Paullow

AEK Athens beat Zagreb 4-3 on aggregate last night and now face Antwerp in the final qualifying round, so one of those will definitely be in Pot 4. Shaping up a little more now that a high co-efficient side are out. Maccabi Haifa 13.000 vs Young Boys 34.500 Antwerp 17.000 vs AEK Rakow 5.000 vs Copenhagen 40.500 Molde 24.000 vs Galatasaray 31.500 Rangers 54.000 vs PSV 43.000 Braga 44.000 vs Panathinaikos 5.045 Rangers 54.000 - POT 3 Braga 44.000 - POT 3 PSV 43.000 - POT 3 Copenhagen 40.500 - POT 3 Young Boys 34.500 - POT 3 or 4 Real Sociedad 33.000 POT 3 or 4 (no playoff match) Galatasaray 31.500 - POT 3 or 4 Celtic 30.000 - POT 3 or 4 (no playoff match) There's 3 spaces left in Pot 3, one of those will definitely be either Rangers or PSV, and If Braga and Copenhagen come through Panathinaikos and Rakow respectively that will be Pot 3 all sorted. Braga are 2/5 to come through (vs 7/4), but Copenhagen are only 7/10 (vs 21/20), so a very close tie at the bookies, and if the lower ranked sides come through then they will definitely join us in Pot 4, and Young Boys and Real Sociedad could then be Pot 3. Young Boys just need one of Braga or Copenhagen to fail to make Pot 3. Sociedad need 2 of Braga, Copenhagen and Young Boys to lose. Galatasaray would need all 3 of those to lose, whereas Celtic would require all 3 AND Galatasaray to all lose, so it's very likely they will join us in Pot 4. I'd like to see Copenhagen and / or Young Boys come through because you'd generally prefer to potentially play them than Real Sociedad, or have a long and not very pleasant trip to Istanbul, and both would be capital city trips for our fans and I don't think we have played either of them in the Premier League era (or possibly at all).

Feel a bit sorry for Pickford. He's been at Everton for over 6 years now, joining at a time when they were throwing money around and looking to push on, but he's now surrounded by bang average plodders and he'll know that he's going to finish in the bottom 6 again and narrowly escape relegation at best. Won't help seeing similar profile clubs like Newcastle and Villa look a million miles away from them just a couple of years after they themselves both came into a bit of money. Villa have been good, but it's a pretty pointless match for the neutral.

We played better after going a goal down last year, so hopefully we can grow into it a bit more, but obviously significant levels at the moment.

Na, the Forest match wasn't televised over here and was just moved from Saturday 3pm due to a clash with some cricket today. Good for those overseas though.

Plymouth vs Southampton looks interesting at 12.30pm on Sky. If I was a neutral armchair fan then I'd prefer the option to watch a Championship match at 12.30 and then 2 PL matches back to back on Saturday evening rather than a clash in the early afternoon one.

WBA a goal up on Leeds, controversially.

Aye, that probably sounds about right.

Cracking city.

Darlow on the bench again. I guess he would have been at least 3rd choice here but seems a bit strange dropping a division, but still not playing, unless they sell that young lad later in the window.

I can never decide if I like Leeds United. The city is my favourite in the UK so I often think I want them to do well, but then I was quite happy when they got relegated, so it's a bit of a weird situation

We've come in to 16/5 at SkyBet, just over 3/1. Who would have thought you'd ever see those type of odds 2 years ago. We were even around 16/1 just 18 months ago under Howe at the back end of the 2021/22 season when we were doing well and they had just lost to Real Madrid in the CL. Seems a bit surreal seeing the odds so short.

A lot has been made of their tight turnaround from Wednesday. It won't do us any harm them planning for and travelling to a game in midweek and may well be a factor and it might have been compassionate to have scheduled this played on Sunday or Monday as they were representing the Premier League in a one off match, but they'll have more recovery time than they often do after European matches. If you play in the Europa League on a Thursday night, your following league game, if scheduled at 3pm on Saturday, will get moved to 2pm on the Sunday, so 6 hours less recovery, and a Wednesday-Saturday combo following a Champions League match is perfectly normal.

