St. Maximin

Maybe not, but then that’s the linesman at fault and not really something VAR should be blamed for. VAR’s lines may not be accurate to the millimetre, but it’s marginal either way and can’t clearly show the linesman was wrong.

But the thing is, everyone is assuming VAR was wrong, when ultimately this was not a clearly and obviously wrong decision. It looks incredibly tight either way, so surely the benefit of the doubt goes to the linesman. If he says no goal and the technology can’t show clearly otherwise, then no goal.

I know I mentioned elsewhere, but we can slate VAR all we like, it didn’t overturn a goal. So it needs to be clearly and obviously wrong and that looks way too unclear. Yes it may be a technical issue, but without VAR that’s still not a goal.

Not saying the VAR are 100% accurate but it wasn’t given initially and wasn’t clear and obviously wrong, so it shouldn’t be overturned. I think people forget that when they see images like that and the initial reaction is to slate VAR. No VAR and it’s still not a goal. If you want that overturned, then so should all those marginal offside calls the other way be overturned. Saying that, he’s sick.

The Saudi connection is pretty subtle compared to before having Sports Direct on every corner of the stadium. This is only a third kit we’ll barely wear - imo more a gimmick to sell shirts in Saudi Arabia. Surely explicitly showing adverts to visit Saudi on Sky should be a better target for criticism?

Nah I see where you’re coming from mate, but I think he is prepared to risk some bad results (e.g. Spurs last year, when he admitted he was wrong also) for very good outcomes overall. He knows there’s enough in that team to fight back rather than be scared, even if it’s at risk of City scoring another. With Rafa also, difficult to do compare as he had a much weaker side, but the flip side of his tactics was failing to register a shot on target at home against a Fulham side that got relegated.

Not denying that’s happened mate or that it’s really annoying and embarrassing, but I think when journalists and the like talk about countries trying to “sportswash their brutal regimes” and the like it I imagine it goes further than creating a very small minority of apologists. I feel they are always going to be restricted in how far they can change widely held opinions, but these events can definitely generate tourism, further business links etc. The positive impacts are economic mainly and therefore I don’t see ‘sportswashing’ as necessarily a bad thing.

The takeover was a legal business transaction, so our take on Saudi (majority) ownership from a moral perspective is simply a personal decision on what we feel comfortable. I may not share someone’s views, but I won’t judge someone for being more or less comfortable with it than I am as it’s subjective and doesn’t change what it means to be a fan of the club. That’s partly why I dislike it when groups like AI try to interfere on the grounds of sportswashing. They’re well within their rights to not like it, but they shouldn’t prevent a club and region from positive change due to their personal feelings towards the buyers. Sportswashing is not an objective legal issue and neither is it a human rights issue in my view - instead channel your energy into the shocking human rights abuses (by all means do), not trying to stop legitimate business transactions that can have many positive outcomes and are similar in nature to many others that have been permitted.

Indeed we are (80%) owned by the investment fund of a horrible regime. We can’t do anything about our owners, but I can’t also deny we did by and large all want and celebrated the takeover. Saying that, perhaps what all our critics on social media who suddenly took an interest in sportswashing in 2021 don’t realise though, is this is the result of being owned 14 years by Ashley. At least other crap owners have the decency to accept other takeover bids that don’t involve a sovereign wealth fund. Detestable owners are sadly part of football, but I don’t want to start saying we have “the worst owners imaginable” as I don’t know if anyone particularly evil has much of a connection to the club anyway, given it’s the investment fund that owns us and I don’t know how much they’re involved in our daily decision making. MBS as the PIF chair is noted of course. Also most clubs don’t love and support their owners, so we shouldn’t either just because they have money. Luckily the fan connection is with Staveley and co and they seem pretty likeable people overall - despite the occasional Saudi apologist on Twitter you don’t see much public adoration for the PIF from our fanbase.

Still can’t quite get my head round the fact he’s literally trending because a Newcastle polls fan page tweeted his name in relation to a Burger King tweet asking what’s better out of tomato and gherkin . So ridiculously surreal. I can’t help but laugh in the meantime, but it will get boring soon. Having said that… Nick Pope.

Comments that caused an overreaction imo. HBA gets a lot of protection here due to how Pardew handled him. It’s pretty clear he had a terrible attitude and has caused problems everywhere he’s been. A real shame as he’s one of the most talented dribblers the PL has ever seen.

He’d have done a decent job I’m sure but not sure why we wouldn’t be worse off. Howe’s record is quite brilliant really. Rafa did great for us, but hardly showed he was world class then and his record since has shown he’s on the decline. Sure the defence would be solid, but not sure he’d transform the other players as effectively and make Joelinton a top class midfielder. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been argumentative and fallen out with players like ASM too.

