Geordie_once_removed

18 hours ago, Tsunami said:

We couldn’t compete with their central midfield of Wharton (who admittedly looks to have loads of potential) and Will Hughes, seriously, Will Hughes, who out pressed us, out fought us and generally did what he wanted. That pretty much sums it up for me, if you can’t nullify and bypass Will Hughes you’ve already lost.

It's my fault. I saw their line up with Ayew and Hughes in it and remarked to a friend that we had it in the bag as these are two of the worst players to have over 50 Premier League appearances. Naturally they then both go on to have very good games and play key roles in both of Palace's goals...

I still stand by my assessment of Hughes and Ayew mind.

Very poor today. His tendency to flop to the floor in a most unconvincing manner cost us a goal and a pretty good penalty shout. He needs a rest, I would be curious to see Anderson in the middle.

2 hours ago, 54 said:

 

I wonder if with teams increasingly having a more holistic style of play and coaching at all levels we'll see a few more of these semi leftfield appointments. DofFs may increasingly identity managers who match this style over ones who have higher profiles but are stylistically less good fits. Especially at successful clubs whose style is seen to be yielding results.  For example there were a few pieces saying Alonso was a stark contrast to Klopp in key areas. If so perhaps Liverpool weren't that interested in the first place or didn't really go all guns for him.

20 minutes ago, Stifler said:

This is the alleged Juventus shirt, I can’t say that it will be much different to ours.

 

https://www.footyheadlines.com/2023/10/juventus-24-25-home-kit.html

I hope not, that's very bland.

27 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

I hate cheering on Arsenal but here we are. 

Based on the fact that they haven't won the league in ages and they have built towards their current position really wisely through good appointments, buying well and being patient, I want to want Arsenal to do well.  But then I remember "It's a disgrace..." and how so, so many of their fans reacted and I just want them to get humped every game. It's a real Id Vs the Superego struggle for me.

57 minutes ago, Beth said:

That top is even more horrific than his footballing ability.

I thought the exact same. How did they get the colour so wrong? The thought of Hendrick playing football in it is enough to really put you off the game for life. 

Here is another thing that pisses me off about PSR rules. As fans we suffered for years under Ashley's penny pinching regime. The only "benefit" of this was that the accounts were in decent order for the new owners to be able to initially spend when they came in.  Now they can't do that any more. But Chelsea were heavily in debt to their owner because of heavy spending on their squad and they would have been heading for trouble under the current rules, but as they were bought they got a free pass to wipe all this debt out. The rationale behind this has never been clear to me, but it has clearly allowed Chelsea, who were already had a stronger squad to build upon, to vastly out spend Newcastle and give themselves a big advantage with no PSR punishment. Yet.

9 minutes ago, Jack27 said:

Pinto Pinto Pinto

I can help but feel were going about this all wrong. Why aren't we publically saying we'll take an employee off a rival club before any contact has been made with that club? Why aren't we complaining how people won't just release their contracted employees to us for nothing?  Why are we being discreet, diligent and professional?

There is a total disconnect between the current cost of so many aspects of modern football, from player fees and wages to compensation for sacking coaches/managers, and the PSR limits that the rules are potentially pushing more clubs towards insolvency. There is a potential case study of this with Everton but even more so Leicester.  They were on the cusp of Champions League in 19/20 and 20/21. Last season they were surprisingly relegated and weren't financially set up for it, you can't be if you are ambitious and looking to reach Europe.  They now look like they might go up but they could be immediately given a points deduction due to Premier League PSR rules. This would make them highly like to face another relegation and that could result in them getting even more points deductions and you can see the situation spiralling from there. This for a club that for several years was held up as a model for how to be responsibly ambitious.

Just now, cubaricho said:

 

Did he actually grow up in poverty? Or just a casual bit of racism?  

 

And he's from Paraguay, not Peru.

 

 

 

Based on my vague recollection of an Athletic article I read ages ago he did. But then I did just (briefly - it was just a brain fart, honest) confuse his nationality with Nobby .

53 minutes ago, Stifler said:

I don’t think Miggy is keen on Saudi like, he could have went in the summer. I honestly think he’ll go back to the MLS.

I'm not so sure. For someone who grew up with the poverty he did, the thought of personal financial security a move to Saudi could bring as well as what he could do with some of that money in Peru would be hard to say no to.

He could easily do 2 years in Saudi still close out his career in the US.

2 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

Our twitter ITK saying him and Miggy will be subject of Saudi bids.

