Paullow

Keep forgetting I'm watching on TV via the BT Sport app and about a good minute behind everyone else.

I do want them to beat West Ham in the FA Cup next week though, as that may directly affect us more (in terms of European football qualification).

Was literally just going to ask what people were thinking regarding this. I'd probably prefer they lost in extra time / pens. They're like 8 points clear of us now, so I think 3rd has gone and they are not really a direct rival in the league now, so not as fussed about extra matches. Probably better they have a morale sapping defeat than to keep the momentum and confidence flowing.

I was referring to their bench. With their forthcoming takeover, they'd like to see some of those currently in the XI on the bench and the likes of Tominay, Maguire and a few others completely away, so as it stands, their bench won't be as strong as they would like, but at the same time, their squad depth is a million miles clear of ours. Understandable given where the two clubs have been the past 14 years or so, but just pointing out the difference in current depth.

It'll not be as strong as some Man Utd fans will like, but they have named 12 subs there and it's night and day to ours. A fair few of those would start for us, whereas we're bringing on the likes of Ritchie, Lascelles, and Murphy in our matches.

Must admit for a few moments looking at the live table deep into their match on Saturday, I was thinking 3 wins in a row, only 1 defeat in 10, 10 points behind Sheff U who are stuttering a bit, and still have to go to Sunderland, and a favourable match against Rotherham up next, I thought they might have had a very outside chance of sneaking top 2, but that's clearly gone now and a poor couple of results for them. They play Norwich, Luton, Sheff U, and Burnley, as well as their 'grudge' match against Coventry, in their next 6 games, the 'O'Neil derby' as well, so that will give a good indication of whether they could sustain their playoff challenge, or not.

Going for the quadruple this time 12 months ago, looks like it's all about a top 4 finish for Liverpool this year in mid-late February.

A heroic return @Alan Pardew?

2-2 with 20 minutes to go. Quite a good match. West Brom equalised twice.

Interesting match in the Championship on Sky tonight - Watford vs West Brom Watford 2 points off the playoffs, and West Brom 2 points further back, but have a game in hand on most. Two teams who should definitely be in the promotion mix, although one was massively held back by their manager at the start of the season, and I guess the other not helped by their crazy managerial policy. West Brom went on an amazing run to recover from Bruce, going from bottom 3 into the playoffs, but only 4 points from their last 4 has seen them fall a bit, while Watford haven't won in 5. Apart from Middlesbrough, the other playoff spots look wide open, so a big match from that perspective. Speaking of Boro, they might even make the top 2 now. They've won 9 of their last 10 league matches and 5 in a row since that Sunderland match. They're also currently only 4 points behind Sheff Utd (who do have a game in hand) and have made up 8 points on them in the past 4 matches (including a win at Bramall Lane), so definitely a possibility they'll pass them before the end of the season. I don't mind Boro, and wouldn't mind them coming up, but I would rather it was via the playoffs.

Been a weird season for QPR, and certainly one of two halves up to now. Started the season very well, and after 16 games they had 30 points (9W 3D), and were top of the league for a couple of weeks, but it's kind of all gone to pot since the Beale Wolves link and since then they have only won 1 and drawn 6 of their last 17 games, just 9 points, so they've gone from almost 2 points per game to barely 1 point in 2. Probably just about enough points on board to not get totally dragged into the mess and even a modest 1 point per game, or just under, in their final 13 games should probably be enough, but something had to change, and they'll have been twitching with Cardiff, Huddersfield, and Blackpool (all with new managers) all getting 3 points this weekend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Newcastle_United_F.C._season#Statistics For me a LB, defensive midfielder and attacking midfielder would be the singings I'd make if we were to bring in 3 starters. We've had 11 players start at least 14 league matches and a few others filling in when required / when they are fit in some cases Pope - far better than I expected, looks top 4/6 standard Trippier - maybe gone off form slightly recently, but still in and around top 6 standard, and vital leadership and generally good deliveries Schaar - probably midtable (some of that due to previous wear and tear). A bit underrated and maybe less fashionable than the younger, expensive Botman, and he has been very good this season, but he is over 30 now, and has generally been a bottom half player when in bigger leagues. Deserves another season though for his performances this season, and has been a big part of the strong defensive unit Botman - top 4/6 standard. Been great this season, and hopefully he'll be a big factor for us for years to come Burn - bottom half. He's never finished in the top half of the PL and spent a lot of years in the lower leagues, was never considered a regular at BHA, but filled in a lot because they played 3 CBs so would cover for either Dunk, Duffy or Webster or fill in at LB when required. I like him, want him to do well, and he has largely been fine, and isn't really a LB, but he could be useful cover for LB or CB, and play in a few less important Europa/Conference games if we get there, but that's definitely a position we could massively improve, despite our great defensive record. Longstaff - probably bottom half, good engine, local lad who you want to see do well, but like Burn, could be a good squad player in this 5 sub era, and play in Europe, but again, we can certainly do better and he wouldn't start for most top half teams IMO, or many in the bottom half when you consider that Rice and Neves could be replacements. Bruno - clearly top 4 standard Joelinton - in and around top 6 - there's still part of me that think he's going to turn to shite , but he's largely been excellent for 15 months now and has been a massive factor in our rise, and certainly deserves at least another 12 months and beyond. Willock - jury out for me, probably midtable. He gets around and has chipped in with some important goals and assists, but Arsenal, who were operating at a 5-8 level at the time, were happy enough to see a 21 year old home grown player leave, and he was obviously joining a club in a completely different direction. Maybe not essential, but we can do better, and Maddison playing there would be ideal Almiron - upper midtable - similar to Joelinton in that I expect his to return to previous levels. Not as effective at the moment as that previous purple patch but his numbers are still great, can press well, and more important positions to focus on, plus Gordon could probably fill in there if and when required and offer competition Wilson - probably midtable - obviously spent most of his career in the lower leagues and at struggling Bmouth in the PL, plus came to an unambitious club in us at the time. Very good finisher when fit, but no 'big 6' side would take him, and the injuries become more concerning and he's getting on a bit. Less need to replace as Isak will be there and possibly is that replacement. Maxi and Gordon could come into the side and compete well and you wouldn't think we were being hindered. Hard to tell Gordon's level due to his age and lack of game time, but certainly looks good enough to grow with us. It's obviously all subjective, but we've kind of got a squad of 14 players, probably Targett as well who has been unlucky with injuries / illness this season, so 15, and a few of those you would consider midtable at absolute best, and the rest aren't really good enough for the PL, never mind one going for Europe, so it's crazy to where we are in the league currently with what we are operating with. Ideally get at least 3 usual starters in like Grimaldo, Alavarez/Neves and Maddison (at a push) and then we might have a bench of Dubs, Burn, Targett, Willock, Longstaff, Isak/Wilson, Maxi/Gordon etc. a lot more options when you can bring 5 subs on, and not one predominantly filled up with Ritchie, Dummett, Fraser, and even Murphy. The likes of Schaar, Almiron, Wilson etc. and perhaps Trippier (he'll be coming up to 34) could then be gradually phased out / on the bench at the end of 2024.

