TheInfiniteOdyssey

Second half wasn’t good enough at all. Very sloppy in possession, no real urgency in attack well before their equaliser. Disappointing against a very poor team.

Longstaff has such little quality on the ball these days.

They have looked much better since their changes earlier in the half. We’ve not got to grips with it.

We’ve looked nervy all half against one of the worst teams in the league.

Just so poor

Just don’t see the ownership group moving for Maldini, would be a really surprising appointment.

Great game this.

Agree he’d be an excellent player for us. Only concern is the amount of outlay on a single player when the entire squad seems to need strengthening.

Always seems to get a good connection on the ball whenever he takes the shot on - one touch, two touch or whatever. A great quality to have from a wide forward.

Really unhappy about this has been handled from the start quite frankly. Is anything even going to get better, seems like we just run players into the ground.

Think overall that’s a very fair article looking at wider club infrastructure issues. I’ve been disappointed at how slow the progress has been on a new training ground. They’ve surely had enough time to get this project off the ground. Presumably we’re looking at 4+ years away for anything to be operational.

I’ve been really critical of Howe this season, but watching the performance and result tonight, any heavy criticism feels unjustified. Energy levels were much higher and simply lacking that final bit of composure and /or quality in the final sequence of attack. I would also concede that City didn’t really get out of first gear second half.

I don’t know the financial possibilities for each elite European club, but you’ve already mentioned about 10 clubs which is a sizeable amount already. In any case, this is deviating from my original challenge to your post which basically insinuated our best players would be steadfastly loyal to us and not be interested in moving on. I don’t think that’s true at all and I’d expect them to want to move if an acceptable offer arrives.

Going to have to disagree with pretty much all of that. The clubs you reference are among the biggest in the world as well, which I don’t think is a fair comparison to our situation. If an acceptable offer arrives from an elite European club, they will leave.

If that’s our finishing position, you honestly believe the likes of Bruno, Isak, Botman and whoever else wouldn’t want to move on if a major European club put in an acceptable offer for them in the summer?

Think he’s definitely good enough for Man City. Nunes is basically a waste of space for them and would also be preferred ahead of Kovacic.

I understand the injury list, but our results and performances over the next 10 games are significant in my view. We may totally collapse and find ourselves mired in mid-table. Or we pick up form and fight hard for a European place - either securing one or just missing out. The latter would represent a solid season, especially given everything that has transpired. But if it’s the former, then I really think it’s going to be difficult (for me personally) to maintain confidence in the existing setup.

We need to have a strong end to the season. If we’re still continuing to concede like we are doing and fail to improve our points per game ratio, I would be open-minded to a change in the summer. I really hate the idea of just writing off a season as well. Not sure if people just use it as a comfort blanket against expectations, but it’s the type of sentiment I want the club to move on from. A bottom-half finish would represent a very poor season in my view.

I want to give Howe as much time as he needs and will always be grateful for how he’s transformed the club since his arrival, however I can’t shake the feeling that there’s fundamental systemic problems in our approach, which is really souring my opinion of a long-term future with him at the helm.

Don’t see Onana’s quality at all.

I’m all for a brand new stadium, provided it’s in a central location. I’m of the mind of prioritising future generations of Newcastle fans who will be able to benefit from having the best football facilities we can offer, and hopefully a better chance of getting a ticket through expanded capacity.

I disagree, I would honestly find it baffling we would target a player like that, particularly as a backup option. The club can’t continue to cite FFP concerns if we’re pursuing players in that inflated wage / fee bracket either.

Obviously there’s no way we know at this time if we’re interested, but as you identify, the inflated price and overall quality of the player, would make me extremely disappointed in our scouting network. We should be able to identify better players for the sums involved for a deal like that.

I mean this sounds reductive, but this is the purpose of our scouting and recruitment team? I would certainly hope that they can identify global talent that can come in within our budgetary constraints. Alvarez and other examples have already been mentioned.

Love Wilson but it’s the right time for all parties to move on. Ideal scenario would be a Saudi team come in and offer a good fee for a permanent deal.