Kid Icarus

Title? As in it said 'The Athletic' on the flag?

Class! We need a Joe from Shields one. More niche, but shouldn't be.

I'll give that a watch. Will be interesting to see if he mentions Shearer, IIRC he fucking hated him.

In what way did they promote it as part of the display like?

Shout out to this incredible opening gambit from The Chronicle 'Newcastle United will be without the suspended Nick Pope for the Carabao Cup final but the Magpies know they can ensure Loris Karius has little to do by simply protecting his goal'

Every shower between now and the final is going to be like the one at the start of Rocky V. Proper 45 minutes long with a thousand yard stare

That's a slight bit of creative journalism I think. The exact quote is "We hope he's OK. He wanted to carry on - I wanted to protect him for the games ahead. We hope it's not serious"

Fuck it, I need something to take my mind off the final Goalkeepers: Pope/Dubravka/Karius No changes needed for now, a young 'keeper coming in then going out on loan might be a good idea Right back: Trippier/Ashby/Krafth/Manquillo No changes needed for now, Ashby will likely be our Trippier understudy, Krafth is an able stand in, and Manquillo can play right or left back. Maybe sell Manquillo Left back: Targett/Burn/Lewis/Manquillo This probably needs looking at. Burn should really be the capable stand in here. Howe needs to decide what he sees Targett as and whether he needs to be used, replaced, or moved down the pecking order, but either way Lewis probably needs to go or massively step up, with a young attacking left back being the alternative Right Centre back: Schar/Lascelles We need a Schar understudy, with Lascelles either moving further down the pecking order or leaving with either a young replacement or a steady old-head coming in Left Centre back: Botman/Burn/Dummett Botman and Burn are fine, we should maybe move Dummett to an under 21 role and get a steady old-head to come in Midfield: Bruno/Joelinton/Willock/Longstaff/Gordon/Anderson We need a Shelvey replacement, either a like-for-like number 6, or a DM destroyer type, or both. Someone like Neves would be ideal. We also need a keymaster attacking midfielder, with James Maddison being the obvious candidate. In terms of outgoings, Anderson now needs to go out on loan and probably should have done in August. Right Wing: ASM/Gordon/Willock/Joelinton With us just getting Gordon, I think this can be deprioritised for now, but Howe might look to cash in on ASM and bring in more of a system player. Left Wing: Almiron/Murphy Ideally we need someone who nudges those players down one step in the pecking order. Almiron has been great and has more than proven his potential worth as a rotation/back up for next season. Diaby is the obvious candidate based on previous transfer rumours Strikers: Isak/Wilson With Chris Wood gone, we have no plan B up front. A better player in that mould would be ideal - someone who's either the next Toney or Abraham or a more reliable Calvert Lewin. Imo we also need a goal machine to replace Wilson - I love Wilson but it's not just his fitness that can't be relied on anymore, he's now looking like he has patchy form.

Steady with the language

14 points. Pretty pleased with that in the circumstances

It's always the way when your form's poor and everything looks winnable when you're in good form. I'm just hoping that after the final, regardless of what happens we turn a corner and our form improves. My main cause for optimism is that I think it's solely down to poor finishing. I'd be really worried if we were playing badly or creating nothing, but that's not the case.

Wouldn't mind if it wasn't fucking Spurs and their shite football going ahead of us. Chelsea and Brighton have ended up being the only good results for us in what has otherwise been an awful weekend of FA Premier League football.

I cannot believe this fucking shite Spurs team are about to enter the top 4

...or the Sabitzer thing from like half an hour ago or Rashford getting the benefit of the doubt on an offside call earlier in the season

And it's incorrect decisions we're talking about. Getting a pen at home to Bournemouth is the only time we've benefitted from an incorrect decision imo. Meanwhile Sabitzer just nearly snapped someone's leg and Rashford got away with doing interpretive dance around the ball against Man City

Can you name one?

I can't believe Howard Webb is in a senior refereeing position and things in a Man United match look really suspicious

Twice now that Rashford's had one of those benefit of the doubt offside decisions alongside the worst non-offside call I've ever seen.

My kingdom for Neville and Carragher to not be allowed to co-commentate on Man United and Liverpool matches.

Yeah I rate him, not sure why anyone wouldn't really

You already did, 20 shots and 67% possession, that's what I was replying to.

It's not too dissimilar to Trippier. Within 20 matches he was comfortably the best right back I've seen at Newcastle, for anyone who didn't see Rob Lee and even for some that did, Bruno Guimaraes is already in the best XI they've seen. It's easy to forget how long we've been shit for.

*Best 'keeper they've seen rather than ever had. Plenty have if you look in the Nick Pope thread and it's not even a wild opinion really. Given has quantity on his side, but Given never had a 6 months like Pope's just had. Absolutely no chance are Krul or Dubravka held in higher regard either. Regardless of Botman and Schar, Pope has pulled off countless excellent saves for us and has been very dominant. Any Newcastle fan will tell you that he's been absolutely pivotal to our success.

Aye, it was a shit finish. No conviction in it whatsoever

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