Sandro Tonali

[The Prophet]

 

[Miggys First Goal]

Has to be either Ritchie or Murphy.

[Myleftboot]

33 minutes ago, Elliottman said:

He pretty much said the move happened quickly and was overwhelming but he adapted quickly and everyone in newcastle has been great at supporting him and making him settle. That was about it.

 

Also said he had a great night in weatherspoons with his Family after the Villa game ?

Exactly. He’s hardly going to say ‘as soon as I heard the toon were interested and were willing to triple my wages I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of Italy and play in the best league in the world’. He has to be diplomatic.

[Heron]

Fucking hates Milano.

[r0cafella]

4 hours ago, timeEd32 said:

From: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/09/18/sandro-tomali-newcastle-champions-league-milan-return/

 

 

This seems to be a fairytale, given he was listening to the questions in the presser in English

 

 

[Heron]

My God some of the journalism is woeful.

[PauloGeordio]

6 hours ago, r0cafella said:

This seems to be a fairytale, given he was listening to the questions in the presser in English

 

 

So out  of character for him to be divisive and spinning negatively on the eve of our return to the greatest stage! I knew it was his article so didn’t wind myself up or give it the click. Despicable acidic anti NUFC fan “journalist” shouldn’t get anywhere near the club! 

[PauloGeordio]

43 minutes ago, Heron said:

My God some of the journalism is woeful.

He, Baldwards is a provocative wind up merchant and thrives on the negative twist to get the clicks. Horrible man! 

[TheBrownBottle]

What were they expecting Sandro from Milano to say about playing football in Newcastle exactly?

 

 

‘In England always long ball, running, running, running …’

[STM]

Aye its quite important when your playing in the biggest league in the world. 

 

Just get the right number 7.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Has to be either Ritchie or Murphy.

[Cronky]

I've actually found this new information about the difficulties around his grasp of English, and his transition to a new club, quite encouraging.

 

At times on the field, he has indeed looked a bit lost, and I was starting to worry. Football has its own technical language, and I can imagine that Eddie's tactical instructions can be quite subtle and complex. He likes his players to have fluid roles. Sandro seems quite a shy character, and maybe not the type to say, 'Sorry I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Can you go over it again.' I can understand that using a translator can be quite a 'distancing' issue, but it looks like this is the best way forward.

 

I found his admission at feeling lost at first, and his appreciation of 'Mr Howe and my team-mates' quite moving. I'm full of hope now that this guy will deliver, if not now then pretty soon.

[Gallowgate Toon]

I don't think language barriers would be that farfetched for in-game tweaks. Gordon said it took him a while to get used to our system & tactics.

[PauloGeordio]

Gonna be a baller! 

[Coffee_Johnny]

Hope it feels ok for Sandro tonight against his boyhood club. Wouldn’t want him losing sleep over scoring a brace 

[BonesJones]

6 hours ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

I don't think language barriers would be that farfetched for in-game tweaks. Gordon said it took him a while to get used to our system & tactics.

 

Does Eddie have to put on his best scouse accent for him?

[Holloway]

Not owa impressed with his defensive contribution so far 

[Aiston]

We've looked worse every time he's been subbed off.

 

Lost his defensive contribution down the left as well when he came off.

[nemtizz]

Looking like a very strange signing so far.

[buzz]

Really poor again

[Matt1892]

It said on talksport there is issues with communication, that we don’t have anyone that can communicate with him pitch side so we can’t get in game instructions through to him.

 

He is having intensive English lessons to try to rectify this.

[Myleftboot]

1 minute ago, Matt1892 said:

It said on talksport there is issues with communication, that we don’t have anyone that can communicate with him pitch side so we can’t get in game instructions through to him.

 

He is having intensive English lessons to try to rectify this.

I thought some bloke from Italy had joined the coaching team.

[ponsaelius]

Think other than Villa game he's basically been poor tbh. I say that as somebody who rates him as a player. But I just don't see why we've decided to buy him and then play him as a hardworking #8 in this system - where tbh he just seems to spend most of the game forlornly chasing runners. It seems a big waste of resources up to this point imo.

[Whitley mag]

4 minutes ago, Aiston said:

We've looked worse every time he's been subbed off.

 

Lost his defensive contribution down the left as well when he came off.

This funnily enough, though I’m really struggling with the fact he’s neither a midfield destroyer or creative player.

 

Howe clearly values running and intensity and seen these values in Tonali. 
 

Not sure it’s what we needed though at 50 plus million.

 

 

[timeEd32]

3 minutes ago, Aiston said:

We've looked worse every time he's been subbed off.

 

Lost his defensive contribution down the left as well when he came off.

 

I think this was only true in the first few minutes when he came off, which also put Isak on the left instead of Gordon. 

 

Tonali had some decent moments when he was involved in the play and I think that's going to lead to people saying he was fine or better. But his positioning, especially in the first half, made no sense. He was like a LW at times, including out of possession. After a free kick we had just inside their half he was the last man back to try to win a header and then when Milan broke he just started jogging. The rest of the team led by Longstaff sprinted back past him. Looked like a footballer lost in his own head.

 

My takeaway from that game is there's almost certainly something to the language / instructions problem and he is the weak link in our midfield at the moment. He's going to need time to settle.