Checko

7th or above is a perfectly reasonable target to aim for, we're about 7th/8th for squad cost and wages so that's roughly where you'd expect us to finish up. It's where we finished last year despite a ridiculous injury crisis and crazy cup draws. Plus with the 4th best goal difference (thank you Sheffield United). I wouldn't subscribe to the 'if we don't achieve the expected 7th you must be sacked' attitude though. There's a lot of randomness in football. Over the course of a season you could easily get 4 points more or less than your performances deserve. That's an 8 point swing, which was the difference between 8th and fourth last year. And sometimes you just have a bad year. Happened to Klopp the year we finished fourth. Happening to Pep this year. Doesn't mean the manager's not good suddenly. So yeah, you definitely look at league placing, but also other factors: overall performances, has the manager improved players, team unity etc. Because ultimately it's not about what the manager's just done, it's about what you think they will do in the future, and last year's results is obviously part of that evaluation, but only part.

@Lyonista where you at bro?

I want the type of RW who gets described by journalists as having 'a cultured left foot'. The sort of left foot that listens to Puccini and watches ballet.

I reckon Willock, it's the LCM role which is his position and he hasn't had much of a chance to start this year.

Think he's worth it at that?

According to that article, they want 50 million Euros, we want to pay 30, Transfermarkt values him at 40. So presumably 40 million euros gets the job done unless someone else comes in. 40 million Euros is about £33 million currently. I wish we'd joined the single currency so my keyboard would have a euros symbol.

Also I did a firefox translate of the page and apparently "Negotiations between Newcastle and PSV are a lot of stiff stingy." Make of that what you will.

Ibrahima Bakayoko was an absolute stud for me on Championship Manager 2, and even though they're different nationalities and absolutely no relation that's enough for me to hope this goes through. That, and a good injury record.

Hopefully not being too much of a dick here, but would anyone expect a Platinum Club at a football game to have a great atmosphere?'

Solid, professional performance. Very nice to see us in a lead and think, 'let's just keep the ball and make them chase us', rather than 'let's just punt the ball back and chase them'. Don't remember them having a decent chance until late on & we were 3-0 up, and for anyone complaining about Bruno not getting booked for diving vs Leicester, check out Wissa vs Dubs in the first half. Fingers crossed things are starting to take shape, though we'll really find out against better teams and away from home.

I think part of this is the James Bunce influence. Basically, the guy hasn't played regularly for a year so manage his minutes.

Tbf, Tino played 60 mins last match Hall the full game. Makes sense at 3-0 up to rest Hall there.

I'd love it if behind the scenes Eddie makes all the staff use thick Geordie accents to help them 'get' the club. And I wouldn't necessarily put it past him either.

From that Athletic article: "The early signs have been encouraging — just as they were in Monaco, when there was an uptick in player availability from 76 per cent before Bunce’s arrival to 90 per cent in 2021-22 — even if sample size remains small. Premier Injuries calculates the volume of injuries a team has suffered per 1,000 minutes played, or “incidence” rate. Across Howe’s three previous campaigns at Newcastle, 8.7 per 1,000 was the lowest incidence rate, while it reached 9.0 last season. In 2024-25, up to the November international break (13 matches), that had dropped to 6.0, 33 per cent down season on season. Compared to the same stage of 2023-24, it dropped 39 per cent (from 9.8). Newcastle's injury record per season: 2021-22 22 2,520 8.7 2022-23 39 4,170 9.4 2023-24 41 4,590 9.0 2024-25 7 1,170 6.0" Promising signs, though early days obviously.

Burn's been a great signing and always been a solid, reliable defender. At the end of a day he was a 6' 7" 30 something CB playing LB against a load of super quick, skillful premier league wingers. He was always at a massive speed and agility disadvantage there but the fact he managed it successfully for so long is a testament to him actually being a good defender. Speed is something you can lose quickly as you age, but you also lose it quickly (at least in the short term) if you're detrained, and he really struggled after he came back fairly early from a few months out with stress fracture in his back, where he presumably hadn't been able to do much running. It's hardly surprising he'd lost half a step at that point. Given he was just about holding on before with his size that was enough though. It's a shame he started getting so much stick, when Eddie probably should have realised it wasn't working any more and switched things sooner. There was also the frustration with Hall not being given a shot and Burn seemed to bear the brunt of a lot of that. But when he went back to CB again last year, most people were like, 'oh yeah he's actually a very solid defender'. He'll turn 33 at the end of this season so he's obviously not a long-term solution, but if he's having to come on and cover at CB next year then I'm not worried about him playing cause he's solid.

Are people seriously comtemplating buying Scowlmiron from Man U?

Thought Joelinton played well today tbh. Moved the ball quickly, hardly ever gave it away, made a couple of chances, good movement & got into dangerous positions. It wasn't a blow you away performance but I thought he was very effective at keeping things moving fluidly.

Great result and performance. Obviously Leicester were bobbins, but we moved the ball much quicker and with far fewer silly mistakes. There was a real intent and purpose about our play on the ball. Tonali looked classy as hell, Bruno played a couple of lovely through balls and got into dangerous areas a lot. Big Joe tied everything together nicely. Isak missed a couple of chances but got a poacher goal's and did some superb link play. Gordon looked far more threatening, Lewis Hall is class. No-one played poorly and we got to rest a few. Just hope we can keep that mindset up, particularly away from home.

Feel like he could become peak Trippier level, but hitting that peak at 22 rather than 32.

Also I think it might be a really good idea to give Osula a bit of game time.

Kind of disagree on that, I think he's got pretty strong game intelligence. He's certainly not the ideal type of No 10, but when he does have a bad touch it's far less dangerous when he's higher up the pitch.

I wonder if this would stop happening if he ate enough ham.

I think if I was in charge, given the players we have I'd play Big Joe as a No. 10. I really think Isak needs someone near him to get the most out of him, and he needs to be free to float around and get involved in the game. A system like this [mix wingers however you want]: Isak Barnes Big Joe Gordon Bruno Tonali I think Bruno and Sandro seem perfect for ye olde double pivot: both are DMs who like to get on the ball and dictate tempo. Both like to get forward, so here one can go forward and the other covers, at their discretion. Instead of a system where our DM is also our main attacking playmaker so we have to leave ourselves open on the counter to allow him to attack. Big Joe's then there to provide a physical presence further up the pitch. He's played well there in a more defensive role (eg 4-1 vs Brighton) & he's good at the back to goal, hold the ball up with a defender on his back and bring people into play thing, which is exactly the part of Isak's striker game that isn't good. It gives us two players to play it forward to through the middle instead of one, and would allow Isak to drift around and do whatever the fuck he wants (which I think is when he's at his best) while still maintaining a presence in the middle. Kind of a withdrawn target man role, but with a proper striker ahead so we don't have to rely on Joe actually scoring. We really struggle to move the ball forward through the middle of the pitch, we're so reliant on whacking it long down the channels, and with the players we've got that would be my best attempt at solving it. You could try Willock in the No 10, I think he and Isak have a decent understanding, but he's a bit similar to Isak in playstyle and I think Big Joe & Isak would compliment each others' strengths and weaknesses better. Could maybe give little Joe a go on the RW.

If we can get this handsome bugger back playing well then, if we do have any money to spend in Jan, perhaps we can put it towards a RW/playmaker type, instead of an overpriced Marc hates-the-Guehis

I feel 5 games is a bit soon to write Amorim off like.