I think that, due to a general abatement of some initial caution and a growing sense from both the club and other clubs around them that the current financial rules really are just the big 6 pulling up the drawbridge after them, well see the club using the Saudi "cheat code" more this summer.  I still don't think the club will overtly take the piss but just a few more of the ASM type situation but this time while he probably went for a fair to cheap price they players will go for a bit over their market price.  I'm not sure how the League could even stop it, all the club needs is two of the 4 teams it owns to enter into a mini bidding war and then how could you say it wasn't market price?

Not saying I approve of this, despite my frustrations with PSR et all I'm personally not disposed to a "if you can't beat them, join them" mindset, I just can see it happening.

2 minutes ago, Checko said:

Elliot Anderson? He seems a bit like a young ross barkley.

His most effective games are much further forward and less central. I was thinking about someone who is comfortable in the middle and further back. Anyway not a hill I'll die on, mainly just a thought.

4 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Should be aiming much higher imo. 

You're probably right, I was thinking more as squad depth as opposed to a starter. Miley aside do we have any other promising CMs coming through the ranks? As in an ideal world they fill this role but my impression was that we're still a couple of years off being able to do a City and having this conveyor belt of talent from the academy, so I wondered if he could be a stop gap solution.

Barkley on the relative cheap if Luton go down anyone? Or is he too similar to Bruno and Tonali in that he's more of a playmaker who can defend since he went to Luton.

6 hours ago, 54 said:

MOTD also didn't mention the RNID thing at all. Which is really shitty as well.

I hadn't realised that until you pointed it out. Don't MOTD normally do a short none game related segment per episode? That was perfect for it.

Also the hearing impaired kids the camera cut to living their best life after the first goal was the highlight of the whole game for me. I watched that several times today to avoid the BBC newsfeed about the Iran missile strike.

That he can play as a right back and left wing means I would keep him over Almiron. As much as I like them both, if we are to kick on next year they need to only be squad players and we don't need them both for that role.

That was a performance for all the knee jerkers. Pretty much every time he has been called upon by Howe, except against West Ham, he has been solid. A really valuable squad member for next season at least.

What a player. Here is my prediction, he's going to be a great manager as well. You just need to hear him speak about the game to realise how intelligent he is.  It's a big reason why he is so good.

30 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Prediction:

 

Newcastle win, and Bruno at the end of a MOTM performance gets booked in the 89th minute for something completely daft after about ten games of being a good lad.

Didn't someone say that if Bruno gets 2 yellow cards it's only a one match suspension?  If so and he gets one yellow card during the game I have this great mental image of us winning in the 90+ minute and Bruno really calmly and deliberately getting another yellow card, perhaps by making a small foul then just as Spurs are about to take the free kick running up and booting the ball away. He then goes to shake the hand of the Spurs captain and the ref and walks off smiling and waving to the crowd as the ref shows the second yellow and the red to his back.  Howe suppress a smile and Tindle just beams at him like a proud father. Next level shithousery.

I can see 3 or 4 out of Targett, Murphy, Almiron, Longstaff and Wilson being sold to make funds available and as much as I like all of them I can't see many footballing based objections to this.

Targett just doesn't seem to be rated by Howe and Hall should take his role as rotation LB. He'll probably be an attractive 5-10 million option for a bottom half premier league team.

Almiron or Murphy should play the same role the team next year as high energy backup to either stretch tiring defenses or help close out games. We don't need two players who do essentially the same thing.

Longstaff is solid but his limitations have been shown up and with Tonali and Miley I think we can cover him.

Wilson is too injury prone to be a backup option to an injury prone striker in Isak and he's probably on too much money for a team in our position to have him as third choice.

Like others I feel we need a RW or a RWF and a quality CB, after that I'm not sure another CM option or a more conventional striker?

10 hours ago, joeyt said:

 

 

 

Pretty sure he's quoting Dune there. If you're going to twok your inspirational quotes perhaps don't do it from the book/movie that has so completely captured the zeitgeist.

7 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Germany is the model for broken modern football.  Bayern’s complete dominance is absolutely ludicrous, and FFP has enshrined their position.  

At the top level for sure. But for a yoyo club it's fun.

I live in Germany and my German team, Fortuna Düsseldorf, give me a pleasant relief from FFP. They are a bit of a YoYo club. A bit too big for the 2nd League a bit too small/shit for the first.  So generally every season has some drama. But crucially I think the 50+1 rule here keeps spending more conservative generally, so even when they go down or miss out on going up it's not a big deal.

Well that was both very predictable and very disappointing.  It might have been too deflections but we offered precious little in attack.