Hoolahanaldo

I think you’re probably right. Farke was a good tactician if a little naive at times, particularly in the PL. I think there’s many areas where Smith and Farke are probably very similar in their methods, which you would expect has eased the transition somewhat. But yeah, we’re not a bad side and if we are allowed to get the ball down on the ground and play at our own pace, then we may have a chance tonight. We could also do with Pukki bringing his shooting boots which he clearly forgot against Wolves. What you lot need is Howe telling his players to get into us from minute 1. Whilst Smith has bought a sense of belief into the team, we still “don’t like it up’us” as they say and our current squad have always struggled against pressing, physical sides. I haven’t watched enough of you this season to know if this way of playing suits your players.

Norwich fan here with a long time soft spot for Newcastle (lots of family from the area). I can safely say that you lot will win this one tonight. There’s a saying amongst our support of “Along Come Norwich” - if a team hasn’t won all season, they’ll beat us. If a player hasn’t scored in 30 games, he’ll score against us. Couple this with the fact that we haven’t won at St James Park since 1988, and we’ve also never won a PL game on a Tuesday despite 15 attempts, and I have never been more certain than anything of a loss. Whilst Smith has clearly tightened our defence over the past 2 weeks, we still look undeniably shakey at times. If Howe sets you up to attack, I can see our CB pairing of Hanley & Gibson buckling under the pressure. Hanley in particular has made a near game costing mistake in each of the last 2 games. Hope I’m wrong of course, and regardless of the result I can still see us both going down this season (well, we definitely are and I guess it all depends on what happens in January for you).