Kid Icarus

Woltemade and Isak's profiles overlap very nicely, so even if they're different I do think Howe has a player that he wants and it's basically an Isak, Ekitike, Woltemade. I'm particularly enthusiastic about Woltemade because it seems like he wasn't 6th or 7th on the list, but just not pursued because the club didn't think we could get him. Easy to say and cover your tracks, but it's easy to believe when you compare him to Strand-Larsen or even Joao Pedro imo.

I don't want to invest everything in Woltemade, but I think you know a talent when you see one. He definitely looks like that to me. I'd totally agree with the ceiling being lower if we'd got JSL and Wissa like - I think they'd be perfectly serviceable for the most part but would maybe not have what it takes against the very top opposition.

I don't think it is self-evident no. It wouldn't have surprised me to read that they felt Woltemade suited the team better or had a higher ceiling, or that they could replace Isak in the aggregate, or that Wissa can do x, y, and z that Isak couldn't. Isak was an outstanding talent, but he and our team weren't exactly a match made in heaven. Even when he was in form he wasn't particularly very prolific at hold up play, or against a low block. Jacob Murphy quite often just forced it to work with his delivery.

February was when the ITKs first started saying they were after him.

The bit that I didn't like reading and something that you don't want to read is that there are some in the club that think we now have a lower ceiling without Isak. Honestly find that bizarre if true tbh.

Many such cases

Perfect fit for Israel FC

And because even with it they are. Even when it's as scouse as scouse gets they can't guarantee their players won't want out and that it can even mean being seen as below Chelsea, never mind Real Madrid or Barcelona.

Top comment is "welcome to a big club" They're so insecure about their size

"Make me sound human"

It's fine, just don't ever let it happen again.

...come again?

Waugh confirming (if you believe him and his sources) that Trafford had the choice and that he chose Man City.

Can see why you'd choose Burnley, I was just taking the strength of the opposition you've faced into account - in my mind you there's really no excuse for you not absolutely thrashing Burnley all ends up, whereas a 1-0 gutsy performance and loss to Arsenal is respectable. I'm just not seeing it, but it's early days.

The funny thing is that for all that a lot of Liverpool fan's are revelling in this, if you want to put your amateur psychology hat on, it just comes across is very basic insecurity and taking out what happened to them on another fanbase to make themselves feel better. They know and we know what footballers are like, their place in 'the foodchain' couldn't even be overcome when it came down to whether their local, Liverpool supporting academy starboy wanted to stay at Liverpool or go to Real Madrid. I bet their memories that include him are tainted now as well. Relate to it with Isak? Naaaah, just do what the toxic Real Madrid fans did. To them they're the most important football club in the world and they're fiercely proud of their club - I don't mind that at all, because Newcastle to me is the most important football club in the world, we're all bursting with pride. absolutely no one else matters, and the thought of players wanting to be anywhere else once they're here is alien to us - we're fiercely proud or at least we should be, and should never think of another club as being inherently or in a fixed position as being better or above us in the foodchain imo. In my mind those positions are moveable and my ambition is for Newcastle to be number one. I think that applies to most fanbases, everything above can and does apply to the average Villa, Everton, or West Ham fan, but what's so annoying about the stereotypical Liverpool fan in-particular (although this applies to Man United massively as well) is that they can't fathom that the pride that they have for their club applies to other clubs' fanbases too. For one reason or another they're convinced that there's something extra special about their club and their love for it. So when a player acts the absolute cunt to them, they're completely dumbfounded because in their minds Liverpool are the be-all-and-end-all. 'Why on earth would a scouser want to go to Real Madrid!?' But when a player acts the cunt to get to them, it's not even cognitive dissonance, because it just fits neatly into the same mindset that was dumbfounded 5 minutes ago that thinks of Liverpool as the be-all-and-end-all. The Newcastle fan dumbfounded that a Geordie would want to go to Liverpool doesn't compute to them, they just turn into the Real Madrid supporter they claim to hate. It's insufferable, particularly as it's a mindset that doesn't just play out in their fanbase but right across the sports media and pundit class. Carragher was so fucking close when he was saying about how he doesn't understand why 'people are telling Liverpool fans how they should be feeling' over Trent - yet there's zero chance he'd make that the focus of any discussion about Isak beyond it being a quick aside, before getting back to how in the end it's all brilliant for his club. That's part of the bias that he (and Neville) is oblivious to having. The hypocrisy is off the scale - when Trent does it they're Newcastle fans with Isak, when Isak does it they're Real Madrid fans with Trent. And when it's highlighted they point to the non-existent hypocrisy or actions of others to vindicate it - in our case, this imagined narrative that we as fans acted the same as they did with Isak over Wissa, which is where the difference kicks in, because it's utter bollocks.

That's all fine, but after 3 games I don't think we have enough data to use yet and it's solely about the eye test in your games. I haven't seen much to be impressed by so far tbh, I thought your best performance by quite some distance was Arsenal at home, but that you've looked easy to cut through in every other match including a really bad cup exit.

That's fair enough. I think it makes those claims dubious as well tbh.

I know it's stating the obvious, but winning and losing the transfer window is really so far removed from how the league plays out it's crazy. It reminds me (a bit ironically) of that Liverpool fan's blog piece about the state of the modern game, where we're being programmed to think more about how much our club spends than we are about how much it wins.

I think we all hope you stick with him tbh. Early days, but I thought we'd see a huge improvement at the start of this season.

We've done this to death, but the outcome is basically pick your own adventure. I don't believe for a second that Isak staying automatically would have meant this, that, or the other. My stance is and will likely always be that there were much more historical examples that favoured us holding firm than not - not because I wanted him to stay, but because I wanted the club to be strong, stick to its word, not set what I consider a clear precedent, and to not strengthen a domestic rival - and others will disagree.

Newcastle had a very public stance that they chose to back down on and we can presume Liverpool, Isak and his agent knew we would back down on. We can argue about why that happened, what it means, and who it benefits, but right now that's it in a nutshell and it's no mystery why you would deem that as Newcastle being the ones that were bullied and outplayed - I certainly see it that way and I have every reason not to.

It certainly seems that the claim that all the players hate him isn't true

If true, I would imagine it's Bruno calming Joelinton down. The thought of Joelinton calming someone down is hilarious

For a variety of different reasons Dubravka (sorry, it's got to be someone) Debuchy Marcelino Jose Enrique Barton Emre Bowyer Sissoko Dyer Isak (c) Owen Subs: Sissoko, Cabaye, Ranger, Babayaro, Wijnaldum, Coloccini