RobS

Yeah you know he’s going to make a mistake or two each game, but you also get creativity and assists and the odd goal consistently. Bar the purple patch you get neither from Miggy

are their really that many clubs in the world with the ability to pay (if the rumours are right) £100 Million in cash in 1 lump to us, before end of June? And out of that potentially small list of clubs, how many would Bruno actually want to play for over us?

I couldn’t watch the match today, was it an injury or tactical replacement at half time? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgyk9x39mdo

Bruno is determined to upstage Sandro....

I wondered if the rumours about us being in the clarts and needing to raise a bit before the end of Jkune might make us cash in on this lad early - hope its not the case he looks really good 

Players unavailable, a flipping decent Premier league 11 this:

OUT:

Nick Pope

Kieran Trippier

Jamal Lascelles

Sven Botman

Matt Targett

Lewis Miley

Sandro Tonali

Joelinton

Joe Willock

Miguel Almiron

Callum Wilson

Thats a damn decent side, and would finish mid table at least I think, and their all unavailable for us.

And he delivers that, amazing really - thank you Eddie and team 

Felt like we were down to 10 when he was on, offered nothing and gave them more space on that side. Would rather of had Ritchie on I think!

hoping just cramp and knackered after not having played 85 mins of football in ages? praying thats the case anyway!!

this cunts knee exploded then?

Could Steve Nickson really get the promotion? 

Interesting times

1 minute ago, Orphanage said:

Listen , Fast Eddie sez hes measured the land down there ( Arena ) and its just not big enough . Fuck knows how he measured it like 

watch the video, he shows how lol

Was gonna say, I dont think tyneside Life is usually the man for details and facts etc, but in this case having watched his video the evidence seems pretty strong. 

Utilitia Arena defo not going to be knocked down for 4-5 years

Heliport owner has no plans to sell

Homes England just bought the brownfield land and already got surveyors / land prep etc.

Arena Stadium is not happening like.

34 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I'm not sure he's prolific enough yet to be their main striker.

 

It took Rodri & Gundo about 18 months to work well together. Alvarez only been a mainstay in the team this season.

 

And in any case... the manager plays both of them when fit. That's the plan he's had for the season. 

 

And Alvarez didn't cost £50m.

 

They've started like 6 games together in 18 months. Hardly plenty.

 

With Gordon's form and signing Barnes - I think the plan was to rotate with CL football and otherwise have Isak as #1 with Wilson getting 20-30 minutes a game. Which is all good.

 

 

 

It is all good. Until wilson gets injured and missed 5-6 matches, Isak plays every minute of those games, getting more and more tired till he gets injured, and suddenly were playing Miggy - Gordon - Murphy and not scoring much.

Your theory is sound if you have 2 strikers who can stay fit, and support each other. Isak andf Wilson are incapable of doing that sadly.

9 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Why don't any other club have 2 "A standard" strikers?

 

With FFP - it just doesn't make sense.

 

Isak needs to improve his strength and conditioning so he can cope with the physical demands of Howe-ball better - that's route A. He visibly struggles with the pace of it. We also need to rotate more when he does get fatigued but that should happen less often.

 

I don't see how we spend £50m on a striker - then have enough money for RW, LB & CB.

City - Haaland / Alvarez

Liverpool - Diaz / Nunez (plus Salah from out wide)

Arsenal - Jesus / Havertz (plus Saka scoring loads)

Man Utd - Hojlund / Garnacho (Rashford contributing too)

I'm not saying buy Solanke, im not even a big fan of his and think he's just having a miggy purple patch. 

But from this season anyway, Gordon is not a central forward, and Isak is not fit enough, so we need to buy another contributing forward this summer who can replace Wilson, thats obvious, to me anyway.

27 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I don't know man. Maybe i'm insane. To me £50m on a backup striker is crazy.

 

This type of player will still cost £20-£40m like. It's down to the quality of player, their personality and a bit of luck.

 

I don't think you can call him a backup when Isak has hardly proven his fitness record so far. If he can play 3/4ers of our games in a season then fair enough, but as it stands i would like thme to sign another equal striker, one with a good fitness record and an eye for goals as they will get a lot of game time as it stands.

I agree with CD here mind, theirs been many a game where from 60 minutes Isak's been barely able to run, offered no tracking back, no movement for options for balls and just offered very little. In those situations i'd rather have a young lad on who can run about a bit than Isak, and all it does it make Isak worse for the next game as well.

Howe needs to learn to use what bench he has, even if its poor, more effectively, to take the strain off key people who are not that strong phyisically. 

It’s like he knows he can’t be aggressive as he will get a yellow and we have no other midfielders. Or he’s injured. But either way been anonymous that half 

2 minutes ago, MrRaspberryJam said:

£6m obligation to buy. 

got excited then tasted the Jam.

36 minutes ago, SteV said:

Would seem very unlikely given what he said in the last presser.

I missed that, what did he say roughly?

24 minutes ago, MagSA said:

Pretty decent last night and got the job done defensively

Strange how subdued he was offensively until late in the game when I guess it got stretched.

Not sure if that was just down to our overall approach to the game or whether he is still feeling his way back after some high profile lapses and would rather focus on doing his main job first.

 

Need him on top of his game at both ends of the pitch

potentially related to his Groin issue, didnt feel comfortable sprinting down the weings and having to track back etc? Not sure really, I know what you mean tho he wasn't his normal self, but then is that also in part related to Miggy not being there, and Murphy playing that position differently perhaps?

1 minute ago, MrRaspberryJam said:

£17m apparently. 

wheres that from?

1 minute ago, NSG said:

Meanwhile Isak, Botman and Bruno fit straight in  

Aye if your good enough your good enough IMO.

Gordon's case he wasnt fit at all, blame that on him, his previous club or what I don't know. but others have come in and slotted in straight away fine.

Is Willock defo in the same mould as Joelinton from a tackling/win back / interception perspective? Whilst ive not seen him play in what feels like motnhs now, I remember him being more a transitional midfielder, fantastic range of passing and fast on the break, i don't remember him for his tackles etc.

Are we close to actually seeing Schar play in Midfield, when Bruno/Longstaff or Miley now gets injured, or soon banned for 2 games? Play Lascelles with Botman and Schar as a holding Mid and Miley and Longy as the 2 normal mids.

Madness, what a cluster fuck of a season.

Got to be a lot of questions between now and the summer of our medical team, and Howe needs a period of reflection on team management. We have a U21 team, yes they suck but how many of them could of played 20-30 mins here and their to see out games and potentially helped this utter mess of a situation were now in?

didn't someone say that this was some condition that NFL players get, grass foot or something, and it is a nightmare and takes months to recover from?