Dr Jinx

Would love to see him get a goal but his overall play is absolutely vital to the rest of the team. Before when we played a long ball to either clear the lines or to bring others in, it was too easy for the defenders we were up against. Not only were they clearing the ball too easily but directing it to team mates in midfield and back comes the pressure. Wood causes a bit of panic with defenders, they just go in to be first but nothing is directed and our midfield are picking up the second ball opportunities. Marry that with the emergence of Joelinton, Willock regaining some sort of form and Shelvey seemingly finding fitness levels he never had, we’re so much more competitive in the middle now.

Wouldn’t like to say it’s a good time to play these, indifferent results or not, these lot are levels up compared to Leeds, Everton and Villa so we will need to raise our game to stand a chance. Bruno will have trained a good bit now and the efforts we’ve put in recently, maybe a shake up is needed. 4-5-1 with ASM and Willock playing wide, Bruno, Joelinton and Shelvey in the middle. Leave the back alone, Burn did enough to ensure Lascelles misses out.

Here’s an idea. The Utilita Arena is closing with a new venue being built on the quays in Gateshead. The current owners haven’t announced what they’ll do with the site yet. There’s plenty of land behind it to build whatever size stadium you’d want. Keeps it in the city. You can just picture the aerial shots with the stadium and the bridge in the background. Only issue I could think of is flooding risk but that’s a long shot. Wouldn’t need to move while was being built etc.

Is Robbie Fowler wearing a rug?

Borussia Dortmund’s stadium sort of looks like if ours has been built properly.

You’re thinking in the here and now, you haven’t factored in all the future development that both the Reubens and PIF could make in the area. And about the metro, the station is over towards Strawberry place? Do the tracks run under SJP? The Camp Nou only goes down 8 meters below ground level but look what they can fit in there, they have a 100k capacity stadium that looks smaller than SJP from the outside.

It’s simple, you dig down. The Camp Nou isn’t massive from the outside but inside the pitch is down below the normal ground level. You don’t need to knock down anything listed nearby. Just need to ensure there’s adequate drainage systems in place for heavy rain.

The main issue is that our new journey has barely got off the ground and the stadium is at capacity. We could probably easily fit in another 15-20k providing we’re moving up the table and Europe is a thing again. If we want to be considered the biggest/best club in the world at some point, we need to have a stadium that matches those clubs. If it took 2 years to rebuild SJP, would anyone accept a ground share with either of the “local teams”?

It would take a lot of persuading but I don’t see why the council wouldn’t re-zone a portion of land if and it would be quite easy to support why it would be in the areas interest. Ground share would be an issue but there’s more options, somewhere like Murrayfield could be an option. It’s a 2.5 hour journey. Surely something supporters could put up with while a new stadium is built?

I don’t find as much amusement at their current predicament as I thought I would. That’s not to say that I don’t think they’re a bunch of cunts.. they are, but this is all just too easy. It’s hollow. I want them to be a Premier League club again so we can murder them twice a season until the age of men has come to an end. I’d find much more pleasure in that to be perfectly honest. Used to look forward to these games, not as much as playing Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal but certainly more than Burnley or fucking Watford.

Hypothetically if the stadium was knocked down, would it be possible to build again on the same site but also move back from the Gallowgate into a bit of Leazes Park. With current groundskeeping technology, the direction of the stadium isn’t that important anymore.

Now the cats out of the bag they’ll revert to being a sinking ship. The timing suggests they want to get all the skeletons out of the closet, perhaps administration is inevitable, might be the best thing for them. I think a football supporter can deal with mediocrity if the owner is honest and is trying his best within the means they have and communication is solid. Dishonesty, being misled, always wondering what sort of shit is coming down the pipeline, that’s why we hated Mike Ashley. Now they have it too, albeit on a much more amateur scale. I do feel for them, supporting your club shouldn’t be like this. This is what owners fit and proper tests should be about. You’d fear for them, looking unlikely they’ll get promoted this season and could well be starting next one with a points deduction.

Is it healed yet?

I think if the takeover hadn’t happened I’d have just fallen out of love or whatever the cliche is and replaced that time in my week/weekend with something else, probably more outdoor stuff with the bairn, but right now I love that even at 3 years old he wants to sit beside his dad watching the games and he mimics me celebrating goals. I love how there’s a chance he won’t be the only kid in school wearing a Newcastle strip in a few years from now. (I’m not local, I’m Irish and it’s mostly Man Utd or Liverpool wherever you go) but things could well change. The waves of apathy that were building year on year under Mike Ashley have been replaced by an anxiety.. the thought of getting relegated terrifies me right now as we’re on the cusp of something huge once we stay up.

The match will be won in midfield. Arguably they have the most effective midfield in the PL aside from City and Chelsea, so let’s see just how good Joelinton is (or is he banned?) if he’s not he needs to raise his game yet again. Targett behind him and ASM ahead give us an edge on that side, if he’s out Bruno will go straight in there. Rice sits to the left, we need Willock to be as physical as he can with him.. unsettle their whole base. I expect ASM to have a better game, it’s no coincidence his best game all season for us was when we had a competent left back on that side.

Think there was this sort of 5/10 minute Steve Bruce flashback when Trippier went off. The back line rode their luck but when the emergency in the Gallowgate happened, the manager sorted them out and we were generally comfortable aside from maybe a few half chances they had. It wasn’t just Krafth either, the double whammy of Dummett coming on too, we just lost our shape and panic set in. For the weekend, let’s just say Trippier is out, it’s highly likely even if nothing is broken. I think Krafth Schär Burn Targett is solid enough to start from.

Massive massive win, there’s a little daylight between us and the bottom clubs now. As mentioned earlier, if that was earlier in season Villa would have overrun us, especially in second half. Positives, we have Targett to come back in at LB. Let’s hope Trippier isn’t missing for long. And midfield, all 3 played well today against a very competitive Villa midfield, we matched them everywhere.

Good this, wasting precious seconds

The calmness just disappeared the second Trippier went off. Need to manage this game in segments.

He can hit them and I suspect when the goal does come it will settle him down a lot. For as much stick he’ll get for that mad shot, you have to give him credit for getting in the way of that McGinn shot, not sure Dubravka would have had that covered.

Can’t argue with that, midfield doing well last few games, don’t change what’s working straight away. Bruno to watch, then come on and make an impact.

All eyes on the Twitter club account ?

Midfielder from the u21’s side.

Results of those around and below us are going our way. A few rounds like this and we can start breathing easier. Tomorrow is massive.

Presuming Dan Ashworth will already have his feet under a desk and perhaps a tough CEO in place too, our planning, negotiating abilities and forward thinking will be on another level to what was in place in January. Will they decide to build a challenging team right away or will they decide to put more resources into building a blueprint for sustained homegrown success? And by that I mean an academy to rival anywhere in the world with not just locals, but somewhere that every young talent in the world will aspire to make it to. That’s not to shit on what our owners were able to pull off in January. They were exceptional considering this is new to them.