Sean

Pretty much this. It's easy to blame the manager, but he literally has f*** all to work with, especially up front. Agreed but why did he chose to prioritise the signing of a wide player who isn't anywhere near ready for the PL and a CB, where we were already well stocked, as our two biggest signings in the window, for me the priority of our transfer business was way off, we should have been looking at the number 10 situation and splurging on one, since he obviously doesn't like Mitro, get rid and replace him with someone a lot better than Joselu. Only then bring in players you can develop, or try to slightly upgrade another position. I think we all know Mike prioritised the business that he felt had most resale value etc, Murphy being young and English fit the bill, someone like Reina or Caballero not so much. Don't think Rafa prioritised Murphy over other positions, he was fucked over .

Its 0-0 because of the assistant referee, Begovic making some good saves, some bad luck and some awful finishing. Bournemouth are so lucky to even still be in the game. So frustrating.

He really is one of us.

Diane and Perez lack of quality massively to blame for that.

Daft Question Time :- If you read her wiki page, it states that she was part of the team (pcp partners) that did the Man City deal etc etc. So - is she buying for herself ? or on behalf of 'interested' parties ? And if Ashley did sell, we would then know who the 'real' owners were ? It's just never been made clear. I wondering wether the purpose of Amanda's company PCP Capital partners is for acquiring a football club. It's her financial advisory firm. Apparently was involved in the Man City takeover and also the Barclays bank bailout so not just to buy a football club.

I heard that stat too...think they also concede the least amount of goals per chances given away.

