Shadow Puppets

Fucking brilliant day in Milan, capped off by a really positive performance, barring some sloppy nervous play in the first half. Opening 10 mins we were great, for about 20 mins after that it was very tough, and then after that I thought we played really well considering the size of the task. The San Siro, in person, is a really fucking intimidating place to play, which I’d say significantly affected our play in the first half. The second half was a tremendous away performance at one of the hardest stadiums in the world. Very very proud of the lads. What a day!

Just arrived in Milan! Lad on the plane is mates with the lad who has been stabbed. He’s in intensive care, bless him.

He didn’t “hold him down” at all though did he. Wilson’s hand went onto his arm for approximately 0.25 secs. It’s just piss weak goalkeeping.

Of course it's a penalty man. Don't see the debate at all.

Just catching up on all of this. 1) The Gordon penalty was 100% a penalty. Shouldn't really be a debate about it. It was a foul in the penalty area, regardless of whether Gordon was getting to the ball or not. 2) The handball penalty was a 50/50 for me. Can see why he disallowed it, but also think his hand was in an unnatural position. 3) The disallowed goal was laughable. I've seen it from every angle and I've seen the screen grabs of it. Who cares if Wilson had a hand on him. The goalkeeper has every advantage in that situation. 2 arms that he can lift above his head to effectively clear that ball. Football is a contact sport. You should be allowed to touch a goalkeeper. Basically the goalkeeper got a massive slice of luck from his pathetic attempt to clear it.

Bruno sluggish? I thought he had a decent game today like.

Barnes is starting (100% from impeccable source) ?

Still no sign of the CL font for the shirts?

I thought the first episode was OK, the second slightly better, and the last two really good. Don’t really know what people expected from it. It’s NUFC content. That’s all I care about. And it was certainly fun seeing inside the dressing room a bit, and also the Adidas stuff.

If anyone has the cash and is just desperate to go, via work I’ve been sent the link to the official hospitality options. Cheapest is €299 and they’ve confirmed that it’s fine for NUFC fans to buy them. https://singletickets.acmilan.com/milan-newcastle-united/champions-league-23-24/premium/

Got my ticket for Milan via work. Can't fucking wait.

Get well soon Harps. Poor lad.

Still no sign of the Champions League numbers in the club shop

It’s important not to overreact, which is why I haven’t posted since the game yesterday. Obviously a poor performance, but I’m not particularly worried. We’ve had an awful run of fixtures. We buried Villa, lost 1-0 to City with a good defensive display but poor in possession, we played well versus Liverpool for 65 minutes and then imploded, and then had a poor performance yesterday. That’s four really tough fixtures… three really tough in a row, which has severely hampered our chances of building early momentum. We need the international break, and a win against Brentford. Then I think we’ll be up and running. The one thing that I really think we need to improve upon is the midfield, though. As much as he’s played well at times, I just don’t think Gordon is the answer on the left. When everyone is fit I’d personally return to the formation / team that we had so much success with last season, plus Tonali… just to get everything rolling again. Pope Tripps Schar Botman Burn Bruno Tonali Willock Miggy Joelinton Isak / Wilson That team has much more balance, IMO.

Is that even accurate? What is the source?

Can’t fucking wait for this like. Chuffed to bits with the group. I'm guessing, from a commercial point of view, the club a rubbing their hands too.

Absolutely delighted with that! What’s the point in being in the competition if you don’t get a chance to play the big boys?

Aye, Hope is correct on that one. I can back that up, direct from the horses mouth ?

Maxi was always going to leave. People would be pissing and moaning if we didn’t replace him. And we’re 3 games into the season. 1 and 3/4 of those games have been very encouraging. Miggy was one of best performers yesterday, BTW. He is most weeks. Shocking lack of respect he gets.

Incredibly over dramatic though, isn’t it? He made a significant mistake yesterday. But we’re incredibly fortunate to have a manager that has only shown 3 or 4 moments like that in his time here.

People reacted the same way when we went down 3-0 at Villa. I’ll happily put a bet on us recovering very quickly and getting a result at the weekend.

I think it’s fair to say that Eddie dropped one clanger yesterday in taking off Gordon. Other than that, the other subs made sense. Jo was injured and Tonali was starting to get very loose in possession. Those changes gave Liverpool the initiative. BUT… we had enough good chances to win that game comfortably, and we didn’t take them / had an excellent goalkeeper and post between us and a comfortable win. It was a frustrating as fuck afternoon, but thankfully we have a manager who works his bollocks off to better himself and he’ll learn from that. And it’s only maybe the 3rd or 4th time I can think of where you could actually pin any blame on the manager since he took over.

Yeah Bruno was excellent yesterday apart from that one stupid costly moment. It was his best game in 6 months. Shame.

It let me about 10 mins ago start it, but they must have clocked it. It’s locked now.

Assuming this has been mentioned but can’t be bothered to look, but episode 4 is showing up for me right now ?‍♂️