Crazy. It's the 3rd tier of English football, presumably among the top 30 clubs in the entire country not some Sunday IntraMural University league. Should be a 3-0 walkover IMO.

There are a few things in our favour, obviously confidence form the 5-1 and presumably a fully fit squad, whereas they have a few key injuries and a tough midweek match in Athens, but it still seems crazy to see us as short as 7/2 to win at a few bookies. I'm more used to us being around 18/1 . Despite us losing 14 league games in a row there, for the first time probably ever I am looking forward to this fixture. Still expecting us to lose, but I am expecting a decent performance and the fact that we have already beaten Villa takes the pressure off a bit.

Hearts vs Rosenborg on BBC Scotland now, 187 on Sky Q. 1-2 from the first leg. Crazy to see Rosenborg currently 8th in their league more than half way through it. They used to absolutely dominate that league.

Some Chelsea fans on Redcafe - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/lewis-hall-chelsea-player-palace-loan.477291/page-3 I think he is going to be great to be honest but the blow has been softened in my eyes after hearing he's a boyhood Newcastle fan. If I developed at another club and Chelsea came in for me I'm making that move, can't really begrudge him for doing the same.

I'd definitely be up for this signing if we pull it off. I wasn't sure if it was just a Twitter 'ITK' taking the piss that his dad was a Geordie and his family are Newcastle fans, but the fact it's true definitely makes it more special and authentic, and a bit of a feel good story. Would be disappointed now if it didn't happen.

Used to go by Cwaar on older NUFC forums.

Would this go straight to pens if it ends up a draw?

I guess the main reason will be it not being held in England/UK, but also the kick off times, that it was only 12 months since the last tournament, and also that the men's football season is back, but despite being a greater achievement, it doesn't really feel half as big as what it did heading into the final last year.

The Friday night match should do decent numbers. 8pm, only a fiver in, generally hard to get to SJP for a competitive Newcastle match. I might be tempted to be honest, although wouldn't use up a holiday for the other match. Obviously a controversial move though.

About the actual matches, or that Saudi are playing here?

I believe the following pots are correct should the teams below come through the playoff, but please correct if I'm wrong: D Zagreb 55.000 - POT 3 Rangers 54.000 - POT 3 Braga 44.000 - POT 3 PSV 43.000 - POT 3 Copenhagen 40.500 - POT 3 or 4 Young Boys 34.500 - POT 3 or 4 Galatasaray 31.500 - POT 3 or 4 Molde 24.000 - POT 4 Antwerp 17.000 - POT 4 Maccabi Haifa 13.000 - POT 4 AEK 11.000 - POT 4 Panathinaikos 5.045 - POT 4 Rakow 5.000 - POT 4 So we are defo in Pot 4 and can't play anyone from Molde down. Very unlikely we will play Gala or Celtic either.

Champions Path: Aris Limassol 0 Rakow 1 (agg 1-3) Maccabi Haifa 3 Slovan Bratislava 1 (agg 5-2) Molde 2 Klaksvik 0 (AET, agg 3-2) Sparta Prague 3 FC Copenhagen 3 (agg 3-3, Copenhagen win 4-2 on pens) Dinamo Zagreb 1 AEK Athens 2 (first leg) Galatasaray 1 Olimpija Ljubljana 0 (agg 4-0) League Path: Backa Topola (TSC) 1 Braga 4 (agg 1-7) Servette 1 Rangers 1 (agg 2-3) Sturm Graz 1 PSV 3 (agg 2-7) Marseille 2 Panathinaikos 1 (agg 2-2, Panathinaikos win 5-3 on pens) FINAL PLAYOFF ROUND Maccabi Haifa vs Young Boys Antwerp vs AEK/D Zagreb Rakow vs Copenhagen Molde vs Galatasaray Rangers vs PSV Braga vs Panathinaikos