From Sky: http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11678/11105219/mikel-merino-shining-for-newcastle-after-stalling-at-borussia-dortmund Mikel Merino is shining for Newcastle this season, but how did one of Spain's brightest young talents end up at St James' Park for just £7m? Nick Wright tries to find out ahead of their Monday Night Football meeting with Burnley. The season was only a few weeks old when Newcastle fans began joking that Mikel Merino was too good for them. The Spaniard arrived at St James' Park having failed to make an impact at Borussia Dortmund, but there have been no such problems in the north east. With his intelligence and industry in midfield, Merino has been the outstanding player in their bright start. The accepted wisdom is that Newcastle were wise to exercise their option to buy him so swiftly. The 21-year-old has been rotated to the bench since making the loan move permanent earlier this month, but he is unlikely to stay there. His late winner against Crystal Palace last weekend underlined his importance. In an age of inflated transfer fees, he looks like a bargain. Merino has made as many appearances in three months at Newcastle as he did in the whole of his solitary season at Dortmund, but to those who followed him at Osasuna - the boyhood club in northern Spain which his father, Angél, also played for - it was only ever a matter of time until he began to show his true potential on the big stage. "I knew him from their youth teams," says Santi Zuza, a Spanish football journalist who has covered Osasuna for local newspaper Diario de Navarra since 2002. "Normally when a player jumps a few age groups to the first team, he needs some time to adapt. There aren't many who immediately improve their level in that situation, but that was the case with Mikel." Merino had just turned 18 when he made his senior debut. It was the opening day of the 2014/15 campaign and Osasuna were preparing for life in Spain's second tier after their 14th consecutive season in La Liga had ended in relegation. Merino had been used in various positions at youth level since joining the club aged 10, but he went into the senior side as a central midfielder. It was a big responsibility, and the circumstances were far from ideal. "That season was very complicated for Osasuna," says Zuza. "They had just been relegated to Segunda, the league had banned them from signing players in order to clean up their finances, and the institutional situation at the club was very delicate." The turmoil behind the scenes was reflected on the pitch. Osasuna spent the season battling against a second consecutive relegation, eventually avoiding the drop by a single point. It was a steep learning curve for Merino, but he handled it well, making 29 appearances and impressing under three different managers. There was international recognition at the end of it. That summer, Merino was a key figure for Spain's U19s as they won the European Championship in Greece. Alongside Dani Ceballos, Marco Asensio and Jesus Vallejo - all of whom have since moved to Real Madrid - Merino started every game. He returned to Osasuna on a high. With Merino at the heart of the team and club legend Enrique Martin in the dugout, Osasuna fought their way back into La Liga via the play-offs. "From making his debut in August 2014, Mikel became a genuine leader of the team in less than a year," says Zuza. "The second season was when he truly exploded. Without him, Osasuna wouldn't have achieved promotion - that's for sure." Merino scored seven goals in 38 appearances in total - six of which came in the crucial final month of the campaign. Osasuna won 20 of the 36 games he started over the course of the season compared to just one of the 10 he didn't. Merino, the rangy young midfielder from their academy, was influential at both ends of the pitch. "Mikel has always been a player with enormous ability to organise the game, to slow things down when necessary," says Zuza. "Defensively he was very important to the team in central midfield, but he also has a great sense of when to get into the box to score goals. Let's just say he is a very complete player. He is also good in the air and in a tactical sense." Merino's contribution to Osasuna's promotion was even more impressive considering his move to Dortmund - signed off at just €5m amidst Osasuna's financial problems - had been agreed months earlier. "He was a decisive player even though the move was finalised in the winter transfer window," says Zuza. "It didn't distract him; his football actually improved throughout the season." It was no great surprise that Osasuna went straight back down to the second division in the absence of their midfield talisman last season, but few expected Merino to find himself so marginalised at Dortmund. From Ousmane Dembele to Christian Pulisic, the Bundesliga side have an excellent record for developing young talent. Merino, with maturity to match his ability, seemed a logical fit. "Dortmund are known for signing young and talented players and Merino's background in Spain and with Spain's U21s was promising," says Jurgen Koers, a reporter for the Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper in Dortmund. "But it was interesting that he signed very early. I am not sure if the club's hierarchy and [head coach] Thomas Tuchel had the same opinion of him." Merino had to wait until October to make his first appearance, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Hertha Berlin, but he did not feature at all for two months after that. "Tuchel was never satisfied with Merino's development and performances," says Koers. "He is a very demanding manager, and Merino wasn't too self-confident in the beginning, so they missed each other. "It was difficult for him," adds Koers. "In central defensive midfield, German international Julian Weigl didn't miss games. He was Tuchel's number one. Nuri Sahin, a Dortmund hero and Turkish international, was number two. So Tuchel insisted Merino should become a central defender." It was an awkward transition, and by the time January arrived Merino had only made three senior appearances. Osasuna were among the clubs interested in taking him on loan, but a move away was blocked. "Tuchel said he needed him, which he did not," says Koers. "So he lost another six months." Merino now reflects on his time in Germany as an important learning experience - saying his outlook on life changed after he was caught up in the bomb attack on Dortmund's team bus in April - but there is also a clear desire to put it all behind him. "At Dortmund I didn't have the confidence of the coach," he told the Guardian last week. "Here the manager trusts me." It has made all the difference. Just as he did at Osasuna and just as he has done with Spain's youth teams, Merino is having an impact all over the pitch for Newcastle. He is the creative brains of Rafael Benitez's team, using the ball intelligently and averaging more passes per game than anyone else, but he is also invaluable in a defensive sense. His 6ft 2ins frame has helped him adapt to the physicality of English football, and his box-to-box work rate has been impressive. Merino has covered more ground than any of his team-mates in four of the five Premier League games in which he has completed the 90 minutes. He has snapped into tackles at an even higher rate than N'Golo Kante. It all adds up to what Zuza describes as an "excellent investment" for Newcastle. "In very little time at Osasuna, Mikel demonstrated that he is an intelligent player who learns every day," he says. "He has a lot of room to keep progressing and he's at a fantastic age for that. He is a very normal, humble person. He has kept those values and they translate on the pitch." They are values which might help Newcastle keep hold of him, too. Fans fear it will not be long until bigger clubs come calling, but Merino has signed a long-term contract at St James' Park and he has never been one to get distracted. "I'm happy to be here for five more years," he said earlier this month. It seems Mikel Merino is exactly where he needs to be.

He's a bit of a weird one like. Works hard now (which was always my biggest gripe) but still gets muscled off the ball too easily and gives away possession cheaply too often still. He's almost completely unable to shoot from distance or put in quality delivery when he gets the chance. I think he's actually a large reason for why we have such a poor pass completion percentage / low number of passes. Against that, it was obvious how much we missed his workrate and pressing when he went off. Rafa's got him drilled as to what he wants from a number 10, just think a slight lack of quality on the ball is the issue now.

Pardew "I signed Lascelles" :lol:

Amazing news!

Good explanation, thanks I don't actually have anything against the name just think it's a shame it's had to be changed at all really. If we see more displays of the same quality thats the main thing, great work.

Knowing Ashley it'll be £380 million + his 'loans', making the total price around £500 million. Plus any purchaser agreeing to keep the Sports Direct ads for 10 years probably.

