The Europeometer™ (2023/24) - permutations in O.P.

[TheDimpleboy]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Thing is, if I was Sven Botman or Bruno and at a club ‘owa the moon’ to finish 8th given the utter shit club likely to finish 5th, 6th or 7th in that scenario, I’d probably be on the phone to my agent the Monday after the final fixture. We won’t keep players with that level of ambition unless we’re fulfilling it or genuinely look like doing so.
 

 

 

But I don't understand. We have clearly significantly surpassed where we were last year? Do we demand more than a club that tries?

 

[Shak]

Being "over the moon" with 8th given the position we're in now

 

Think it's OK to hope for better than what's basically the worst case scenario for the rest of the league campaign.

 

Nobody is going to be calling for Howe be fired or for the club to be sold or anything if the season unravels from here but if you can't see how valuable taking this opportunity and finishing 4th could be then I don't know what to tell you, frankly.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Shak

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

I can definitely see where the goals are coming from. Until today our recent lack of goals was mostly from poor finishing. There's no reason we can't get back to creating hatfuls of chances and go the next step and finish them.

 

Christ knows if it'll ever happen given Wilson's absolutely tragic fitness record but the thought of him and Isak finally sharing a pitch for an extended spell is really exciting. Before today's grimly predictable injury news I thought it was going to be the key. On paper they should compliment each other extremely well and we already saw a pretty tasty glimpse of it against Fulham. 

[TheDimpleboy]

3 minutes ago, Shak said:

Being "over the moon" with 8th given the position we're in now

 

Think it's OK to hope for better than what's basically the worst case scenario for the rest of the league campaign.

 

Nobody is going to be calling for Howe be fired or for the club to be sold or anything if the season unravels from here but if you can't see how valuable taking this opportunity and finishing 4th could be then I don't know what to tell you, frankly.

 

 

 

 

Don't understand how it's funny that I'd be over the moon finishing 8th? 

 

Like unless all the words we heard against Ashley's reign were just meaningless platitudes, then me (and I'm assuming many others), would be absolutely "owa the moon" with steady gradual progress.

[HaydnNUFC]

That's another thing which can be seen as positive or tragic (probably tragic as its fucking February ), we haven't even had our best side out yet. Wilson, ASM, Bruno and Isak have never been fit and on the pitch at the same time as each other once this season.

[Shak]

Aye Wilson and Isak up top together is an intriguing thought.

 

Targett getting back into the team and playing well would help a lot too.

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

Christ knows if it'll ever happen given Wilson's absolutely tragic fitness record but the thought of him and Isak finally sharing a pitch for an extended spell is really exciting. Before today's grimly predictable injury news I thought it was going to be the key. On paper they should compliment each other extremely well and we already saw a pretty tasty glimpse of it against Fulham. 

Longstaff, Joelinton, and Bruno have often found themselves in good goalscoring positions. I'd imagine Gordon will too. Isak's not quite there physically for me.

[Yorkie]

12 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Longstaff, Joelinton, and Bruno have often found themselves in good goalscoring positions. I'd imagine Gordon will too. Isak's not quite there physically for me.

 

I think he's fucking class and assuming - please God - he stays fit, I think he could be the best striker of this generation. What we've seen of him so far is really exciting. Clinical finishing (Liverpool), penalty taking (Bournemouth), the ability to scare defenders to death when playing off a striker (Fulham), combining with another striker (Fulham), the ability to beat an opponent and provide for teammates (Southampton), carrying the ball (all)... all really encouraging signs. Just dunno if the lone role in the present 4-3-3 suits him. 

[HaydnNUFC]

Just now, Yorkie said:

 

I think he's fucking class and assuming - please God - he stays fit, I think he could be the best striker of this generation. What we've seen of him so far is really exciting. Clinical finishing (Liverpool), penalty taking (Bournemouth), the ability to scare defenders to death when playing off a striker (Fulham), combining with another striker (Fulham), and the ability to beat an opponent and provide for teammates (Southampton), carrying the ball (all)... all really encouraging signs. Just dunno if the lone role in the present 4-3-3 suits him. 

 

Not when teams sit off against us in a low block it doesn't imo. Think that role, as we saw at Liverpool, is best for him when we're the side that's sitting off and he can use his ability to beat players and his pace in 1v1 situations.

[Yorkie]

Just now, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Not when teams sit off against us in a low block it doesn't imo. Think that role, as we saw at Liverpool, is best for him when we're the side that's sitting off and he can use his ability to beat players and his pace in 1v1 situations.

 

Agreed. I'd have him off Wilson in a 4-2-3-1.

[Shak]

9 minutes ago, TheDimpleboy said:

 

Don't understand how it's funny that I'd be over the moon finishing 8th? 

 

Like unless all the words we heard against Ashley's reign were just meaningless platitudes, then me (and I'm assuming many others), would be absolutely "owa the moon" with steady gradual progress.

 

It just seems like virtue signalling to me, to be honest.

 

Is it a disaster if we finish 8th this season? No, of course not. Big picture, it's huge progress from where we were 12 months ago and we'd all have taken it.

 

But in order to do that we'll basically have had to average barely over a point a game over the second half of the season and to me that would be a concern going into next season. Would mean that we'd basically have to not recover from the mini-slump we're in now before the end of the year.

 

We're all happy the club is finally being run with some ambition, I don't think it's wrong for us to have some ambition ourselves in turn.

