Coffee_Johnny

Don’t think Howe blamed anyone. I would expect Mitchell to take the lack of transfer activity firmly on the chin. Perhaps spin the ‘we will not be held to ransom’ line. Emphasise that overspending this window impacts on future windows and vice versa. By all means promise we’ll have a longer list of more ‘budding’ talent in future. But overall give a strong ‘don’t panic’ we’ve got this message.

That is one of the things he said. Can’t be arsed to seek it out, but there were other statements and inferences, about just having a supporting role in a pre-existing collaborative strategy, there being an overly narrow focus, him (‘rightly or wrongly’) not interfering in this. Naming Howe as decision maker on Guehi vs. nobody/stick with what we have. Despite contradictory noises earlier about there being other targets. He definitely was quoted as saying the strategy was too narrow and (a) not his (b) not one he thought he could influence (c) in context of other comments, suggested Howe had made a bed he’d have to lie in. I just don’t like it. At best he’s been naive. At worst he’s displaying, under minimal ‘first shot across the bows’ pressure, personality traits which do not bode well for his impact on the club.

Tosin, Thiaw, others, were linked before Guehi. Unless they were made-up. There’s an unwritten—well for most doesn’t need to be made explicit—rule about not externalising and distancing yourself from blame when you’re part of a close knit team. Failed on that one for me.

RIP to a wonderful man, cuffed and uncuffed!

It’s more what is revealed as he responds to questions. It wouldn’t have been scripted answers and I doubt, on this occasion, he had sight of questions beforehand.

Does feel like one of those roles where it might take a long time to realise if they weren’t there, or just dialling it in, or worse they’re making everything harder.

Long suspected it, thanks for confirming. Maybe sanity has resurfaced as I have now panic bought Haaland—took my three accumulated transfers to afford him.

For some reason find myself being more focussed on how he conducts himself, rather than what does or doesn’t happen in the next window. Jury’s well and truly out for me.

Depends where you draw the boundaries of likely catchment areas@triggs. The metropolitan areas list or ‘conurbations’ is probably the most accurate for possible ‘local support’. It has Liverpool-Birkenhead with a 2.4million population; this includes Merseyside proper and adjoining bits of West Lancs, The Wirral and Cheshire. For comparison, Newcastle-Sunderland is at 1.6m (and has adjoining bits of Northumberland and Durham as well as Tyne & Wear proper). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPON_metropolitan_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

Got to respect him. Never, personally, liked the dirty get. I think current grumblings are because he smacks of that lumbering Sunday League teammate who is ten years older than the rest, but was ‘once on the books of …’ and can kick a ball straighter and harder than everyone else so you just let him do his stuff and hope the ball fall to him in and around the box. (That metaphor wasn’t meant to be as disrespectful as it sounds).

Well they’re undoubtedly all top players, but dodgy ranking. Off to find top five/full 12. edit: “Be warned - this list is only our opinion and is not definitive. A whole host of factors have been taken into consideration when formulating the standings below - with importance to their team, goals, assists, and overall impact on games. It also has to be considered that some midfielders are more defensive-minded, while others are tasked with making more telling contributions going the other way, while a midfielder's price tag has also been included in the conversation - hence why the likes of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are snubbed. Check out the full ranking factors below.” Fair enough. Some top midfielders in PL mind.

0 saves required from Vlachodimos, somewhat takes the shine off his clean sheet.

I do think that any loose speaking out of the privacy of the board, any hint of playing the press to your own advantage, any signs of thin skin or self aggrandisement would be red flags to somebody like Yasir Al-Rumayyan. I have only seen what most of us have, but he strikes me as somebody where loyalty and the collective good (of his assets) is paramount. And someone who would be ruthless once someone was seen as untrustworthy. The reporting of Mitchell’s interview was close to causing such alarm, and young ‘Phil’ looked mightily uncomfortable (and like a sack of shite) in the stands beside him at the Spurs game.

Speaks very well. Bit concerned how he seems willing to answer any question put to him. Could do with being a bit more guarded, e.g. not sure he should be freely sharing opinion on what Grealish likes, needs, or doesn’t, could piss a team mate off. Especially a far more senior one.

Can’t be bothered to watch. Seen enough of kids swarming around the ball.

He is pretty great at getting past players whilst on the move. Problem is as he reaches the left side of the box, defender(s) just blocks the cut in on his right. He did go outside and pop at least one cross in with his left, but it didn’t seem to put any doubt in Coleman’s or Brady’s mind and they still just blocked off his signature move.

About six in a row. Would be nice for Tino to get ten minutes.

Gordon’s gassed.

Ha! Amateur hour. Needs at least three to match Ed’s tactical needsmustness.

For picking Gordon? Just woke up and confused (… more than normal). In other news, Gordon vs 35 year old Coleman… good news? Or will he kick the feck out of young Ant early doors??

https://www.newcastleunited.com/en/news/toon-in-training-magpies-looking-to-build-on-strong-start Lots of whiskers in training pics. Some kind of competition?

It shows how far we’ve come when I watch that and think, as I did last night, that our players would have been more on his wavelength; done better with the balls he played; responded quicker to the pictures he sees. I know I don’t need to remind, but I am talking about doing better than teammates from an Italian national team who have just beaten France (ranked 2nd in the world) 3-1 in Paris.

Here's this season's chart predicting when we would be expected to pick up the average 69 points required for a 4th place finish. It takes into account quality of the opposition and whether we play them home or away. According to the formula used we should have had 4 points by end of August (we did) and 10 by end of September (only there points away with three games to play). It'll look better when we've played more but I've added a half season version so current trajectory is more visible.