Kid Icarus

They're always annoyingly solid and boring at the back like. I think if we get one the floodgates could open, but getting that first one tends to be really hard.

He's a crease tbf As is Davey who calls in to Total Sport

I hadn't seen that. I was already happy with the point after seeing that Bowen chance go wide at the end and Bruno getting away with no 2nd yellow, but even happier now having seen that. That match could have so easily been a 3-1 loss with a Bruno suspension.

Basically just play around with this and see what everyone's on at 38 games. https://www.twtd.co.uk/league-tables/competition:premier-league/daterange/fromdate:2022-Oct-09/todate:2024-Jun-01/type:home-and-away/

Villa are in 6th on 69 points Brighton are in 7th on 64 Spurs in 8th on 63 Ours (aside from that bad run of form last winter) tends to fluxuate between 70 and 76 points

I can't display it because it's done by date rather than gameweek, so some teams are on anything between 36 to 40 games. But it has us 4th, 1 point ahead of Man United, 1 point behind Liverpool, 10 points behind Arsenal, 13 points behind Man City. Every time I check this we're nearly always 3rd or 4th. At one point our rolling total dropped to 66 (that run up to the EFL final form we had) and we were in 5th, but we've been 3rd or 4th best for the majority of the time Howe's been here.

Was just thinking earlier about the Champions League season Leicester had and wondered how they started the season after winning the league. It wasn't until the end of November that they got the points total we have right now.

This is our rolling 38 game total at the moment -5 points -3 wins +4 draws -1 losses +10 goals - 3 goals against +13 goal difference On our best ever season and best ever team's total. Still regularly featuring 6 or 7 Bruce-era players in its starting line up. We've been a consistently 3rd or 4th place team more or less from the moment Howe got to grips with the squad. Remarkable.

That seems to be a new move we have. Hall played that ball to Isak again Man City in the cup.

In the Leazes the general feeling was that Donnarumma had made an incredible save but that a PSG player had possibly handled it and it might a pen. Then when it said checking goal we knew goal line technology and the offside system would account for it going over the line and Bruno's position so with the amount of time it was taking it must mean there was a possible foul or handball against us. I fully expected it to not be given so it was incredible when it was.

Can you imagine how much more satisfying his PSG goal would have been if Donnarumma hadn't got back and it had just been smashed into the net. There's so much I love about that goal, it's a shame that it didn't look as emphatic as his leap and header deserved.

I can't think of a 'keeper in living memory that's been more overhyped than Ramsdale. Nothing remotely calming about him, decent with his feet, but often a liability and an unreliable/over hyped shot stopper.

As someone with thunderous thighs I reckon that's mainly a comfort thing like.

This time last year he was pulling off worldie saves to keep us in matches. This season he's not really needing to, or the saves are a bit more straightforward for him, which isn't his fault. In a lot of cases this season my lower ratings for him are because he's had little to do and his kicking has been poor. Emerson's first touch makes him playing sweeper look bad, but I think at the point of the ball being played you can argue it's the right thing to do and if it's not then it's at least understandable. Lascelles doesn't pressure Antonio enough, then when the ball is played tries to hold the line instead of running back in. If Pope has made a mistake then it's to atone for Lascelles's. His save at the end was excellent and I have no idea where this idea that he looks shaky on crosses comes from because while his decision making has come into question and his kicking is poor, he's remained consistently reliable at dominating more or less any cross that comes near him. Still an excellent, largely reliable 'keeper, just poor with his feet and exposed (as would most 'keepers be) when teams manage to both beat our high line and play it outside of his sweeping area basically.

Exactly. That point was made all the time last season, but we were a top 4 team by every metric last season regardless of what other teams were doing.

We're 2 points up on last season as well. I know it's not anywhere near an exact science but I like doing things like this, it helps me put things in perspective. League: 22/23 (with 21/22 - with promoted teams substituted - and 22/23 final positions in brackets): 11 points +4 GD 12 GS 8 GA 7th position Average of 1.37 points per game against median 21/22 and 22/23 league positions of 11 and 10.5 23/24 (with final 22/23 position - with promoted teams substituted - and current position in brackets) 13 points (+2 on 22/23) +11 GD (+7 on 22/23) 20 GS (+8 on 22/23) 9 GA (+1 on 22/23) 8th position (-1 on 22/23) Average of 1.62 points per game against a median 22/23 league position of 8 (6.5 currently) That is crazily high considering that even without Burnley and Sheffield United it only changes to 6.5 (5.5 currently) and the average (generally better when numbers are less extreme) is 4.85! To put that in another way, 6 of our 8 opening fixtures have been on average Title, Champions League or Europa League challenging opposition. That's crazy. Cups 22/23 We beat Tranmere away in the league cup. 23/24 We've beaten Man City in the league cup Drawn with AC Milan away Battered PSG Injuries 22/23 IIRC we only had Krafth and possibly Wilson out injured during that period. 23/24 We've had Willock, Botman, Barnes, Wilson, Joelinton, and Krafth out injured during this period To summarise, we have: Compared to last season, despite having: We're doing very well imo. Most of the signs are good and there's room to improve, less challenging opposition to play, and injured players to return. *

He seems to have learned how to do attacking headers, which is brilliant to see and he's in really good form at the moment. You would think it would make some people (particularly non-Newcastle fans) rethink their opinion of him, but they seem to have largely gone from talking shite to just being exasperated that he's done things they seem to think are way above his level of ability, but aren't, because he's a very good defender and a generally dependable, often good footballer. He's not Andy Robertson or Alaba obviously, but from a defensive point of view, time and again opposition fans will mention him as the position where they think they might get some joy, then teams try it, and for the most part they fail.

Tbf to Spurs they're actually playing well this time. I'm not sure if top 4 is open for them but last season they didn't belong anywhere near where they were until we howked them.

All the pettiness that officials have with rule abiding and this prick has been stood outside his technical area for the majority of the last 3 years.

Was just adding to what 54 is saying really. Don't think I need or want to get involved beyond that like.

And that's at the age of 20. The cutthroat part of the game, the assists and goals are often the last parts to arrive and are in the post with Anderson AFAIC.

Might actually be decent now for 6 minutes or something

Tbf this is the Newcastle Liverpool 4-3 compared to the Ferguson Mourinho era Man United Chelsea matches

It's extremely rare that Man City matches aren't boring as sin.