The name is massively important, maybe not so much to us fans but in order for this to be able to grow and gain/keep national publicity etc. Marketing and brand identity is huge. But whats the point in gaining national publicity only to change the name days later? Massive own goal and seems very petty from the "owners" of the name.

The performance against Liverpool was as good as we could expect given the players we have, but I'm taking it that I'm one of the few who felt like they could have scored 4 or 5 if they actually finished a bit better? Salah especially seemed to be constantly running into acres of space to exploit. Alot of their shooting on the day was straight at Elliott, or we had somewhat fortunate goal-line clearances. Don't have much a point to this mind, beyond saying that I don't think we're quite as solid defensively as many seem to think and that we'll most likely get a couple of pastings this season by teams less forgiving in front of goal. They had 2 shots on target IIRC. That can't be right unless stuff that looked on target wasn't. - Lovren had a shot at goal from 6 or so yards out (after Wijnaldum's flick hit the post) cleared by a defender. - Coutinho scored with a shot. - Sturridge had a shot on goal straight at Elliott after being put through by Clark's sliced howler. - Lovren had a header that looked to be on target cleared a few yards out by Shelvey. That's 4 that I can remember, a couple of which should really have been goals (especially Sturridge being put clean through). On top of that they missed a fair few other chances with shots or headers off target, and then on top of that you have a fair few attacks which didn't result in a shot but were highly promising situations for Liverpool due to the gaps left by our defense. I dunno, maybe I'm being overly critical, but I felt they could have scored a few more but weren't clicking on the night. We're better defensively for sure but I don't think we're "solid" just yet, which was my only point. You do know blocked shots don't count as on target right?

He's missed a few easy chances no doubt, the thing is as a striker those misses affect your confidence in front of goal. Especially at a new club, in front of new fans (especially when a sizeable percentage are now writing you off after a few games). It's too early to tell if that's the issue or if his finishing is always terrible. However good strikers will overcome this problem fairly quickly...

:lol:

Good quotes from Robbie Fowler regards Rafa in the Mirror and Liverpool Echo: "I have a story that tells you everything you need to know about Rafa Benitez , the manager. He lived down the bottom of my garden – or at least just a Peter Kay clearance away. And when I went back to play under him at Liverpool , I was often asked to drop off bits and pieces at his place. I was at the training ground on Christmas Day and they asked me to take round some videos and info on opponents. Rafa’s family had just gone back to Spain, so when I called round, he invited me in. We went into a room where there were massive TVs on the wall, tactics boards all around, and he was in there, poring over the plans to combat the teams we were playing over the holiday period. It didn’t matter what time of year it was, he was just ­immersed in the detail of what he was doing, plotting the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. For me, it was massively ­obsessive. That is not a ­criticism, just a mark of the manager. It’s the one thing Newcastle fans can bank on – Rafa will not leave a single thing to chance. Every detail, every point down to the smallest of pieces of information everyone else would assume wasn’t important, will be analysed to get to the ­deepest ­understanding of the mindset of ­opponents. Let’s be clear about this, I will ­always be thankful to him because he took me back to Liverpool and, for me, that is one of the most important events of my career. The chance to go back and right a few wrongs is ­something I cherished. He can be cold, no doubt, ruthless. I remember a ­statement he made to the team once, where he said he wasn’t here to be liked – and that’s spot on. It was his job to create the ­environment to win matches, no matter what it took – and that was the approach he certainly believed in. Rafa won’t let ­anything stand in his way, at ­Newcastle or any other club. With little ­investment and an owner who seems keen on reducing his ­financial input, that ­attitude is ­undoubtedly their best chance of ­surviving in the Premier League. Their only chance, ­probably. He will be ruthless in doing whatever is possible to keep them up."

Unbelievable post

Also I don't think the atmosphere around the club helped at all. Also, the fat cunt hiring Joe Kinnear as manager. That whole season was destined to end in relegation the moment Keegan was forced out. So yeah it was down to Mike Ashley, surprise surprise.

Great post.

It's hilarious, just imagine the reactions if we lost!

Theres a video on twitter of our second goal, after he takes the corner he jumps up and pretends to head it in, what a nutter

so true. Anyway, Merino is absolutely immense

nice to see he's getting noticed Think Thompson actually likes us tbh. Especially compared to the rest of the lot on the panel he shares. Yeah just seen this as well, being pretty reasoned about our performance today too: http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/newcastle-united/11039204/newcastle-2-1-stoke-thompson

Phil Thompson raving about Merino on Soccer Saturday now.