Gate4

I was about to write that the reason we're suffering is that both joe and longstaff are SHITE today. Kinda hard not to suffer with a non existent midfield. I hoped we could last until halftime to make adjustments but it wasn't to be. Bring Tonali in ffs

I don't know if this has been discussed before but every time I watch the teams in the tunnel I think imagine being the bloke with the glasses on the mural. He must be fucking loving this.

I agree. I always thought world cups should have a "summer party" atmosphere. I even hate that a lot of games are played when it's dark nowadays, play in the freaking sunshine! Spain is like the perfect country to host and it's incredible they have essentially never hosted a euro. It's also why I personally hate big tournaments in countries like France and Germany (and by extension the UK)...they have everything you could ask for facility/infrastructure/etc wise but it's just a bit...to sterile and urban and not summery enough. Growing up when you thought world cup you pictured mexico 70 and 86 and spain 82...that's sort of the ideal. From 1990 until and including 2010, world cups for me were lacking something environment/atmosphere wise. 1990 dreadful stadiums, 94 usa which always a bit weird/off, 1998 france very meh and crap stadiums back then, 2002 fucking Korea and all their bullshit plus lots of shit stadiums, 2006 in germany utterly forgettable world cup for me and 2010 in SA vuvuzelas and shit boring football. Even with world cups in russia and Qatar which people moaned about a lot and were very skeptical about, me included, I found recent world cups much more fun both on and off the pitch (the isolated qatar leading to 10s of thousands of fans from poorer countries being brought in that would otherwise not be there resulted in fantastic atmosphere in the stands)

No shit he's lost, he's not a midfielder. Let's see how much shit it will take for everyone to accept that.

Agreed. Personally I also hate thin stripes and I much prefer the middle stripe to be white. This is key whether you have this thickness stripes or wider. I wouldn't go for wider stripes when it comes to Newcastle but this is also fantastic imo https://store.paokfc.gr/en/episimi-fanela-paok-aspromayri-rige-18-19-461-008600.html (would have been perfect if not for the fact the whole freaking back is black ) So let's recap the key points that make the shirt above perfect: Right width/amount of stripes Middle stripe is white Stripes go all the way up, i.e. no black or white shoulders Stripes on the sleeves. On top of that, the adidas stripes make the sleeves even better (works fantastically on the shorts as well. I think it's better than plain coloured shorts) Goes without saying, stripes down the back. Box is ok, as long as at least SOME of the back is striped. I don't know how much you can replicate that 96 shirt. FIrst of all that sponsor logo also made the shirt and the wide shirts of the time allowed for more horizontal space to fit 4 black stripes of decent width.

I'll repeat the unpopular opinion I've been banging on since last season. Joe is a lot of good things but he is NOT a classical midfielder. It is EXPECTED he gets tactically lost like this. I am disappointed with our tactics and how we're playing today. First off, if you are going to play this passively, what the fuck is the point of playing Joelinton. We have NOTHING TO LOSE. ManCity away at the beginning of the season. Who cares if we lose. Come out and take them on with intensity. What the hell is this passive shit. I expected us to come out with ambition and test ourselves with a nothing to lose mentality. I am sorry but this garbage.

Man you guys have no idea what referee corruption is Ask some of us who have teams in non top leagues. The only top-5 or even western really league in Europe that has had true corrupted refereeing issues (to the point of robbing titles) is the serie a.

It's not like ASM had one big injury. He got injured again and again and again. Unfortunately he is the prime kind of player to sell to the saudi league. The more I think about it the more sense it makes.

Isak needs to be starting at CF. You don't "have" ASM if he's injured most of the time. Gordon as it stands right now is not ready. So you're "stacked" only in theory. You're OK at LW only under the assumption that you have ASM. And most of you guys had him written off and don't tell me otherwise. And for good reason. Joelinton is great and a lot of things and he will get starts depending on the situation but he's not a winger and he's not ASM. And neither is willock

The "weak link" imo is not the RW, it's the left and that's because your primary threat there, ASM, has been unreliable. This kind of formation requires all three up front to be productive threats. If ASM continues on the often injured path, it means you have a gap there. Big Joe is a great multi use tool we all love but while he can be used in various roles and positions and situations, he can't be your starting left wing if you want to compete for big things (neither can he be a starting midfielder in my opinion). Same goes for Willock though I think he is more suitable to a more attacking midfielder role. RW does not present as much of a weakness until Miggy starts slipping and shows he can't maintain his current level. For now, he's good enough. No that I would complain with another midfielder but I think if the team is to make one more big signing it need to be a star attacking player even if not an outright winger.

This. I've been laughing at people thinking Newcastle will be in for garbage like Tielemans. I've said this before, it's understandable when you spend years being nowhere but people's standards need to catch up with the club's rising level and ambition.

I still can't believe the stupid career decisions players from that great Ajax team made. De Ligt going to freaking juventus instead of Barcelona, wtf was he thinking (that's what you get for listening to raiola). Van de Beek going to manure and Ziyech to chelsea and it turning out exactly how you'd expect. In fact, I struggle to understand why any player willingly goes to manure or chelsea (unless it's money you absolutely won't find anywhere else), it's career suicide in what have been obviously shitty situations due to how the teams are ran.

Wilson's reactions are slow as fuck today, he looks like a retiree

Well there you go, now for the love of fuck keep Joelinton out of the midfield

Why why WHY is joelinton playing in midfield and Willock in attack? Once again Joelinton is struggling in his midfield role and can't help with possession under pressure.