7th-ometer

[Wallsendmag]

7 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

We're 7th now

 

This. We're 7th despite injuries to key players for large parts and lets just say a few dubious VAR decisions have also cost us points. Obviously Liverpool will overtake us but I believe it's between us, Brighton and West Ham (who will improve) for 7th. If we can get our big players on the pitch more often and then flex our financial clout in January I'd make us favourites for that 7th place.

[80]

14 minutes ago, 54 said:

Personally of the opinion that this season is a bit of a free hit, we're very unlikely to be in a relegation battle for the first time in 14 years, and we don't have an overall squad yet where it is expected of us to be competing for European places, so just taking it game at a time, and trying to enjoy a stress free season.

The sensible approach. We don't need to create more stress than necessary, and that way we'll actually be more likely to overachieve. Does anyone see Howe as someone who settles for steady 10th if you're not on his back?

[Colos Short and Curlies]

10 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

This. We're 7th despite injuries to key players for large parts and lets just say a few dubious VAR decisions have also cost us points. Obviously Liverpool will overtake us but I believe it's between us, Brighton and West Ham (who will improve) for 7th. If we can get our big players on the pitch more often and then flex our financial clout in January I'd make us favourites for that 7th place.

 

Why is it obvious? They are having a real transitional season and unless they spend big on the midfield in January they will continue to effectively play to Klopp's style this year, of course they have individual talent but that team is a 6-8 placed team this year.

 

I'd say City, Arsenal and Spurs are pretty much nailed on for top 4, its really down to Chelsea and Liverpool as to whether the door is open for one of us, Man U or Brighton to sneak in as well. There is an opportunity this season to take advantage and at least get 6th and a chance of Europe (likely the cups go to one of the top 4 again). Next year will be more difficult

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I honestly don’t care where we finish, obviously barring a disaster. 
 

We need to keep our top players happy and attract signings of course, and the higher the better.
 

But personally I’m just enjoying caring about every game and not worrying about going down. 

[Kid Icarus]

38 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

We're 7th now

I know, I'm talking about our finishing position. Teams tend to have injury and form problems at some point and other teams will go through good and bad form as well. 

[RodneyCisse]

16 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I honestly don’t care where we finish, obviously barring a disaster. 
 

We need to keep our top players happy and attract signings of course, and the higher the better.
 

But personally I’m just enjoying caring about every game and not worrying about going down. 

Next season is where that top 7 becomes more of a need otherwise where are we going.

 

If we achieve it early, I think the Saudis go wild in summer.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I'm kind of enjoying this period of still being a relatively normal football club.

 

I think in a weird way, the time when we're a behemoth packed with superstar signings will be a bit harder to adjust to  

[gbandit]

5 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I'm kind of enjoying this period of still being a relatively normal football club.

 

I think in a weird way, the time when we're a behemoth packed with superstar signings will be a bit harder to adjust to  

Will be hard to adjust to some of the dickheads in our support really upping the ante

[Kid Icarus]

and FWIW I don't really want to think of us as being favourites for this that and the other. Coming out of the Ashley era where we didn't even try to compete at the most basic level, then going into the mindset of thinking we can be the best of the rest the very next season is a huge dynamic shift like. I just want to enjoy watching Newcastle and seeing us compete and I'm definitely getting both of those things. That alone not being enough and having loftier expectations can wait a couple of seasons. I've waited 14 years for this, I'm going to bask in it for quite a while. 

[HaydnNUFC]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

and FWIW I don't really want to think of us as being favourites for this that and the other. Coming out of the Ashley era where we didn't even try to compete at the most basic level, then going into the mindset of thinking we can be the best of the rest the very next season is a huge dynamic shift like. I just want to enjoy watching Newcastle and seeing us compete and I'm definitely getting both of those things. That alone not being enough and having loftier expectations can wait a couple of seasons. I've waited 14 years for this, I'm going to bask in it for quite a while. 

 

I get what you mean and I largely agree but at the same time I wouldn't be too thrilled if we finished 10th or 9th. We've lost one league game at SJP all year, we finished 7 points off 7th/Europe last season after not winning in the first 14 games of the season and have had a decent summer outlay which presumably will get larger in January. Instead of league position points total is probably a better gauge of progress; it took us until December 27th to reach 11 points last season which we have now. We have a good run of home games up to February and another transfer window to come, I'd say it'd be quite disappointing if we don't break 55 points. Over 60 will likely get us Europe of some sort.

 

Just enjoying it though I thoroughly agree with. Couldn't have imagined typing any of the above a year ago.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I know what you mean. But that record in itself is class, what league position it results in is secondary to me. 

[NoU]

For me, 10th-5th does not really matter, as long as we are seeing improvements every season, which we definitely are currently.

