Solitude20

Watching Barca now, we absolutely need big Joe for our match, their midfield seems to struggle in a physical battle.

I think Eddie is experimenting with this 3-4-3 in preparation for Barcelona.

Murphy has been abysmal.

Will it be Tino or Hall against Yamal? I just hope Tonali gets rested during the international break and be all ready for Barca.

Just crunched the numbers on what we could make from the UCL this year. If we win 3 games in the league phase, draw 3 and lose 2, then finish 19th, and somehow make it to the quarters before getting knocked out (bit optimistic, I know), we’re looking at over €70m in prize money alone. Chuck in around €30m from matchday revenue and you’re talking €100m+ from the campaign and that’s before you even factor in the commercial side (sponsorships, shirt sales, etc.) or the broadcast cash. Big money on the table if we get it right.

And that’s why Gordon and Elanga should work on their finishing.

In August 2022, Yasir attended the 3–3 draw against City. A couple of days later, buzzing from the atmosphere, the club paid a record fee for Isak, signed out of nowhere Two days ago, Liverpool at St James Park. Ten versus eleven, the lads grafted, and Yasir was there. Soon after, the club moved for Nick Woltemade on a big fee almost instantly. When he’s at SJP for a big one, the high transfer trigger gets pulled quickly. If that trend holds, get him over more often.

Haaland?

Add Sesko to the list.

With him having basically no pre-season, Eddie might need to ease him in gently. Even if we signed him this week, I doubt he’d even get any minutes against Liverpool.

Isak would never.

I’m still not convinced Gordon should start up top ahead of Osula for this one. I know Osula’s got his limitations, but Gordon hasn’t exactly shone when he’s played there either. Let’s not forget Gordon is far more effective on the left wing than he is as a centre-forward, and we might have a better game with him playing in his usual spot.

I honestly can’t think of many cases where a player has pushed it this far and still managed to get back into the first team. Sure there are examples of players who have asked to leave but stayed professional about it such as Messi in 2020, Kane, Guehi and in those cases the club and fans have pretty much moved on. But to this extent? Even with Howe’s magic I reckon it’s going to be extremely difficult.

You forgot Park for LW and RW as third option backup.

After today’s match, Osula would be better than Gordan.

Trying to understand why Milan was trying to push him away based on what I’ve read here.

The main reason I wouldn’t want us going after Guehi is because I can see it now, we get to advanced talks, then Liverpool stroll in late and swoop. I’m not up for that kind of heartbreak anymore. Given where we are, players like Elanga, Thiaw, etc. make more sense. Get them young, let Eddie develop them, and when we’re a permanent top five side with more PSR headroom, that’s when we can start targeting the already-elite.

After the Qatar 2022 World Cup, when the Crown Prince attended in person, his focus shifted to a much bigger national sporting vision. That’s when Saudi went after hosting the 2034 World Cup, launched the Saudi Pro League with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way, brought in star players, managers and executives, and secured huge events like the 2027 Asian Cup, WTA Finals in tennis, major golf tournaments, esports world championships, high profile boxing and MMA cards, and snooker masters. I did a quick search in ChatGPT and saw they have spent over £6 billion in recent years on sporting projects, plus massive infrastructure including 14 new stadiums for the World Cup, one of which started construction last year and will be ready for the Asian Cup. Winning all of those deals in such a short time tells me their lack of involvement is more about priorities than competence. In fact, the way PIF managed to buy the club against all the headwinds and resistance back in 2021 was proof of great competence. Newcastle just isn’t the heart of PIF’s sporting project anymore, and that’s fine by me. As long as we spend to the PSR limit every season, there’s no issue.

He can definitely beat his man.

Both of him and Isak scored 19 non-penalty goals last season.

I am all for starting a new thread just to push the Sesko thread down.

Plays golf with Trump.

With how dreadful this transfer window has been, you start to wonder if we need to go back to the approach we had just after the takeover, targeting the likes of Bruno, Botman, Gordon etc. Players with huge potential who weren’t quite on the radar of the big boys yet. Maybe we thought that a cup win and a couple of Champions League runs would suddenly let us go toe to toe with the elite in the transfer market. But the reality check is clear, we’re not there yet. It’s going to take more than a few good seasons to truly compete at that level. In the meantime we have to be smart. That means relying heavily on a top notch scouting department who can find those under-the-radar signings before others do and frankly that has to be a top priority for the incoming CEO. Were our expectations just skewed after that bit of early success? Or have we wasted time chasing names we were never going to win the race for? This is where we are for now. To break out of this cycle we need to do two things: grow our revenue to offer competitive wages and fees and build the best scouting network in the league. I think those should be the priority of our new CEO. Simple as that.

He’s meeting with Isak I suppose?

Did Mitchel bring him in? Good scouting that from the K-League.