Errr… So I make a polite, reasonable and detailed post and you come out with this. Classic Newcastle Online You’re the one chatting nonsense seeing as you’re talking about events that happened 17+ years ago. I clearly mentioned I was specifically talking about recently, in which Rafa has clearly been less successful. No doubt he’s has had a very successful past, but that’s not what is currently relevant here. Seriously how you’ve jumped to that nonsense conclusion I’ll never know, but seems Rafa is untouchable due to achievements from many years ago…

While any comparison is flawed given their owners, I think the recent achievements of both goes to show Howe is better. Rafa did a great job of making us a solid defensive team on a low budget, we still had lots of terrible spells and at times played dull football as a result of the style. He need completely bombed at Everton with a squad easily stronger on paper. Howe conversely consistently made Bournemouth an overachieving side that played attractive football for a few years after great success getting them promoted up the leagues, despite a poor end. He then, however, developed himself whereas Rafa has been relying on an outdated style that hasn’t brought him near the amount of success in recent years. I think while Rafa you’d always respect too, Howe’s personality is that bit more infectious too while clearly working the players hard. Should have sacked Howe and got Rafa back when he was sacked by Everton though

Long shot here… but anyone watched football in Boston (USA) and know of a bar that would show it at 10am? Cheers

Hopefully he bonds well with his team mates on the trip abroad.

Yes this is a good one. And on the subject of camera angle pet hates, any camera angle for penalties that isn’t your standard angle. No need.

Agree on the mentality/team ethic/culture absolutely, but not sure I’d agree on the decisions. If we don’t know the alternatives then we can’t say for sure they were justified unless they always brought us the desired results. On both occasions we ultimately failed against decent teams after having fortunate draws and there’s reason to think Southgate was tactically naive in both of those matches. Also he persistently picks Mount and there’s no justification for that based on England form. Hungary were of course brilliant, but losing 0-4 at home to them is still absolutely pathetic and after this nations league it’s absolutely right he’s getting stick.

I don’t really see the squad as overrated imo. I’m 32 and there have definitely been better squads on paper in my lifetime, but this is still one of the best in the world. The PL is I think the best league in the world in recent years, judging by the number of teams excelling in Europe and we’ve got players consistently dominating it. We have a clear imbalance in our squad, but I don’t think anyone is in denial about that - they just recognise there is so much attacking talent in the squad and feel frustrated it gets sacrificed to shore up a defence, without the desired results. I can hardly look at some of the players in our spine and think they’re world class, but right now how many teams can you say that for? Is this really a golden era for centre-backs/midfielders in general? In fact in general I can’t say international football is an amazing standard. Italy were deserved winners at the Euros and tbh I had barely heard of half their team. Southgate has the typical English overly cautious approach. Different sports and all that, but watching cricket all day and it’s interesting how we get a Kiwi coach in and all of a sudden stop playing with fear. Need a bit more of that in football.

Agree with this, though he does have players from some of the best teams in the world playing consistently exciting and attacking football. I think he’s restricting them from playing their natural game - understandable to an extent - but too far imo. Defensive managers tend to be effective (like Rafa at Newcastle) because the players available encourage that.

I think purely by the semi-final and final in his two major tournaments, Southgate has earned the right to manage this WC. He’s clearly more than just a nice bloke - I think he does an excellent job for the team spirit and has helped the public love the team again; the values of which can’t be underestimated for major tournaments. It’s also absolutely right to point out teams tend to win tournaments by being defensive. However, Southgate’s approach just shows his tactical limitations and I find there’s got to be a balance he’s not striking - the big tournament conservative approach to him seems to be sacrificing our strengths (attack) to shore up the weakness (defence), leaving multiple strong attacking players on the bench. And also Mount on the pitch despite continuing to be crap for England. There definitely just seems to be an English mindset of being a bit cynical of being aggressive, risk-taking, backing out abilities etc. I agree with previous comments that we set up like underdogs despite having arguably the second best squad in a tournament virtually hosted at home for us. This seems to get reflected in some of our fans who think the team were brave heroes for winning a few games they should have won. Those Sports Personality awards were a joke.

If we’re going by form I imagine Tomori is the best CB having won the league with Milan. Also apparently speaks Italian well already so automatically boosts the team intellect.

It probably would have been yeah, but we don’t know what the journalist would have followed up with. He was ultimately put on the spot by a difficult journalist and understandably not used to answering questions about his morals. It also wasn’t the only scenario he was asked about and perhaps it was a time in history he didn’t really know about.

Then it’s a stupid question and Westwood seems more justified in his comments about hypothetical situations, especially if that one was impossible. Not really sure why a journalist needs to know about their moral positions in general, let alone over hypothetical situations.

Not sure why they should be the ones being criticised when a journalist is clearly being difficult. They may not be as articulate as Howe, but presumably both parties have been rightly advised not to answer due to criticism they’ll receive. As Westwood said they’re hypothetical questions, so don’t really deserve an answer. We all know it’s about money for what its worth, but even then I’m not sure why they should be held to a higher standard than the many other people in sport benefiting from Saudi investment… or politicians.