Lucky

I didn’t think we’d beat City, pleasantly surprised but not getting carried away. If we go from that to another turgid away showing it will put things in a different perspective. Not about never being happy, just being realistic about the season so far. It’s been a total mixed bag. I want Eddie Howe to succeed, don’t know how many times I have to write that to sink in, my position has always been if he isn’t turning it around we should make a change, in the summer if that were to happen but my preference is for him to succeed, I just have long term doubts if he’ll ever be consistent enough to challenge in the league. Not sure why that’s such heresy.

Yes and it’s a good thing. If we can perform well at Everton then we’ll have turned a corner. As previously commented, our home form has been ok. As much as I enjoyed last night I’m not getting carried away or declaring everything is fixed. I’ve repeatedly said I like Eddie Howe and want him to succeed. Proof will be in the pudding in the next few away games.

Just think his head has gone, it’s entirely mental. The way he downed tools for us and then going on strike, he’s had bad eggs advising him and his decisions are eating him up on the inside. Going from hero to zero may be something he never recovers from. Even at the dippers, the expectation and excitement from the supporters to see a certain player, that’s long gone now. It’s a long road back for him.

Other sides seem to attack our weaknesses though, City just did the same as what they always do. That’s why I meant by disrespect. We’ve historically been an excellent counter attacking side which especially played into our hands in the 2nd half. We defended brilliantly though. They didn’t have too many clear cut chances.

They’re clutching at straws now, the latest excuse is that the Jota song at 20 minutes is affecting the players.

If Trippier isn’t back he’ll have to play! But saying that, it’s very clear who the first choice is now. It’s day and night in comparison, as much as I love Tripps and what he did for us. It’s no wonder City are sniffing around.

It was crazy that he played the full match when he should had been weeks behind where Hall was in terms of fitness and training.

The energy was a lot better and we looked to have more cohesion up front. So much better but not getting carried away, Everton away will be the test to see have we actually turned a corner. This game was somewhat of a free hit as nobody expected us to give them so much problems. Also a certain amount of disrespect from City, they just played as they always do not even considering that we're very good as a counter-attacking team. Pep must not have really watched the last 2 away games as the blueprint was right there. Not complaining though, we still had to do it and the players stepped up this time. Thiaw and Tino were awesome.

Looked like more of an argument. I did notice Pep going to Tonali with a friendly smile and Graeme Jones was right in there like a jealous boyfriend to break up the chat.

It’s almost like the mods on there know what a bunch of toxic cunts they are. The censorship is wild though.

This made me chuckle

We’ve dealt with Haaland so well. Players turned up. Unexpected result but the energy was so much better. They were poor at the back and we could/should have had more. Hopefully we can get some reinforcements at RB/LB as it’s clear now that Trippier and Burn should never play there again. Tino had a cracking game.

We’re making them work for it at least.

Joelinton just going around kicking people and giving the ball away. Surely a better game for Ramsey?

How is that not a yellow?

We may be the least press resistant team in the league.

They’ve turned on Slot too. RAWK not even trying to moderate/censor it anymore 😂

I'm seeing posts on social media that he'll still be out for next 3 games.. Any truth in this? Edit: it was Craig Hope When will Yoane Wissa be fit? It won’t be against Manchester City this weekend and, as I reported in our last Newcastle Confidential column, early December was my information. If so, that rules him out of at least the next three - City on Saturday, Marseille on Tuesday and Everton next weekend. The latest I’m told is that he is ‘very close’ - but when that is on the back of an 11-week absence, such language is open to interpretation. The important thing for Wissa and Newcastle is that he is working towards a comeback and there have been no setbacks with regards his knee over the international break. The club want him to be ready to make an impact when he does return, rather than be introduced for a few minutes here and there over a period of weeks and be susceptible to further injury. My feeling on this for a while now has been that Wissa will not be seen until December.

For me, large scale investment was always going to be the litmus test of PIF's long term plans. They have the means to make a decision any time they want but it's not looking like they want to, why that is I'm sure we'll find out over the next few seasons. Once we hit a certain value.

Whilst I do agree with that, he was also playing in a very poor Man Utd team, but he did go hiding in games and didn’t seem to have the drive to make a regular place for himself in the side. To assume he’d just tear it up now for any PL team could be a costly mistake given what Napoli would want for him.

I don’t think that’s necessarily a fair comparison. In previous seasons Arsenal played attractive football but the criticism was that they had no backbone and couldn’t win ugly. Think they can do both now, which is probably more than most other sides have in their locker at present. There’s also a case to be made that losing to us in recent seasons has taught them a valuable lesson which they’ve actually used to improve. The game has evolved/devolved somewhat and we’ve stood still for the most part. Still think we’re a better squad than what we’re showing but if just keep being sent out to try the same thing we’ll keep getting the same result. Next few games will be telling to see if the manager really understands what the problem is.

Amazing, everyone in the pub hugging each other like we’d won the World Cup 😂 would never have predicted this in the early stages of the group. Football is awesome at times

If there’s a massive global financial crash on the way, that might also explain the wait and see approach, disappointing as that is.

Didn’t vote because the options are far too black and white. Do I want him sacked? No, I want him to turn it around. If he doesn’t though, then yes we should seriously consider going in a different direction. I’ve stated in as many different ways possible why I have my doubts that he will, but it does need to play out. I don’t know why that’s such a controversial position to have. The City game is a free hit in some ways, they’ll be heavy favourites but the Everton game is different. If we serve up something similar to last weekend it’s going to start getting very tough for him. That video sums things up quite well though, something clearly isn’t working.

If things don’t massively improve I can see us only getting another 3-5 points before the end of 2025. We have a tough run of games after the break. Burnley at home is the only one I’m looking at thinking we have a chance there. Maybe Wissa will change the dynamic completely but I just think, where is the service going to come from if the rest of the side doesn’t transform. If we don’t sort it out this could be a likely set of results. City (h) - L Everton (a) - L Spurs (h) - D Burnley (h) - W Mackems (a) - D Chelsea (h) - L Man Utd (a) - L Burnley (a) - L