After beating Spurs away on Oct 23rd: https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/23-october-2022/ Pretty sure we haven't been out since then, and if so, it would have been temporarily due to an early kick off or something, but gameweek wise, it's definitely then.

That is a fair point mind, if you had won back to back games then e.g. Leeds away will look more favourable.

Home Arsenal Man Utd Tottenham Brighton Leicester Wolves Southampton Away Man City Chelsea Villa Brentford Everton Forest West Ham Leeds I haven't checked the order and that will become a bit more significant if we play some teams when they have nothing to play, or maybe have a cup QF / SF / final on their mind, like what we have, and it's more of an 'on paper' order of difficulty, but there do look some very difficult fixtures there. The likes of Forest are very good at home, unbeaten in 8 now, Goodison was a bit of a fortress late last season, Dyche has won 2 out of 2 at home, there is always a bit of needle in the fixture, and the Gordon factor won't help. There's honestly not many there that I look at and think that should be 3 points. Maybe Wolves and Southampton at home, and possibly one or two of the bottom 6 (on the list, not table) away matches, and of course we will pick up some wins / results in matches we weren't necessarily expecting, but we have passed up a lot of winnable fixtures in 2022, a lot more favourable looking than a lot of those remaining.

Yeah, draws can be OK, especially against teams around you as they drop points as well, but while the 6 matches prior to Liverpool extended our unbeaten run to 17 games at the time, so more positives could be drawn, 1 win and 5 draws is equivalent to 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 defeats, which doesn't look impressive at all, and 2W 2D 3L as the equivalent now with the Lpool defeat, it looks even worse, barely a point per game over 7 games which is an ample part of the season, almost a 5th of it. Probably be exactly a point per game over 8 after Man City away, and there were many favourable matches in that period where the opposition were between 4 and 6-1 to win. A lot of very tough looking matches in the final 15, far harder on paper than some of the matches we have passed up. They did have Paqueta, but West Ham looked far better against us than they have here. They've offered next to nothing.

To be fair, Sky have been licking our hoop a fair bit this season. I remember Saints and Foxes fan were far from happy with the respective League Cup coverage https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/topic/59873-sky-tv-last-night/ https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/130861-newcastle-a-efl-cup-match-thread/page/7/#comments

And there it is...

Spurs do look a lot more threatening at the start of the second half, a few good opportunities now, and wouldn't be a surprise if they took the lead soon, whereas it didn't really look like coming in the first half.

Just seen Sky advertise the final for the first time there during half time of Spurs vs West Ham.

There have been a lot more 'top 4' (obviously) and 'top 6' options on betting sites, whereas you'll rarely see the same for top 5 or top 7 odds. It's been like that for years, but whether the 'big 6' has influenced that market being present, I'm not sure. https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-6-finish On a less related note, I see Brighton are around 11/8 to finish top 6, whereas Fulham, despite that shock and smash and grab win yesterday, are still way out at 10/1. Maybe another thing, and perhaps more relevant to when we were both battling to stay in the league year on year prior to 2016, with minimal ambition and optimism, but Sunderland haven't finished in the top 6 of the top flight since 1954/55, almost 70 years, so when things were bleak, and the teams were more comparable, the fact they hadn't finished that high in most people's lives whearas we had a number of times, perhaps that possibly played a small part in it looking more significant as well.

Oliver has his Newcastle hat on there , and if he doesn't give it then there's less chance they get overturned these days.

Hayden quite lucky to not give away a penalty there for West Ham.