gbandit

When was the last time a top side played that defensively against us? I know Arsenal last season were awful at SJP but they didn’t play a game plan of being as defensive as Chelsea. They were basically playing in their first third for large stretches of the game due to our press and their inability to pass through us. Then, when they did manage to get through us, they committed almost no one because they were terrified of us. We absolutely bullied them

You can see he’s exceptionally confident at the moment. That goal last week has made a big difference to him. I’ve been backing him all along as I love his game but he was clearly not playing near his top level earlier in the season even though he was showing lots of quality. Today though, every time he was on the ball in their half he was looking to attack them, either with a run at pace, beating that man by dropping a shoulder, playing a killer pass (like the lofted one that should have led to a goal) or his goal. He was our best player today and our player who looked most likely to get us that goal, either by an assist or as it happened, a goal. I’m really excited about what to this lad is capable of for the rest of the season with his confidence up

There was one point where Broja was doing him for pace even though Botman had a bit headstart but Botman was still clever enough in how he positioned his body to shield it and get rid. He makes up for his pace with his unbelievable reading of the game, doesn’t make any sense for a 22-year old to be this good

Great thread idea. I think our defenders are the key shithousers, along with Pope. Bruno loves a bit mid-game but after 70 minutes the defence really comes to the shithouse party

This is a good point actually, I was trying to figure out why so little came down our left-hand side and it just got snuffed out by this lad. I remember Longstaff also making a great challenge on that side too. It was just a fucking wall on that side

Played 13 conceded 8 clean sheets 5 won 7 drawn 6 Was it?

Schar sees every game as a mosh pit

What can you say, I can’t really remember him doing a huge amount in the game. Chelsea barely tried down our left hand side, not sure if it was more down to them or us but that must have been the easiest game for a left back at NUFC against Chelsea in years

Hope the relegationometer is taking a long hard look at itself and recognising that it fucked up and should have been the 4th-ometer all along

This lad constantly looks like he’s about to smash your face in, must be intimidating for opposition players. Love it

Come on then, who wants to come join the Geordie boys? There’ll be a lot of players who we were looking at in the summer who might see us differently now

Was glad Howe made the change to bring Targett on rather than Lascelles, even small things like that make all the difference

This lad must be looking at our games this season and feeling pretty good about his choice to join us. I imagine he’s absolutely desperate to get involved

He got caught a few times but made up for it every single time. He has revolutionised our right hand side alongside Miggy and he always changes up what he does on corners so teams don’t know what to expect

This man is glorious, he just fucks teams up like it’s nothing

Agree with the first part, not sure I’ve ever thought he was surprisingly pacey though. He’s so far away from being a target man

Not going to knock him too much as we all know what he brings and he tries hard but I look forward to the day when he’s not starting for us. His touch is just not at the level of anyone else in our squad. As a footballer his basic technique is not at the level we need if we’re aiming for top 6/4 but hopefully he can continue to chip in with some good strikes like last week

Some really nice defensive work as always, that chance he had would have been buried by Wilson and maybe a few others in the squad but hopefully he can start contributing more in the final third

Will be interesting to see how long it takes Potter to get that side playing at its best, it’s not happening soon and how big will they go in the January window? If it doesn’t go well after some big signings hopefully Boehly shits all over his kegs and makes another change

I just think he never had a handle on the game, he generally made the wrong decision on a lot of minor calls. Thank fuck there weren’t any major calls

Yeah, he’s a difficult proposition for games like this. He offers so much going forwards but Chelsea wouldn’t have given him much space and would have had one or two on him at all times but he doesn’t offer as much with the rest of his game. I look forward to him bullying teams in the bottom half later on in the season

November manager of the month please

Get fucked 7th, didn’t even fancy you anyway

Love the double header he did, before Willock came onto the ball. He’s making all the right decisions alongside playing at a much higher quality this season. He’s lethal

Yeah, maybe he was trying too hard after the penalty miss, nothing seemed to quite work in an attacking sense and his touch and shielding wasn’t as sublime as always, who the fuck cares. He’s world class and we’re class