Upthemags

Sean looks lost out there

Dubs MOTM

Dubs saving us once again

Piss poor

All of this is wasted breath - In no rational universe does Eddie not get to finish the season and at least get a crack with a healthy squad next season. If we were to see similar issues a few months into next season, with a healthy Tonali, Barnes, and Willock in tow, and new transfers in, then it'll be time to give Eddie the boot. Until then, it's just premature drivel.

Feeling a result today

You don't have access to current ledgers - those are private mate. Unless we're working with different understandings of what the word private means. As you rightly say, you can have a guess if you like, and maybe even a good one. We'll know soon enough where we stand though, and my bet is we'll be bolstering the squad, even if only modestly, this window. Again, will eat crow if we get to February having spent the past month sitting on our hands.

The clubs books aren't private, except that we don't have access to them... Cmon lads. Again, it's reading tea leaves until we see what happens. Past years might provide a barometer for guesswork, but it's just guesswork.

At the end of the day, this is just reading the tea leaves - unless you have access to the club's private books. Are we going to go out and buy Mbappe? No. Are we going to expend some amount of our funds on upgrade(s)? Absolutely. Happy to eat crow if we sit tight too.

Close to the limit =/= at the limit

Howe and co. have been saying the books are tight for several windows now... Are people really still falling for the trick that "there's nothing to spend" because someone said so? It's literally just a play for leverage in negotiations. That's not to say FFP doesn't restrict it, but make no mistake we'll be adding something this window. And all the journos - who like it or not have better info than we do - seem to agree.

Bizarre aggression for a pretty straightforward perspective mate - why does a Newcastle fan care whether ownership pays out to a player who won't be playing a minute for us in the new year, after eating up a sizable portion of our limited funds? Surely that's self-evident and doesn't need spelling out? FFP means every pound we pay out cuts into what we can spend on new talent.

He's irrelevant to the team right now, and we don't even know if he'll be back for 24-25 until the FA investigation concludes. (Does a pathological gambler stop gambling once he changes locations?) Micro-assessing his every move seems a silly waste of time. On a separate note, and not oft-mentioned: Surely our player insurance from Sandro's ban will beef up our transfer budget this January? Not sure how all that works but that would be nice.

Diaby cost basically what Barnes did - I don't say that to say he'd have us in CL form over Miggy's form, but it's a step too far to say another player or 2 couldn't have helped us massively

Eddie could do a lot to quiet the chirping if he grabbed a couple of points from the next 3 league games. Not easy/likely of course, but that would dull the blade-sharpening that some (really a small minority) seem keen on.

Thought he put in some creative passes, but the rest of the XI had already largely thrown in the towel and didn't seem all that fussed about trying to get on the end of it/create anything themselves. The quality is so dire at the moment that any time I see anyone try to play a ball through it seems a creative upgrade on what we've got

Acquitted himself well today too

Hard to assess his performance with the back line he has protecting him

I can restate it if you like - it's disingenuous to suggest there are no rotational options, when we have a wunderkind sitting on the bench for most all the game, and two knackered ones on the pitch who look world's away from being able to compete.

Barring some shocking run of form where we start flirting with a bottom-5 finish, I don't see the logic in booting Howe mid-season. Like it or not, it's clear Eddie has limitations, but his banked-up credit has at least earned him a tryout this latter half of the season to show why he's the man to drive the Ferrari, so to speak. It would seem very harsh not to give Eddie a chance to right the ship and show what he's learned after the break. I do understand the frustration from fans, though.

This is disingenuous - Howe spent 70 million pound on fullbacks precisely to lighten the load on our aging ones. We don't get to then throw up our hands and say there's no options to rotate

Dubs has been exemplary in how he's stepped in with our number 1 down, and with a Championship level back four (in their current form, lets say) playing in front of him

....

We stink.

Thought Gordon played a decent half all things considered