Matt1892

We didn’t look to get Gordon running at Trent at all, quite the opposite. Once the sending off happened we hardly isolated Trent at all.

Gordon was the best player on the pitch up until the sending off so I have no idea why Howe didn’t instruct the team to get the ball to him at every opportunity and to constantly run at Trent, he was a sending off waiting to happen. There was no effort to isolate Trent or pressure him after the sending off.

Liverpool did not play well, they were second best for the whole of the game which is the real kicker. Our issue is that we did not attempt to finish them off and kept with the same tactics when they dropped to 10 men, at no time did we look to use the extra man as an advantage to us and instead let the clock run down to the point where we were caught between finishing them off late and sitting on what we had. The result is 100% on Howe.

He’s right, we do need a more skilful winger and pace at the back. He is saying what some have been saying all summer. He is right about the defensive midfielder too, if we had signed one then we could play Isak off Wilson rather than him being isolated up top with no support from the midfield. It is going to get worse this season as more teams sit deep for us to try and break them down but top teams need to evolve as they progress which the players we have signed suggest we are not going to do that. Instead of working on the above signings we spent £70 million on back up players to Gordon and Trippier.

Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa ✅ Man City 1-0 Newcastle ❌ Newcastle 1-2 Liverpool ❌ Same points and +2 goal difference. Next up Brighton. 22/23 score… Brighton 0-0 Newcastle

He is usually good with his tactics when he needs to change things but he didn’t change anything tactically when Liverpool went a man down nor in the second half when we needed to step up the intensity to put the game to bed, just the same subs. I think he’s also making a mistake with the midfield he has built; the current set up of having three players that can interchange is the reason Isak looks so isolated at times, compare that to Man City who go with a traditional holding man and then an attacking midfielder who can get forward to support. Maybe that will change when Willock comes back as he wants to break and get forward but we are crying out for a Maddison type player to pull the strings and knit the attack together. EDIT - He should have brought Wilson on and dropped Isak in behind him early in the second half.

Twitter football chat is just the worst.

He was also complimentary about or performance and season when he was interviewed after we beat them at the end of last season. He came across as really likeable.

Worth remembering over the next few games.

This Luton side is much worse than the Derby team that set the record, I remember ourselves and Spurs were linked with Giles Barnes from them who was seen as the next big thing after his performances in the Championship. They also had Robert Earnshaw who was a quality Championship striker that had the pace and movement that made you think he could make the step up. This Luton side doesn’t really have anything, Carlton Morris is a decent championship forward but his play is made for the rough and tumble of that league. Outside of that they don’t really have any sort of star player or someone you would look to for creativity. They do have a quality manager in Rob Edwards but there is only so much polishing you can do with a turd. Luton will only be a stepping stone for him.

Great goal by Sterling.

I don’t think it that far off his worth when it was signed to be fair.

I think if Barnes and Gordon were available in the summer from Leicester and Everton respectively then we would have only signed one of them rather than both. He might move Gordon to the right eventually but if you play with one striker you usually want your wide players to be stronger on the foot they cut in with.

It was opportunistic in that they didn’t think he would be available, then when he became available they moved for him. Do you genuinely think they would have bought Gordon and Barnes this window if they hadn’t picked him up in January?

People seem to be flipping between sarcasm and upset that not everyone is getting the 10 scorecard out every window.

I don’t think it will be a case of me changing my mind, as I really rate Barnes as a player but see little point of buying him and Gordon when we need to improve the right hand side. That is why I would have given a higher score, it was a position of need. Gordon was seen as an opportunistic signing in January but I don’t believe we would have signed him and Barnes this summer if we hadn’t had picked him up then.

Someone tell Mo he needs to refuse to play on the weekend, that will help push the deal through.

I would rate the window higher if we signed Diaby over Barnes for sure.

It is getting a bit like this with the transfer window. “How many out of 10 do you rate this window”

It almost feels like rewriting history but saying that we were not light in midfield when we didn’t replace, we didn’t struggle when Longstaff was out with the balance of midfield and and that one injury to Bruno who was struggling badly would have seen the wheels completely come off.

Leicester.

I think for a team to improve from our position is done by buying better players and creating more competition for places. It is then up to those new players to take the spots held by Schar, Burn and Miggy. In the same way it is on them to put in performances so they remain first choice. I can’t imagine a position where we say that we shouldn’t buy better players in those positions because other people deserve to be guaranteed starters and not challenged.

You improve by buying better players, so knowing we need a better player than Lascelles at the back you go out and not only buy a better player than him but also than Schar, meaning he drops to the bench and you have improved your first team. There was no balance to a Bruno, Joelinton and Willock midfield as the latter two want to play on the left of midfield, which was why everyone was talking about how much we missed Longstaff. We also had the game on his return where Anderson had to start in midfield and Gordon came on as sub to play there.

If Gordon hadn’t of joined in January does anyone genuinely think we would have gone out and spent £80 million on 2 LW’s this summer with ASM leaving?