The big question for this season is whether we make it to Europe, and unless we finish 5th or win a cup, we need help from other clubs to get there. I would say we are 40% to make it, but would be fucking massive!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Do we want Europe next season or do we want to wait for another transfer window or two?

[RodneyCisse]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Do we want Europe next season or do we want to wait for another transfer window or two?

Getting Europe the owners can match a shit sponsor deal of another club in that position without question.

[gbandit]

Europe next season is 100% what I want, not what I necessarily expect but I think we should be at least in the running for it next season till the end 

[Yorkie]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Do we want Europe next season or do we want to wait for another transfer window or two?

 

Absolutely no way I'd turn down Europe, ever. We've got more than enough resources to ensure we can give every cup competition both barrels without it resulting in significant collateral damage in the league. 

[Kid Icarus]

25 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

I get what you mean and I largely agree but at the same time I wouldn't be too thrilled if we finished 10th or 9th. We've lost one league game at SJP all year, we finished 7 points off 7th/Europe last season after not winning in the first 14 games of the season and have had a decent summer outlay which presumably will get larger in January. Instead of league position points total is probably a better gauge of progress; it took us until December 27th to reach 11 points last season which we have now. We have a good run of home games up to February and another transfer window to come, I'd say it'd be quite disappointing if we don't break 55 points. Over 60 will likely get us Europe of some sort.

 

Just enjoying it though I thoroughly agree with. Couldn't have imagined typing any of the above a year ago.

It all depends on context for me. If we have it really bad with injuries, or 7th to 10th is filled with teams that have picked up loads of points and we've picked up 60-ish then that's still a very successful season for me. 

[NWMag]

If we did get in to Europe this season, I think our transfer strategy would change slightly in that rather than spend £100-150 million on 3/4 top class players, we may spread it over 7/8 decent players to build squad depth to allow us to compete Thursday/Sunday 

[Wallsendmag]

1 hour ago, Colos Short and Curlies said:

 

Why is it obvious? They are having a real transitional season and unless they spend big on the midfield in January they will continue to effectively play to Klopp's style this year, of course they have individual talent but that team is a 6-8 placed team this year.

 

I'd say City, Arsenal and Spurs are pretty much nailed on for top 4, its really down to Chelsea and Liverpool as to whether the door is open for one of us, Man U or Brighton to sneak in as well. There is an opportunity this season to take advantage and at least get 6th and a chance of Europe (likely the cups go to one of the top 4 again). Next year will be more difficult

 

Liverpool will finish above us, I'm sure of that. They still have a World Class squad there and as much as I dislike Klopp he's not a bad manager. They are easily capable of going on a run where they win 9 or 10 games on the spin. Regardless of the League table as it stands I'd be more confident of finishing above Man Utd than Liverpool but I doubt we'll do that either.

 

As I said it's a 3 way battle for 7th in my honest opinion with Brighton and West Ham.

[HaydnNUFC]

11 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

It all depends on context for me. If we have it really bad with injuries, or 7th to 10th is filled with teams that have picked up loads of points and we've picked up 60-ish then that's still a very successful season for me. 

 

I agree but think it's mainly down to Bruno staying fit pre and post World Cup now as well as who we bring in in January, as we were in top 4 form post January last season with Wood, Fraser and Murphy often being our front 3.

[Kid Icarus]

I find it mad that year after year people fall into the trap of thinking Arsenal's form will last for a full season. They've been great and they've improved massively, but it's very early days. 

[LV]

58 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Will be hard to adjust to some of the dickheads in our support really upping the ante

Some have already started 

[Optimistic Nut]

How good would it be though if we go to Man U next week and there's something riding on it? Obviously we need to beat Brentford before that but we're only about 6-7 games for being able to add to the squad, 

[Stottie]

The five thirty eight supercomputer thingy has finally caught up to our form in 2022 and now has us as eighth with a huge points gap to ninth.

 

While we had more points per game in the run from January to the end of last season, aside from points per game, pretty much all of our stats are up this season. Shots, shooting distance, possession, key passes, ... We're playing in a way that is likely to win games, even if that has not been the result on the day a few times so far. Keep playing the same way and wins will come.

[STM]

4 hours ago, 80 said:

Always shocked at how easily people get ahead of themselves. I think 7th is achievable, but the idea of 9th being underachievement is silly to me. People pull their hair out with the state of our bench, so unless they're massively overreacting, we have a weak squad even if we have a fine first eleven.

While I agree with your sentiment, finishing 9th means 2 sides from below us finish above us. Liverpool, ok that's understandable but which other side finishing above us, at this stage, wouldn't you disappointed with?

 

That's it for me, it's not to do with being annoyed about league position per say, it's annoyed about sides I deem worse than us, finishing above us, if that makes sense.