[ilikenewcastle]

TBH I've always found it weird/arbitrary that people target top 8. Why not top 7 and a good chance of Europe?

[Jaqen]

If we finish 8th something has gone terribly wrong. It would essentially be relegation form for the rest of the season. 

[The Prophet]

Got away with a poor result today. Chelsea drew, Brighton drew and Spurs lost. Happy days.

[Stottie]

Very poor performance today. Also concerning is that the main circumstance for it, the lack of squad depth, will be with us until the end of the season.

 

We're still well placed, and have to be favourites or second favourites for fourth. So no panic stations, none at all. However, this was much more concerning than the draws against Palace and Leeds where we created lots of chances. West Ham was so-so. Conceding two in two games from flicked on corners is poor, and amplified by our (new) inability to create chances at the other end.

 

Without Bruno, the midfield lacks creativity and can be dragged down into a battle of who can outmuscle the other. Joelinton seems headed for a suspension soon, but I doubt he'll leave a hole as big as Bruno's speed on the ball. We have a playing style that has evolved this season without ASM, Isak, and (obviously) Gordon, so hopefully the team and coaches will work on this and we'll see them click in better in coming games. All three have the ability to contribute more, much more than we saw yesterday.

[Kaizero]

6 hours ago, TheDimpleboy said:

 

Don't understand how it's funny that I'd be over the moon finishing 8th? 

 

Like unless all the words we heard against Ashley's reign were just meaningless platitudes, then me (and I'm assuming many others), would be absolutely "owa the moon" with steady gradual progress.

 

 

Everybody would have been over the moon finishing 8th if that was the option given before the season. We're now well over halfway through the season and in 4th place, nobody would be over the moon with going from 4th to 8th over the course of the rest of the season. It all depends from what point you start you expectation level, you can't erase the reality that we're 4th at the moment and only lost one league game this season. Ending up finishing 8th from this position would be a disappointment, whereas it would not have been a disappointment for our pre-season ambitions as fans - it would have been significant development from the season before. We've exceeded expectations massively though, which raises expectations.

[La Parka]

I mean, if we chill in 8th by season end it's all good. 

 

I think my expectations are massively warped by a mad pre world cup form.

 

Tis a shame but we needed more investment in Jan to push on. 

[astraguy]

Say top 4 you need 75 points, meaning from the last 16 we need 34 points 

 

 

[Geogaddi]

Looks like we have just ran out of gas, we were massively overachieving to be anywhere near the top 4 in the first place , then again nobody seems to be taking advantage of us drawing every game , we will finish no lower than 5th.

[STM]

I'm not one of those "too soon" morons when it comes to champions league football, but what I will say is that Europa/conference is a helluva chance for us to win some silverware. 

 

Provided we finish top 7, I'm happy but we are in a great spot for top 4.

 

If this is us "out of form", I'm a pretty content newcastle fan.

[Newcastle Fan]

There were some massive over reactions here yesterday, we are moving forward in the right direction as a club and it seems that this year  with a very competitive league every club is having bad periods, even the top teams are dropping points unexpectedly, the next two games are massive and if we can win both we are already looking at possibly our best season ever, which considering where we were last year is insane.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Newcastle Fan

[Coffee_Johnny]

36 minutes ago, astraguy said:

Say top 4 you need 75 points, meaning from the last 16 we need 34 points 

 

 

Can’t find stats and chart I did, but think points wise we’re still on track for lower average points total for fourth. I’ll re-do it at month end. Also think it is looking like it is on course to be a low points total across the top six, or lower reaches of that at least, this season. Teams racking up too many defeats already (and draws!!).
 

Personally I think we’ll be comfortably top six and have a good chance of fourth, and of even higher. If we’d won last two games, we’d level on points with Man City. Dawned on me that comparing results against top four competitors is often a good indicator of true relative quality.
So, we’ve drawn with Man City at home (could have/should have won), Man Utd away, Arsenal away,  Brighton away; and beaten Spurs away, Fulham home and away and Chelsea and Brentford at home. We’ve lost once, Liverpool away (could have/should have drawn or even won). Not too shabby on the whole competitor challenge. 

[Holloway]

At this point I'd say top 6 is certainly achievable with our three expected closest rivals having to come to our place. Edging out one of the septic 6 so soon after our remarkable turnaround is great imo. Win those games and we can dream bigger

[STM]

It's also worth mentioning how shit Spurs are.

 

Also I'm convinced our form will change post cup final. Towards the end of the season, games always open up.

 

I might be wrong but even on our shit years it felt like we went on good runs at the end of the season.

 

We just need to navigate this tricky spell. Playing against 3/4 "big" sides on the bounce, will help us, not hinder us. The pressure comes off somewhat when you play Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Man United. We can concentrate on being tough to beat, rather than breaking teams down.

[Stottie]

1 hour ago, astraguy said:

Say top 4 you need 75 points, meaning from the last 16 we need 34 points 

 

 

With respect, there is no way Tottenham or Liverpool are getting to 75 points this season. They have far too many shortcomings.

 

fwiw, in the last six games, we've still got the joint best defence, with only two conceded. Yes, we've only scored three in those six games. and that is poor. As it happens, a team with far more attacking talent than us, Chelsea Football Club, has also managed just three goals in their last six games. That's by a team with so much depth that Raheem Sterling becomes a forgotten man. This shows that its not just about squads, strength on paper, and yes I'll mention it, whatever fantastic sum you've just spent in the transfer window.