Erikse

Some players are allways injured though. As for Trippier and Isak they had not been out for this long for a very long time. The Ben Arfa one was also a crazy one.. Just very unlucky these ones. With some players we would've been lucky if they didn't get injured shortly after arrival.

We have a history of having some of our most exciting signings get injured shortly after arrival. Ben Arfa, Trippier, Isak.. I'm sure that I'm forgetting someone. Lets hope it doesn't happen again.

Good thing he doesn't need to have the best fitness out of all players in the squad. Shelvey was just lazy, and didn't have the best attitude for improvement. Also he was 29 when Howe came.

Fitness can surely be improved. We all remember what happened to the squad the first 6 months. He seemed dedicated to improve in that last interview, which is the most important.

I'm sure Newcastle talked to the player before signing him, about his motivations and such..? If this was true I doubt that Newcastle would follow through with all that money. We only want players who are fully commited.

We've been underrated ever since the takeover. Jan 2022 we we're going down and appointed the wrong manager. June 2022 we were just a temporary form team and wouldn't get top 6 next season. January 2023 we were going to drop out of the top 4 eventually. Next season they don't think we have a chance of getting top 4. If we get it, hopefully they've finally learnt their lesson..

I wonder how Tonali compares vs Nick Pope.. I don't think Tonali has ever made a save in his life. Waste of money.

How do you define overpay? What's the appropriate price for such players? The market sets the price.. You could argue that no player is worth that price, nomatter what. Yet all the big clubs keep paying that and even more. That's just how you become a top team these days.. By overpaying for that little extra.

Especially considering that Paqueta went for €70m in the summer.. It's even more crazy to think that we were in the relegation zone and that everyone expected us to overpay for players.. I knew it seemed like a fantastic signing at the time, but like you, I realise more and more with time just how special it was. Brighton does it sometimes, but other than that, it's a rare case. Botman was also an amazing deal, but still not as crazy as the Bruno one.

I think it's very difficult to get players of Brunos level for €40 mill these days. If we keep looking for those kind of signings, it may just be nothing until the end of the window, and then we have to panic if we want key players. I still can't believe how good our first window was.. We hit the jackpot that january. Can't repeat it every window.

Joelinton is a decent CM, but currently i feel he lacks a bit at CDM. To me it looks like he's not really used to that position. I'm sure he could be trained to be an excellent CDM aswell though, if needed. This guy keeps evolving!

It's like when we sold Danny Simpson to QPR, and 3 years later he was a PL champion and a starter in the UCL quarterfinal vs Atletico.

I guess I've missed that joke due to slight inactivity. Worrying.

Even if he wanted to go, we wouldn't sell him for €30m less that what we would want to sign Raphiña for.. And definetly not as an early bid. He's basically saying that our early bid for Raphiña is worth €110m or more.. While also having to replace our best midfielder after.

He's generating clicks. There's absolutely no way we would make a bid like that, our owners are not completely stupid. They are also not ones to overbid like that.

Why? Accoring to me Mbappe has signed. Good news right?

I mean, he generated clicks.. And come on guys, "worrying"?? Do you seriously believe that rumor? It's obviously fake..

https://sempreinter.com/2023/06/14/no-truth-rumours-linking-inter-milan-nicolo-barella-newcastle-united/ No idea if this is any more credible..

Maguire is not good with a high line because of his pace. I think that's partly why he's playing better for England. I don't think he would fit in a high pressing team like us.

Yes, the fact that more teams are fighting for the top spots also means that there are more difficult games to play. That's why the average points needed for top 4 hasn't gone up drastically despite the fact that more teams are competitive.

It's true that the average has been going up historically due to the rise of Tottenham (compared to 20 years ago), Chelsea and City. But with the "big 6", the average has only risen by about 5 points in 20 years. It might go up with us in the mix aswell, but not by that much considering it's just 1 more team in the mix. Ofcourse it's not impossible that it will reach 80 in a single season at some point, but before last season a lot of people were saying that Liverpool would win the league and that Chelsea would be top 4. Next season those 2 disappointments could be replaced by someone else, or maybe some of them will fail again. I actually think that Chelsea will still be in a bit of trouble, too many new players (and too many flops).

So if Man United and Liverpool didn't underachieve, we would've needed 80 points for top 4? That has never happened before. The highest in latest years is 75p being Liverpool at 4th, 71p would be enough for most seasons. I don't get this "if every team would've performed" thing.. That never happens.

I think top 4 is better for the long term project, and could help us to win a trophy faster in the future. I don't think that winning a League Cup now would've helped us getting a top 4 finish any faster (if we didn't get it this season). Edit: I see now that someone just pointed that out

Winning it gave them a spot in the Europa League, that in itself is pretty neat for a team like West Ham.

Cool! Ajer is actually from my hometown in Norway, he played for our local team (IK Start) as a youngster.