Paullow

The big man back on Sky tonight at home to Watford.

Christ, I was probably being harsh earlier suggesting only 5 of our XI would get into MU's

Possibly, but just having a quick look on wiki, and last season it was 17-2, Liverpool and also the 1-1 vs Watford being the two exceptions, but that's like 89.4% kicking into our preferred end. Probably just a case of us winning the toss 60 or so % of the time and then the times we lose, the opposition aren't particularly bothered, but the figures are that it does become really noticeable when it doesn't happen.

I hadn't really noticed it, but aye, now you mention it, I don't particularly like it. The time is definitely too small, or hidden.

Probably not Schaar, but possibly Botman, although that's obviously mainly just guesswork considering he's only had like 90 seconds of PL football. I was thinking most of the other names you mention, maybe Botman, and while again it's relatively early days because only 9 months ago he was considered 'shite', and a flop but I'd have big Joe over McT, and possibly Fred. Seems crazy to even be thinking like this from where we were 9/10 months ago, ha. Edit - just realised I've contradicted my point with the Botman stuff , but Trippier, Bruno, Joel, Wilson, and maybe one of ASM / Schaar.

One thing I've often wondered. About 90% of home matches we tend to be shooting into the Gallowgate in the second half. Obviously not the case yesterday, and Liverpool came to mind towards the back end of last season, but in most cases we do - how does that work? It surely can't be a coin toss, so is it generally a Gentleman's agreement type of thing?

Same, but even under Rafa there was always a ceiling and it would realistically be a case of 12th, 40 odd points, poor negative GD at best, whereas now there really does feel a weight lifted. I'm looking at that Man United XI and thinking if you were combining the respective first day XI's, 5 or so Newcastle players might be selected.

We've picked up as many points already as Bruce did in his 8 games prior to his sacking

It's actually quite strange watching these early matches. I'm 90% sure we will be much nearer to Everton points wise than we will be to Chelsea, and I would like to see an away win, but at the same time, a tiny part of me does think, what if Chelsea have a really poor season by their standards? Could we? It was kind of the same with Arsenal last night, probably more. Even watching the Liverpool game earlier, we'll obviously be nowhere near them, but it was great not being concerned about a newly promoted team picking up point(s). Just pretty surreal really as it's been so long since we weren't one of the 5 or 6 main favourites to go down at the start of the season.

11th in the league based on transfer activity thus far. Hard to gauge re the cups, as if you draw Man City away in the League Cup that's almost certainly thrown plans out of the window, but in an average draw, probably 5th and 4th round respectively in the FA and League Cup. Edit - hadn't read Chris' post prior to posting that.

Ah well, hopefully we go for Pritchard instead, he's just as good iirc.

Would be great if we could get this one done. The type of signing I was hoping we'd go for, those you could/would expect a Spurs, Man Utd, or Arsenal to be going for, and making others take notice, rather than a player who anyone of Palace, Southampton, Brighton could have easily signed. Bruno, Joelinton and Maddison would be quite formidable.

Thanks for posting anarr video on the channel.

That's a cracking goal to be fair, right from the great work from the right back.

That old man had some good moves

Perhaps, but crucially (for me, anyway) I'm not as confident we'll get them in now, and preferably they would have been in before Forest, whereas I was proper buzzing just after the Burnley match and really excited for the summer ahead, and try and differentiate ourselves from some of the middle pack clubs. Even if we didn't have much chance of getting him, I was expecting stuff like 'Newcastle's new owners have identified Saka as their ideal (marquee) signing, and will go all out to get their man'. I was hoping for a couple of Bruno type signings, players I'd never heard of, but 23/24 y/o playing in a decent league, 30/40m, possibly dropping down a level, and be seen generally as a real coup, and a statement. The likes of Harrison, Cornet etc. aren't much better than we have, and could be linked with any club from 10-14 or so in the table. Time will tell I guess, but the optimism is definitely a lot lower than it was for me, and I don't think it's wrong, or demanding, to have expected far more at this stage, especially from such a significant and controversial ownership taking over.

You can say we're in a better position than we have been in years, you can add the January business into the equation and count the calendar year etc. and all of that is fine, and true, but if we're being honest, I find it hard to believe m/any Newcastle fans would have expected basically just Botman to have been brought in as an improvement to how we ended last season heading into August, and a week before the new season kicks off. As a standalone summer transfer window on it's own, the first under the (controversial) new owners, it's definitely been underwhelming up to this point, but hopefully we can get the two new additions in before the end of next month, ideally significantly better than what we already have.

Aye, I had the page open, came back, and 4 extra pages, but absolutely no additional news / new links.

No, 3/1 to win in 90 mins at Bet365 when I last checked.

Is it two men or a man and a woman commentating?

https://serbenfiquista.com/forum/geral/1/eusebio-cup-sl-benfica-newcastle-26jul-ter-20h00-btv/68446/13200 Halfway down that page. They do seem to love Grimaldo on that site - the following page is full of his name, and long before the free kick, ha.

nufc TV it is...

Nice one, me neither, but also playing for me as well at the moment, and hopefully that will still be the case at 8pm. Would much rather watch on a normal TV channel than on website casted from my phone to the TV. Could also keep half an eye on the women's match as well. Fingers crossed.

West Ham agree fee of £30m, with possibly £5m add ons for Scamacca. Must admit, I did think we would be differentiating ourselves from the likes of West Ham (and Villa) this window with a few statement signings, to bridge the gap and possibly be expected to finish above them, but as it is, thus far, they've both had stronger windows, and it'll take good management, crowd support, and continued momentum for us to be close to them, especially West Ham, rather than it being the expectation, unless things significantly change in the coming weeks. Obviously it's mainly covering their backs and anticipated money, but those odds of being the 7th favourites for the league, top 4, w/o big 6 etc. look pretty optimistic at the moment. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-6-finish

The novelty is still there for me, so I do listen to most of the ones I'm aware of, and it's quite nice just to stick one on when at work - All with Smiling Faces, True Faith, Pod on the Tyne, Everything Black & White etc. the former possibly my most preferred out of those. I do watch the odd YouTube video as well, although starting to cut back on those.