Whitley mag

I thought Arsenal dominated possession but they were very organised and hard to break down. Very big physical team who get the ball in the mixer and are first to 2nd balls quite often. Don’t see much finesse in them but they’re very effective at the minute and the Derby is looking a huge challenge for us on current form.

Hopefully where one of the clubs interested in Feyernoord right back Givairo Read.

The lack of basic passing ability on display the last few weeks has been seriously concerning.

The formation won’t work without 2 attacking wing backs, if Halls not fit to start not sure who’d we play left wing back. We used it well against Arsenal with a 2 goal lead but was fucking disastrous last day of the season against Everton, even with Isak up front. For what it’s worth I do think he’ll use 3 centre backs tomorrow, but if it’s with Burn as the left wing back it’ll be fucking painful viewing.

It did against Bournemouth and did we not play same system against Leeds? Woltemade will be completely isolated up front if we play that system again, especially on the road where he’s getting the ball on the halfway line and not in the final third.

He was very good against Chelsea and though he did start a bit dodgy against Everton he was much better 2nd half. He’s only 20 and was in the Belgian League team of the year, I think he’ll go for a fair whack in next couple of years.

It does seem the in thing at the moment for the crowd to sing along to something pre match. Was watching a video the other day of Coventry singing ‘we live and die in these towns’, was a bit cringey and seems forced in my opinion. If we had a larger standing area I’d be all for just knocking the sound off 5 mins before kick off and letting atmosphere just build. A rousing reading of the team sheet by a new DJ accompanied by roars after each player name would get place going much better. The only natural sounding sing alongs which I think work are the folk songs at Celtic and Rangers. We could hijack a Sam Fender song before kick off and have a sing along, but for me these things should be organic and stem from something actually being sang by the fans, such as Ajax and Bob Marley’s 3 little birds. Coming Home Newcastle by Busker would be the choice for me, but again it’s not organic as fans don’t naturally sing it, or one of the Lindisfarne classics would work but our ageing fan base just don’t seem interested in creating an atmosphere unfortunately.

Only players i could make any case for would be their keeper who’s started well and that Sadiki instead of Joelinton, the kid does look a machine. I do think our midfield is a bit overrated as a unit but individually none of their lot are better than Bruno, or Tonali on their day. I’d absolutely have Xhaka as a rotation option though and would have played games for us this season.

We spent 100 million on Elanga and Ramsey it’s time the manager backed his judgement and played them both on Sunday. Woltemade needs support and other bodies going beyond him, or he’ll just be completely isolated away from home again. Pope Trippier Thiaw Schar Burn Bruno Tonali Ramsey Elanga Woltemade Joelinton

Barnes is light weight, gets caught ball watching and goes missing, there’s a reason Howe picks Gordon ahead of him. A decent option off the bench, however it will be lambs to the slaughter on Sunday with him and Burn badly exposed unfortunately.

Why do we want to displace more home fans to sit in the abomination that is Level 7? Got no problem in a new stadium giving away fans seats in the lower bowl, however I would say the majority of our fanbase would rather be In the lower bowl of SJP and feel more part of it.

A new ground with fans closer to the action will help massively with the atmosphere.

Nothing will be finer than giving these cunts a reality check. Fingers crossed our away form is sorted by then.

The only decent signing we ever made from Forrest was Tommy Gaynor on loan. They always fuck us over, heaven knows what this Wilson chap has in store for us in January.

Even though I can’t stand the cunt this used to happen to Niall Quinn all the time.

Forrest must be laughing their cocks off. We’d struggle to get half our money back on him in the summer and fuck knows how much he’s on.

Wouldn’t be surprised if we went 3 at the back on Sunday with Hall wing back.

Harsh on the under 12’s.

Content and not over the moon after a CL win is a strange place to be. Major issues in this team going forward and in the midfield set up. Reasons for optimism would be full backs and Wissa on the horizon.

Very good signing hard to see where the chinks in his game are now. If only we’d shopped in Europe for a right winger as well.

You’re not wrong.

Says it all that the players want the music changed to hear fans singing. Fair play to them and absolutely staggered that so many of our fans seem to be against playing the club anthem before kick off. Sign of the times that folk would rather stand in silence to Local Hero than belt out the Blaydon Races.

Aye it’s spoiled the impact a bit.

Great choice it’s the club anthem and just needs to be sang correctly. If it was sang like in the 70’s at Wembley pre match it would be a tremendous welcome for the team. I remember when Graeme Danby sang it pre match against the mackems years ago it was rousing and really got the place going.

A month is a long time in football but have to agree I think our much vaunted midfield would struggle against Xhaka and Sadiki at the moment.