Geordie_once_removed

I'm off to see my German team Fortuna tomorrow in their crucial game. I saw them play Desden two weeks ago and the atmosphere was great.

I know he's not the most attractive man alive and has more than a passing resemblance to a rodent, but the BBC really did pick a picture where Fernandes looks pure rat for this piece.

There was 100% too much football, that's not daft at all.

The loss of his leadership on the pitch is underrated. I think Thiaw has been a good signing and may turn out to be a great one but he seems very quiet and the pitch and the defence as a unit with him in it has been distinctly sieve like and part of this I think is losing that leader and organiser on the pitch that Schär is. I really hope he stays for one more year.

I'd keep all three. There is potential for real threat and variety there, plus at the moment 2/3 you'd surely be selling at a loss. So many other positions need filling we'll need that money elsewhere.

If true, I'm happy with all that. I still have visions of the promised land of a big man, wee man pairing of Woltemade and Wissa.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you said and I was as close to thinking he wasn't up to it as I have ever been these past few weeks. He has to adapt his style, as both seasons where we have played in the Champions League have shown it isn't sustainable. I still feel there is just enough mitigating factors, one of which could be a bit of burn out for him and the players meaning new tactics just weren't sticking and energy levels were well down, for him to still warrant my faith.

Overall I'm happy with the decision and I do think he can still bring us on. He's coming off his most challenging season since he left Bournemouth and they were relegated, but don't forget how he reacted to that. He identified weakness and went off and worked on them. When he first arrived everyone thought we'd play nice football but be soft touches and concede loads of goals. But Howe had been off studying how to put together a tight unit of nasty bastards from the master of this style Simeone. He quickly turned us into perhaps the best defensive side in the League for the next year and a half to two years. We've lost that (big time) this year but I don't see why we can't get that back. I'm not blind to our flaws and the need to evolve but I think Howe can do this and he has done this with us before. He was shafted by late business in the summer so he went straight into a season where for 2/3 of it we've been playing 2 games a week with no time to train. So ultimately he had too little time to prepare players and adapt tactics. Give him the summer and some timely signings and I think he'll address most of our key issues.* * I reserve the right to fully go back on all of this should we boot it to the corner flag from our first kick off next year.

The optimist in me see a formation that gets Wissa and Woltemade on the pitch at the same time and it actually working resulting in a 2 nil win. The pessimist in me sees the same 433 formation and a kick off where we boot it to the corner flag and a 2-1 loss after we go 1 nil up.

Has the Athletic not done a longer piece on what is going on with Wissa? It seems like the exact kind of topic they claimed they wanted to write, and often did, when they first started. I have a subscription but since I got a new phone I've not bothered logging in. Says a lot about the drop in the quality of articles really. I don't think I'll renew again.

I think this is entirely down to personal perspective. I'm feeling pretty disenchanted with football at the moment, so I think this shifts my view. I was never happy with the Saudi sale. However, I could see how it might bring success, which would always be tainted for me, but I knew in my heart of hearts I would celebrate and enjoy anyway. The ruIes however mean we now arguably have the worst of both worlds. Morally dubious owners (to put it mildly) and still such a clear ceiling to our potential success, that we're forced to feed on scraps off the big table. Personally I would see any cup win after such a rules change in the same light, it would come with caveats sure, but I think I would celebrate it the same because following Newcastle was passed down to me and it's about as old as any of memories.

You're not wrong. Doesn't mean we should just accept this.

I think you misunderstood my suggestion. You would do 2 as there wouldn't be any clubs competing in the Champions League in there in the first place. I think any club competing in Europe is too wide a net and as the other European Competitions bring in so much less money. It would still stuff teams playing in the less European competitions but everything has downsides.

Remarkable very much because it was this. The last 15 years has largely the same Champions League qualifying clubs winning.

I'd also not be against this. But it's something that depends on UEFA so harder to achieve, especially as they are going in the complete opposite direction. The suggestion I put forward would be purely a domestic decision (I think).

So the League Cup was between Arsenal and Man City. The FA Cup will be be between Man City and Chelsea. All 4 teams played in the Champions League and their fans apart from on the day and maybe the week after won't really care it they win. Their finances won't be impacted much either as they get so much money from elsewhere. In short these competitions are increasing won by clubs who on the whole don't care and don't need the wins. So how about this as a suggestion. 1. You qualify for the Champions League (you could make this all European competitions) you don't play in domestic cups 2. Bring back replays as these really help out smaller clubs and were got rid of purely to ease match congestion of clubs playing in Europe. They're also fun if you aren't playing 2 times a week for 2/3 of the season. 3. Bin off VAR in the cups, just because it's a bit shit and there she be all about living in the moment and not micro analysing decisions. I know you might argue would devalue these competitions as the best teams weren't in them, but honestly if Newcastle won the 2027 FA Cup final against Leeds and some bellend said "You only won that because X weren't in it" would you care? I wouldn't, I'd just find it a useful dickhead detecting device.

To the ones people have already said there is a bit of a hatred against Villa since their fans celebrated wildly when they relegated us back in the late noughties. I hate Chelsea and I think a lot of Newcastle fans do too for so, so, so many valid reasons but I don't think this is a specific club thing. Everyone hates those wankers. Though I do remember the 2000 FA cup semi final where two goals but Gus Poyet gave that collection of cunts a thoroughly underserved win, so maybe Newcastle fans of a certain ages hate them more than the average.

At the moment I'd be happy for us to at least try to get Woltemade on the pitch somewhere in the final 3rd and to never see us kick it to touch from a kick off ever again.

Also people who were once from the area and left as soon as the could but then bang on about their pride at being from the area. You're German right? Think about how it might be to call someone an Ersatz Rhurpottler. This idea is that it's all fake or artificial like a plastic copy of something.

We have quite a rare player in Woltemade who we're not getting the best out of at the moment and could would well in a support striker role. So I think it's worth it.

Like others I'm sure there will be some clauses that allow them to pay a fraction of that. They're incompetent but not that incompetent.

Well at some point you'll get your wish.

I plan on taking a nice long break for the World Cup. Fuck that shite.

The only interesting things about this world cup for me are: 1. The sexy away Japan shirt I just bought 2. What they'll do with Iran

I'm a Howe fan and want him to stay, but the tactic of from a kick off booting the ball into touch near their corner is very indicative of a need for him to change our tactics and evolve. We were at home against a newly promoted side with the ball and we didn't trust ourselves with it. Instead we deliberately gave it away in an attempt to pressure them into making a mistake with the ball in their half. This is a very energy intensive approach to pull off as it requires an aggressive press which can't be maintained by a team who is playing in Europe and going deep in the cups. This kind of tactic also has a ceiling and it can be brutally exploited as Barca so clearly showed.