Roids

Defensive subs almost never work, taking Gayle off removed our pre-eminent attacking threat and consequently allowed Bournemouth to push the line right up with no threat of a counter. Self inflicted defeat, the missed chances are irrelevant, we should be able to see out a 2 goal lead with 10 minutes left, not like we were playing City,Liverpool et al

Not the slightest bit surprised

Ah fuck...

Are they really that talented anymore? Who do they have left? As already mentioned, Forster, Yoshida, Gabbiadini, Bertrand, Boufal, Austin, Ward Prowse, Davis, Soares, Romeu amongst others should be at worst comfortably midtable. There's flair, creativity going forward and solid defensive options at the back. At least we were lumbered with Williamson & non goalscorers in our relegation season(s). New manager and they waltz out of the mire imo I think there's a load of average s**** in there myself. Getting shown up now the talent has all been sold off. If that's average then wonder what adjectives you have for ours, Huddersfield, Brighton & Swansea's squad

Are they really that talented anymore? Who do they have left? As already mentioned, Forster, Yoshida, Gabbiadini, Bertrand, Boufal, Austin, Ward Prowse, Davis, Soares, Romeu amongst others should be at worst comfortably midtable. There's flair, creativity going forward and solid defensive options at the back. At least we were lumbered with Williamson & non goalscorers in our relegation season(s). New manager and they waltz out of the mire imo

I still feel Southampton will come good, most talented team in the bottom half, could probably do with a new manager bounce. WBA look like they might be done but after Palace & now Swansea would hesitate to write anyone off. Going with that tho it's looking like any 2 from 9, equal chance all around. 3 wins and a couple draws would do it, seems so achievable on paper...

Working miracles is being dramatic, they're are loads of average sides in the league including us.

8

Diame starting vs Merino is Pardew-eque. Not the first time either.

5 (if not 6 tops) more wins from the remaining 16 games sees us safe, doesn't sound too daunting on paper...

Apparently we haven't won a game since April (?) When he's not been in the team

He doesn't score many goals, and that's the main criticism of Joselu. I wouldn't mind if he didn't score so many goals if his all-round game was much better. The fact he doesn't score goals just emphasises how s*** he is. Well I'm going to disagree with you on that, I think his link up play is fine. I'm sure Deeney will barge defenders around a bit more, but for me a striker has to score goals regularly otherwise he's might as well be Joselu. Agreed, swapping one non-scoring striker for another is redundant. Any incremental improvement Deeney has on Joselu isn't significant enough for us to be chasing him imo

Damn, great find. <1 goal a game to 3 per! Not the greatest sample but still...

He's a bit like Kompany was for Man City before Pep turned up in the leadership and stature sense, yet so young. Love the lad, did he get a new contract? https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/4628907/jamaal-lascelles-six-year-contract-newcastle/

Despite his flaws he's arguably our 2nd most talented player after Merino. Not sure why there's such fervour to sell him the squad is lacking in genuine talent. I agree with whoever said his problems comes from cowardice (or to put it another way, an inherent lack of drive & motivation to be the best player he could be) rather than his athleticism, or lack of thereof.

I want City to lose & I want our relegation rivals to lose as well. So conflicting.

Haha! I genuinely like Brighton (might be biased as I lived there for a while). One of the best cities in the country, solid affable fanbase who have supported there team through some truly genuine bullshit over the last 2 decades. Well run and managed club who came up organically and of course big Chris at the helm. That said I hope we pump 'em tomorrow and furthermore we can both avoid relegation.

BBC Comment ' John Main: Just to put all the criticism into perspective you can buy the whole NUFC club at least twice for the amount City have spent on their squad.' Crazy when it's highlighted in black & white like that

Brighton/Stoke. This game's literally meaningless. Edit: With Gayle, Merino, Atsu & Ritchie on the bench, it would seem Rafa rightfully agrees with the sentiment

I really hope this is the case, I'll be upset if the likes of Atsu, Gayle, Lascelles, Merino et al play in this game

He's the best keeper on our books, for better or worse

Play the youth team & save the legs/confidence of the 1st team

11

It really isn't though. Once in 3 matches he'll actually get a tackle right and that's about it. Everything about his game apart from some of his freekicks and sideways passes is substandard. Oh I agree 100%, point being it gives the illusion of him being useful when in reality it's the Dirk Kuyt effect, but at the risk of scapegoating him he's no better/worse than his fellow teammates, whole squad lack real quality sans Shelvey & arguably Gayle.

That 1st goal, Christ...