https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/08/six-knee-jerk-reactions-to-premier-league-matchday-3/

I like Nunez and he is great at creating havoc and shoots a lot, those are definites. We'll have to see whether they consistently turn into goals against PL goalkeepers. Welbeck is above Kane in that list, but only because it uses xG. Wellbeck has significantly underperformed xG his entire career (i.e., is not a good finisher). Sunday aside, Nunez has not been a good finisher so far. Harvey Barnes put up big numbers at Leicester and easily deserves to play in the Champions League. Maddison may have been a more attractive signing, but all reporting points to Spurs paying him 170k and we can't afford that.

City away, 10 minutes to go, 0-1 down, us attacking with a 2 or 3 vs. 1 with the ball at Wilson's feet. I would take that situation had it been offered pre-game. Liverpool home, 10 minutes to go 1-0 up playing 10 men but struggling to create second goal. I would take that as well. In a rare flash of All or Nothing type footage in the We are Newcastle documentary, Tripper can be seen at half time in the Man U home angrily telling the team they need to be clinical because they're playing Manchester United. The other players can be seen commiserating WIllock, who was guilty of the biggest first half miss. From this scene, it's obvious who the onfield captain and leader is. Whether our players are good/clinical enough to press on further is debatable, but since we are in the CL, we'll get a few more competitive games against the very best. This experience can only help us in big domestic games going forward. We've never played a top team with 10 men before under Howe, so it should be no surprise that we do not know how to unpick them.