Stottie

I know its old ground but for the Edwards comments on Bruce, all he had to do in season 1 was keep the defensive structure Rafa had introduced. Even then, it was Dubravka who kept us up that year. In season 2, Bruce started badly, but had empty grounds protecting him. The team had Callum Wilson, and then Joe Willock on fire. Most of the defensive structure had gone by this time, but Fulham being really bad kept the pressure off. The finishing positions in those two seasons are mostly irrelevant because 13th can happen if you see off relegation with two games to go and win those games against teams on the beach. In season 3, we reached a historical point of no return, no wins in 14, and would definitely have gone down without a complete overhaul. This is what Howe did, mostly with the same squad Bruce had had by reintroducing some defensive structure. The third worst team ended up as Burnley vs. Everton, a huge step up on Fulham, and way beyond what Bruce could have managed. We would definitely have gone down. I like the comparisons between Potter and Rodgers, which suggest Potter must take the Chelsea job while his stock is high. Aside from Man Utd who were clearly unready at the start of the season, they are yet to face any top team this year and their position may be artificial. They played us in a heatwave and only turned it on after 70 minutes when it became a battle of the benches.

This smacks of Chelsea buying into Moneyball, especially if Chelsea bought players on metrics and not who Tuchel wanted. The thing with Moneyball and managers is that the higher a manager goes, the more it seems to be about controlling and motivating big egos and less about simple tactics. Potter may be the best tactical manager in the league, I couldn't tell you, but he won't have worked with this level of ego. Howe with us keeps insisting he wants no arseholes in the dressing room. That is not going to show up in a player's passing stats or expected goals.

I like stats, xG included, but 2.83 xG vs. Palace flatters us. It's more than Brighton got vs. Leicester. A one-nil for the goal wrongly disallowed would have been a fair reflection. As a whole, we're doing better and the results will come.

Woeful from Ndidi, Leicester's "defensive midfielder". Could be curtains for Brenda soon.

They should have taken Dubs in part-ex for one of their players.

I like Daka but that's a bad goal to concede. No pressure on Tielemans and too easy for Daka when the ball landed.

In context, he challenging the other person's stats. Index says Botman didn't lose an aerial, and Statsbomb Kev says that he did according to their data. It shouldn't be surprising for a stats provider to challenge someone else's stats to suggest his own employer's are superior. According to stats, Chris Wood has won a ton of aerials for us, but very little has come from them.

Still looking good to me, the defence looks solid, Pope is doing great, and our attack is fifth top in shots despite playing both City and Liverpool. Match officials have cost us a few points and I would say a couple of injuries, but it's still a decent start and bodes well for the games to January, when more additions can be made.

Klopp was gifted a very friendly offside call and still jumped around like a loon and was constantly at the officials for a bit of timewasting. Yesterday we were denied AN ACTUAL GOAL.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dowie gets a quiet word or stops getting commentary gigs. Earlier in the day, the commentators and ref in the booth were falling over themselves to say why VVD wasn't sent off for planting studs in an oppoonent's shin. That's what the Premier League wants to hear from commentators.

Robbed basically. Yes we could have got a second to win the match, but Palace are a good team with a good keeper. The main thing is we scored one goal, enough to win this match, but it was chalked off by what I hope is incompetence but what I fear is much worse.

Great from Dowie. Most commentators sit on the fence.

Seriously unlucky to not be winning. Palace are a canny side, but we've still created several great opportunities. If we keep it up, one of them will go in.

Pickford twisted and stopped that with his wrong hand. A stronger contact would have pushed it over and avoided the second chance.

After three goals and three assists in two games, Firmino is dropped for someone sent off for simple indiscipline in his previous game. I doubt Eddie Howe would do that.

Isak is the most expensive player ever signed by a non-Top 6 club. One or two more would have been nice, but the performances against City and Liverpool suggest our current players are better than we give them credit for, at least in the (clearly working) system we are playing. We'll soon get to see them against lesser opposition with Isak, Wilson, or Isak and Wilson in the team. Our form in 2022 is fourth in the league, with a tiny percentage of that playing time with either Wilson or Isak on the pitch. With Lascelles and Burn at CB and no Bruno in midfield, we held Liverpool to fewer shots on target at their place than Real Madrid did in the CL final three months ago.

Wolves must really hate Newcastle if the price to us is higher than it is to Aston Villa. It's like us giving the mackems a special deal.

If we miss the CL places by one point at the end of the season, the result last night will be relevant and regrettable. If we don't, then it's no big deal when placed in the context of us competing away at a Top 2 side with a makeshift team and a striker making his debut. There were so many positives in the game, too many to list here, that the result doesn't really matter. They'd already equalized, a little fortuitously I thought through Lascelles' legs, so what happened at the very end only cost one point not three.

That's grossly unfair to their fans. They screamed for handball at least five times when the ball struck a Newcastle player. I normally associate this behaviour with fans of promoted clubs, not ones who see their team win regularly.

BENT AS FUCK

YES!

Poor bugger, what a waste. After all that improvement he's made since we saw the back of Bruce. Ferkin spineless ref should have put his foot down as soon as that Tranmere player lead with his arm against Lascelles. It was clear as day what they were up to. This is an avoidable injury.

Add whatever "cards close to chest" and "Edwards - prophet of doom" discounts you feel appropriate to the above comment.

I suppose this depends on how much of a false economy we're talking here. If Bournemouth are way off, they'll have to accept the inevitable. However if its just, I dunno, say 20-25M of players to be competitive, the cost of relegation is far greater than that. The best players they have will all leave when they are relegated and the team will have to build again. Being in the Premier League is worth a fortune to the club. By contrast, I know some club admins see getting into the Europa League as a burden, but a large part of that is because it only makes tiny amounts of money, on top of the Thurs-Sunday pressure on their squad. Getting into and then staying in the Premier League is definitely worth it.

I'd play Fraser if ASM is out or needs a rest, and Manq if Trippier is. With Almiron and Fraser, I think our 4-3-3 should have enough to compete without going five at the back. I'd start Isak.