Infinitely Content

Imagine being Curtis Jones having to try and take a touch with this animal hunting you down. Fuck that like.

Thank you Unai Emery.. I rate him highly, but the universe smiled upon us with this one.

The interview he gave on the final whistle is probably the most beautifully emotive moment I've seen in football. His quality on the pitch is undoubtable - clearly one of the best players in the league since he arrived in England; however that interview displays what sets him apart from the rest. He has the extraordinarily rare ability to absorb and embody the heart, soul and mentality of our supporters, and I can tell he genuinely views walking out on the pitch as representing us. Not as a platitude or a cliche, but actually - genuinely. He's childlike in the most beautiful way, his heart is in it and we're blessed to have him. No other club in this league has a Bruno Guimarães.

Tbh when Ciaran Clark got sent off against Norwich I remember being stood in the Gallowgate thinking "that's a shame but this really opens the door for Joelinton to become the best ball winning midfielder in the Premier League and win us a trophy with an effortlessly monstrous performance against the so-called best midfield in the league at Wembley" It was just a fleeting thought mind.

I mean who realistically gets in over Joelinton? Speed? Batty? Lee? Cabaye? Whoever they are, they didn't, and likely couldn't do what Big Joe did yesterday. He's in the all time XI 100%.

I wonder if people are gathering at St James’? I’m sat at home but with such a building of energy and disbelief within me that im wanting to drive through and soak it in

I fucking love Dan Burn

And it would be a mistake imo. We need potency on the break, and Willock certainly does not offer that, Barnes does.

Immortality awaits. 2-2 after 90. 3-2 Newcastle after extra time. The order of the magpies sat on the tv aerial on the roof opposite me showed me yesterday.

Fabian Schar takes one, he's excellent at them

He's great. His playing style reminds me of Modric somewhat.

Liverpool's press has been thunderous in the opening 10 minutes. Reminds me of us before the sleeping pills set in.

Probably because based on form Dubravka should be starting in the cup final, and this is our last game to establish a bit of continuity of the defensive unit, especially as the two full back positions will likely be filled by players who haven't played much in their respective roles. Regularly rotating goalkeepers is something you rarely see for good reason.

That's right, and he paved the way for fellow James right back Reece to join Wigan some years later, which paved the way for young Valentino Francisco to leave Chelsea and find his way to Newcastle, where he will profoundly impact the game next Sunday as we lift our first trophy in a lifetime. It all stems back to Tavernier to Wigan.

The maestro. Forever my favourite player of all time, nobody comes remotely close. Happy birthday Hatem.

Siem Botman

Liverpool have been allowed to coast in the league without a genuine competitor and without a real quality team anywhere to be seen. This PSG side are the first proper side they've faced all season and they're being torn apart. They will probably do the domestic double and yet they don't impress me at all.

It's a good and important question. He appears to have attempted to move beyond the high pressing style, often abandoning it entirely (at least to my untrained eye), yielding at best inconsistent results. What is clear to me is that the wild fluctuations in both levels of performance and results isn't going to be good enough, he needs to find a way to raise and level out the valleys within our form to begin to build consistency and identity, even if it means the mountains, those being the 7-8 game winning streaks are replaced with a few draws interspersed within. I'm sometimes not entirely sure what we're trying to do anymore on the pitch. I think he deserves the entirety of next season at least to see if he can make that transition into winning more consistently without the reliance on the high press. I would personally prefer him to revert to the high press - I found it very entertaining to watch - but it's perhaps been deemed unsustainable internally.

Terrible is a word we use to describe something that's particularly bad. It appears that most people watching Newcastle, with the best will for Willock to improve have concluded that he's been particularly bad in enough occasions, over a long enough period of time to draw a conclusion. I'm not sure how it's 'short-termist'. Other than Birmingham he's barely contributed anything significantly positive to our play and has more often than not been a hindrance. I think it's fair.

I don't think people have just 'decided he's been terrible' without merit. We have observed him putting in terrible performances with the opportunities he's been afforded - so the comments are warranted in questioning his role in the team. Longstaff's role is understandably under question too and he's certainly been no worse than Willock, probably better.

We will perhaps miss his pressing in the cup final (if we bother to try and press them) but nothing much else. We will be limited to very few chances against Liverpool, and I would much rather one of those chances fall to Harvey Barnes.

Two poor performances, the difference being Brighton played with a bit of courage and character and deserved to go through.

If we actually set up to compete in the game perhaps we wouldn’t be so frustrated and desperate at the end as to create the kind of environment which encourages a red card incident through a moment of stupidity.

Those same players have functioned incredibly well at times in a cohesive system though. I don’t think we can aim this onto individuals, the collective mentality of the team is weak and passive and devoid of belief. No press, patterns of play, nothing. It’s really bad. Talking about Murphy this, Schar that is missing the mark.

We’ve Isak up top, Dubravka in goal and nine passive, disorganised oddly fearful and tense individuals in between. We’re a really poor team of late. Look completely void of coaching and a cohesive mentality and aim.