Coffee_Johnny

They’d never do it. For dubious irrelevant reasons, but what would be so bad about reverting to this? Does what it needs to: Magpie ‘brand’, circular, easy to reproduce, river and castle keep represented.

I could see it; especially if he isn’t content to compete with Gordon (who I think is a better player). I like Barnes, and would be happy to keep him. His contributions and his stats are good this season, but I don’t quite think he is at the level we want. I think we can do better. Too many unforced errors/heavy touches for me to be clamouring to keep at all costs. Barnes, Willock, Longstaff, Targett = £80m+ l; add to this an estimated £100m currently able to spend, and we could be pushing the boat out this Summer and pulling up trees next season.

Gameweek 37 Villa 2-1 Spurs Chelsea 1-1 Man United Everton 1-1 Southampton West Ham 1-1 Forest Brentford 1-1 Fulham Leicester 2-1 Ipswich Arsenal 1-1 Newcastle Brighton 2-2 Liverpool Palace 1-1 Wolves Man City 2-0 Bournemouth

Will be nice if the blades get to wear their, possibly more famous, red and white stripes.

Nowhere near as much fun. Would even give them fou…, actually no; two of their ten points, and NE unbeaten top dog trophy.

Have a heart. Think of Derby (yes, I do mean County and their 19 years of shame).

The top teams are all in a state of flux, either with clear positional gaps (compared to their normal squad options) or, say with Liverpool, players possibly no longer likely to play as well (Salah) or at all (TAA). I am going to say it, how many players do you think we need to be credible challengers for the title? Three is my reassuringly, and astoundingly, small number.

Forget the speculation on how he compares and how he will develop, that nut on Caicedo should get him an improved contract in itself.

Sels Caicedo Saliba Van Dyk Cucurella Salah Tonali Rice Mbeumo Palmer Isak (tough on MacAllister, Semenyo, Murphy and Burn—plus many others I have no doubt forgotten about)

Am I alone in wanting them to get promoted? Would be nice to see them back in the PL after ten years. Plus I have always had a soft spot for Derby and it would be nice to end their shame

Loved the close up of him before Bruno’s goal, yelling “Just give me the fucking ball!” 😂

At end of April--taking into account number of games played and relative difficulty of opposition (plus whether home or away)--we were bang on course average points total for fourth place in a Premier League/ship season. Need three more points to hit the average for fourth at end of May/season. Average for third place is 73 points, which we can't now attain, but I think there is/will be relatively lower points totals across the top positions this season.

Is there another team we’ve beaten three times this season? And who are yet to score against us?

Thanks—fuck it signed up for a month 😉

Worth the loss. I was the one in the deep sea diving helmet, btw. Oh! I maybe wouldn’t use your snorkel again until it’s been through the dishwasher.

What was said that triggered emotion in the press conference? Looked like he was going to go/was close to tears. Surprised they didn’t go back to it.

Let’s just rename the wall. Tonali’s wall. Or start calling him The Emperor Hadrian.

Gameweek 36 Fulham 1-1 Everton Ipswich 2-3 Brentford Southampton 0-3 Man City Wolves 1-1 Brighton Bournemouth 1-1 Villa Newcastle 2-1 Chelsea Man United 1-2 West Ham Forest 2-2 Leicester Spurs 1-2 Palace Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal

You’re probably right, in that we couldn’t or wouldn’t invest that much of available funds in one player. I just really rate him; could be a real difference maker, though obviously only if we had no weak links elsewhere.

Thinking it though, maybe if Longstaff and Willock were sold then we could afford a Wharton (or similar) without losing Joelinton. @Mahoneys Tache is right though, as much as we love Big Joe the clock is ticking on getting serious money for him; as it may well be on him playing in the same style as he currently does.

Feels like we are on the cusp of making that difficult to make next step; from good Premiership team competing for top four and cups. To being able to realistically compete for any competition we enter. In current climate, particularly, I wonder whether to make that step as well as a fair bit of luck in getting players who can be truly great we also have to risk selling really good players. This is a risk not just because all that glitters does not turn out to be gold, but also because it unsettles the team dynamic and can break up the relationships which makes us able to do what we have with what we have. All of that is a preamble after watching Wharton last night and imagining a midfield with him Bruno and Tonali. Wharton will only get better but already offers the rare combination of creativity/craft (picks such a beautiful pass) and energy/competitiveness. I love Joelinton but couldn’t see us stumping up for Wharton whilst we still have him. If we would even consider going back to the money grabbing Glass Hovel at all, given the debacle over Guehi. Appreciate it isn’t a priority position but he is the kind of player who is a joy to watch. Losing Andy Cole gave way to Sir Les and then Shearer (as well as Gillespie and that Barca game). Feels like some difficult decisions may need to be made whilst we can get good money for our good players. Joelinton will be 29 next season, Wharton still 21. Just a thought.

You’re not the only one.

Gameweek 35 Man City 2-1 Wolves Villa 3-1 Fulham Everton 0-0 Ipswich Leicester 1-2 Southampton Arsenal 2-2 Bournemouth Brentford 2-1 Man United Brighton 2-3 Newcastle West Ham 1-2 Spurs Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool Palace 1-1 Forest

Oof… .

Same date, guess you win @TheGuv; a ‘quite like’ trumps a ‘wouldn’t mind’.