Odear

Big beaming smiles in every photo that’s surfaced.. that’s the sort of look that accompanies lots of money changing hands and someone getting a slice of it more to the point.

Mitrovic has been looking far better in his little cameos so far this season. He gets huge stick but he's a young lad moving from an easy league to the hardest one in the world. It might just be the case that he's needed a bit longer than average to settle in. The dippers will be more worried about facing him than Joselu or Gayle..

Shepherd made some poor choices in managers and sanctioned some poor signings. He was naive, that leaked conversation slagging off the fans for buying the shirt was something he stepped around but never recovered from. He was never in a moral position to criticise Ashley, which was a shame because we could have used that a few years ago. The press always had time for him. RIP though. Presided over some great times.

Why wouldn't he sign it? If he's on a longer contract he's less likely to be messed about. Especially on his wages. The only way he'll leave this club is if a bigger team comes in and pays off his contract.. or.. constructive dismissal.

Few thoughts coming away from the game. Although Merino played Shelvey in nicely at one point, he was essentially in the left wing position.. they didn't look compatible as a midfield pairing. Hayden needs to stick to DM work.. he's not box to box and used the ball poorly at various points. Merino class again.. are we making best use of him though? Joselu is going to cost us points with his poor finishing, we got away with it last week but not today. Why did we sign Murphy? If he's not going to oust Atsu, perhaps give him a chance at no.10 instead of Perez. Speaking of which, what's his function? He's trying really hard to put himself about but not sharp on the ball, certainly not influencing anything, no threat on goal. It's hard to criticise the back line.. Lascelles did give away the free kick but it was Merinos lack of concentration at the back which gave them the chance to score. He's not a defender though so can't really say much. Overall Brighton did their homework. Kept it very tight. This one falls on Rafa really. We should have been more positive.

We've been shite today in fairness. No coincidence that Huddersfield and Brighton are the teams who haven't underestimated us. Never really looked like scoring today. Fair played to Brighton.

We rode our luck a little but otherwise a typical Benitez showing. Brighton have run out of ideas and we've come more into it as the half has gone on. You can see the frustration building with them. They'll start the second half strongly again but maybe 10 minutes in they'll run out of steam. Can't pick out anyone obvious to bring off. Joselu has to take those chances though...

Probably just the one..

It's not another false dawn because the reality is that nobody will know anything other than those who have signed NDA's. This Matt Hughes lad is talking out his arse. If Ashley was reducing the asking price, he'd be letting his lawyers tell potential investors this, not the average reader of the times.

In fact this morning around 7am this gets written.. no more than an opinion piece.. https://newcastletoons.com/2017/09/23/newcastle-united-mike-ashley-silent-benefits/ Then HITC start quoting an article by the times about 8.30 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/ashley-cuts-newcastle-asking-price-to-380m-029rv7ch6 So who the fuck is Matt Hughes of The Times? Where's his HP? It's not unsettling news for us but the players can often be affected by stories like this.

Or this could be the media trying to cause a bit of unsettling. Be great if there was a way to pinpoint where these stories started. "Newcastle in 4th and no scandals to write about... we can't be having that"

If there was any truth to the takeover story in the summer, NDA's would have been signed at the very beginning. These things take months to work out. It was never going to be the case that someone would come in and buy the club over space of a few days/weeks like the way Ashley did, that was something out of Wolf of Wall St looking back.

I hope Klopp stays for a long time.. the dippers would be a lure for Rafa to return for sure if that job was available again.

Was that LeJeune in on Merino the second time?

Hard to call. We had off days last season when it was expected we'd win. Think Rafa is quick to point this out with the repeated use of "over confident" Brighton are a good side but if we keep it compact they'll get careless eventually.. this is Rafa's way. What was especially pleasing this weekend was how we didn't lose the heads when Stoke scored, even the team that finished 5th a few years ago didn't have that in their locker. (It either went well for us or it didn't) You have to say we could have gotten something from every game so far this season, I see no reason why this should be any different.. 2-0 win I'm going for. Richie and Joselu

RTG is about as putrid as the chronical for pop ups and malware. Scummy club. Scummy fans. Scummy forum.

Future International player (and most likely captain) if he keeps improving. Speaks very well. On today's game.. it's hard to pick a fault with the back line.. if last season is a benchmark, his form will dip eventually. This might be when LeJeune comes back in. Mbemba will hopefully keep playing at LB. Superior in every way as a player to Dummett.

That's it!!! Fucking well done lads!! Onwards and upwards

30 seconds

Ffs.. here's that lanky journeyman

Get the fuck in! Own goal... positive substitution too!!! Let's see how Shelvey gets on with Merino!!

We're still playing well. If we score another we'll win this. Just goes to show though, waste chances in this league and you get fucked

We will score another.

OMG. What a chance

Joselu is just to eager to score. Rafa will calm him down at half time. Gayle probably would have scored there but Gayle also doesn't get in some of the positions that Joselu does. His overall contribution is good. There'll be tired legs in the 2nd half for sure though. Huge off the ball work..