Emotic

I do, and I appreciate that we are consistent to a fault with "the system" which has worked very well for us. But a tiny bit of adaptability won't be amiss. There are a few players out there who could be the best of both worlds, if we're not keen on a pure Rayan Cherki type. Paqueta (I know, I have to get over him ), for one.

We really seem to have an obsession for energetic mezzala-types. Get a creative no. 10 FFS.

It's also the reason why the Isak situation is so terribly frustating and disappointing, honestly. Eddie isn't perfect, but it's undeniable what he has done for the players, especially young players representing too much of a risk for other clubs to take a punt on. Isak was the perfect example of this. And now here we are. It's very literally a betrayal, in every sense of the word. Even in the context of the modern game where there are broken contracts and "player power" and all that. Eddie truly doesn't deserve this extreme heel turn.

Not much room to move for either party, to be honest. We can't "ship him overseas"- other clubs know of the fiasco and like Liverpool, they'll lowball knowing he's on strike. Only overseas options who'd give any money near his valuation are Saudi Arabia, or at a pinch, Turkey. Him staying with us presents a whole nother problem with reintegration, given how he's shit in the swimming pool anarl. Not sure how it was with Suarez, Gerrard and the Liverpool fans last time, but it'll be a true test of everyone's patience and fortitude, especially Eddie's.

Juxtapose the above with this other set of stats - "Most chances created by Premier League teams in 2024/2025". https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask?q=most+chances+created+by+team+in+the+premier+league+24%2F25 Newcastle is surprisingly, in 8th place - behind even Manchester United; Fulham and Bournemouth. Which indicates (roughly), that our players did really well in converting the chances created - Barnes, and Murphy behind Isak etc. Brentford (with Wissa) are in 15th. Right below them is Wolves (with Strand Larsen) in 16th. Indicating that these two players are really clinical in making hay out of the not-many chances created for them (just two and three places above the relegated teams). Verdict - if we sell Isak (or not) - a front two/rotation of Wissa and Strand Larsen will get us goals (statistically speaking) - provided they get chances. Wissa, Strand Larsen, and a Maddison-type midfielder and we're cooking with gas.

This is an interesting set of stats, after doing some Dennis Wise scouting of Goncalo Ramos. Ramos has an approximate goal conversion rate of 17% playing in a dominant PSG team. In the premier league, the top shots-to-goal ratio striker is.....wor own Chrissy Wood with more than a quarter of his shots resulting in a goal. Fifth is Yoane Wissa with 21.1%, ahead of Isak (who sits in 11th place with 20%). But second behind Wood, with a frankly very impressive 25.9%, is.....Jorgen Strand Larsen. https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask?q=best+conversion+rate+premier+league+strikers+2024-25

This will be the next “Matt Targett’s wages meme” on here, with Barnes’ proximity to Eddie Howe getting closer and closer with each mention.

I’d say for strikers, who cost a premium, we won’t have a long list. Judging from Eddies remarks at the start of the window, we had felt confident getting Pedro at least, and we moved quite quickly for him. I’m sure the scouting machinery has more than four- but it all boils down to where we and our owners see ourselves going forward, and the caliber of player who’d get us there. We just got schooled this window, that’s all. But I also hope we won’t settle for less. Already we’re in the race for the striker who scored the most non-penalty goals in the PL last season. There are few others out there that represent a safe bet at an acceptable price.

I’m still convinced that our moves for Delap and Pedro were to partner/cover for him. It was Ekitike when things somehow went suddenly to utter shit.

That makes all that business about “let us sign Isak or else we will sign Ekitike” guff all the more despicable. If they had wanted Isak so badly on the outset, just quietly stump up the cash that you were planning to splurge on Ekitike to meet our valuation. Then we could have signed Ekitike. How could they overpay for Florian Wirtz and cheap out on Isak? There will be an investigative piece on this, in time to come. I only hope its done with some impartiality.

It now baffles me why Liverpool took Ekitike from under our noses. We must've somehow known at that point that Isak was acting up. Signing his potential replacement was the first step down a quite tragic sequence of events. And Manure swooping in for Sesko then prolonged it.

If we truly want to teach him and his agent a lesson, we should let him rot for three. Obviously that won't happen. But it should.

In fact, if (and that's a big if), he stays and gets reintegrated - "There's only one greedy bastard" can be his chant. Fans can sing it when he scores and he can encourage us on. I'd do it if I were a self-confident prick. Zlatan would've done it.

Nine days til the next match, Villa down to 10 men at 70 mins. They didn't need to.

We won't attract much if we let him rot, tbf

Would like him here, but strikers who've gone to PSG and subsequently haven't featured as much as they would like there have some odd aversion to joining Newcastle United. Alright I'm just peeved at Ekitike. He might've come to us but we were skint that season.

This should be the way, but I hope we can sign Wissa + A. N. other and still keep him. We probably can't afford to, though.

Every single one of our previously-scouted targets for frontman have been snapped up - Delap, Pedro, Ekitike. Even Sesko felt like a last-ditch attempt to replace Isak (although his agent has been seen Tyneside before, so we probably did our scouting on him). Everyone else will represent an unscouted, emergency signing, which we don't like, as it represents a risk. This is why the Isak situation is so shitty - he ought to have the respect to allow us to find and sign an appropriate replacement. As it stands, we would be left with no good striker, let alone an Isak replacement, whilst Liverpool beef up their already-solid forward line. Samu would cost 80 million and as others have pointed out, no striker directly from the Portuguese league has flourished in the PL. Kalimeundo is untested. Ramos probably won't see us as a step-up from PSG, but he'd most likely get us the goals. Isak has totally derailed our cutting edge. He should be taken to court for this, if there's any justice in it.

Every other league is skint, alas. PSG seems like the only club with money to spend nowadays, and they can take him for 90 mil + Goncalo Ramos.

Ramsey is just a more energetic Willock+a box-crasher. Very effective in his role, but not a lock-picker who can thread the perfect pass through a crowded defense, or dribble his way to a scoring opportunity. Need a proper No. 10 player for that, which we don't know how to fit into our system.

Gordon talking about team unity. Good lad.

Bring Murphy on for Barnes and stick him upfront. Gordon goes left.

Just realised that Elanga couldve squared it to Gordon for an easy tap-in.

Ramsdale distributes that.

Has there ever been a precedent where a player has been named on the bench, yet physically absent? I'd do that out of spite today (and for the lols).