Stottie

Aye, great shout. What a transfer window that was.

No mention for Cieran Clark, our joint third top goalscorer.

Voted Rondon, ahead of Ayoze because he got going earlier in the season.

Just saying, but we like buying from relegated clubs and Mooy has a year left on his contract, which should drag the price down.

Great post ohmelads. All entirely predictable as well. Ours is the lot of the non-Top 6 fan. The League straight out said a few years back that refs giving red cards to Rooney etc. was "bad for the brand". Liverpoool have scored vital goals off dives against us in both games this season. It barely registers as a talking point. We're only there to make up the numbers. https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?topic=102994.msg6978615#msg6978615 In our case, the biggest problem is Ashley running us on a shoestring, but we could have peak-era Ashley Cole at left back and it would still be given as a foul. That's our role in the big scheme of things.

Clear as day. Fucking twats.

Totally undeserved. What cunts. Hope City and Barca finish the job.

More bullshit refereeing

Dive for a freekick that we don't defend. Ferk.

Realistically 15 or so to go and this could go either way. That's our masterplan, not theirs.

YESSSSSSS

Nice stat.I think they'll beat us, possibly with a penno off a dive or other refereeing gift like a soft red.

Big Al aside, it's a bit depressing to see how few league goals our top scorers have achieved in the Prem era. A dozen a season, Glenn Murray level, for two seasons and you're top 15. Three seasons and you're top 8. https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/goals?se=-1&cl=23

With Rafa here, I suppose the lazy comparison would be with Dirk Kuyt, the archetypal "defend from the front" striker. Only fifteen years after we scouted him.

Now up to joint sixth in the goals against column. Above Arsenal and Man U. One goal behind Wolves who are fifth.

I didn't realise either. fwiw, I reckon we'd get something with Lejeune, Schar and Almiron, but I don't know with their replacements. Less pace and playmaking from the back makes it much easier for them. As a background, I am a believer in the fixture list being much more important than is claimed. For us, no wins until November would have seen off a less established manager than Rafa, simply due to hard fixtures. Had Brighton had the same fixtures, Hughton probably would have gone.

I disagree. He's a classic second striker, a role pretty popular in a lot fo Europe's top teams today, Spurs for instance play with one, sometimes Dele Alli. He would offer them more in that role than Alli does - not saying Spurs will come in for him like, but I think he could hold his place down in teams far bigger than us. Dunno why Spurs did not persist with Alli in that role. He seems to play much deeper as a midfielder now. Maybe its to push Eriksson forward, I don't watch them enough to know in detail. Alli was sensational a couple of seasons ago, now he looks more like a midfielder bruiser who gets the odd header. Very few teams play with a deep lying playmaker like Shelvey, so much of Perez's time in the team in that formation, i.e., chasing and trying to hold it up, will be of little reference to other teams when judging him. That's not something they'll make him do. Since that's a good chunk of his time here, it's easy for us to form an overly negative opinion of him. As we've seen since Almiron arrived, with options around him and less pressure on him alone to make things happen, he's a different player. I don't have access to the stat, but a lot of his goals must have been winners. No-one playing for us gets to score meaningless goals, the fourth in a four nil etc.

Whoops. Anything can happen in the playoffs. They're not a place you want to be.

Ramage must have come close to a 1/10 too. More recently, Joselu vs. Stoke where he missed three? sitters?

The Boumsong sending off against Liverpool that also gifted them a pen after a wild airshot cannot have been worthy of more than 1/10.

You didn't need to be Nostradamus to see this one coming.

Great block by him. It must be hard for him playing there but puts in a shift. I still expect him to sound like some other radgie Scotsman though, David Speedie etc. for older readers. Gets me every time.

5:30 KO? For that round trip? Late night for me too.

Job done. Well done lads. A bit nervy with all the possession and momentum they had second half, but their chances, all three, fell to Yoshida, who's not very good. We came just as close with the Ki and Hayden shots from distance, before Ayoze put it to bed. Double figures for Ayoze, who's now our top scorer. Well in, son. Hope Schar and Almiron aren't too bad. They've both played a big part in our renaissance this season.

Looks like we're going to avoid the shameful act of allowing a meaningful goal by Danny Ings or Shane Long. This gives me great personal satisfaction. I'm watching with a Japanese commentary so they are freaking out at all these chances for Yoshida. When Almiron went down, they were giving it Muto? Muto! Muto?