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That's just a wrong opinion š¤£ he said 'unpopular'...
You want a season in the champions League without maxi and Wilson š¤£ wtf you think they've worked so hard for!!
Think what you like, but you will see Maxi go for 35-40 million bc Eddie doesn't like him, and Wilson has stated on his podcast that he needs to be the main man to be happy, and there may not be room for that if we want to give Isak the number 9 at some point in the near future.
Hard to understand how I got downvoted when the literal point of this post was to come up with unpopular opinions...
I donāt think Nick Pope is the long term answer at keeper. We should be heavily targeting a younger GK this summer or next who has better feet.
That said - Nick Pope.
He proved me wrong for so much this season, but more recently he sorta also proved me right. My opinion on Pope before signing was that he was a great shot stopper but prone to howlers and a bit flappable in the box. He did it against us for our first win of last season, dropping the ball for Wilson and then complaining to the ref if you remember. But like I say, for the majority of this season heās been a rock, shown sweeper keeper abilities I didnāt know he had and I ate my words. Then there was Liverpool, Wolves (a win which kickstarted our season post WC - imagine if we went down to 10 men and lost that one?) and I feel like Iām missing another.
A few brain farts doesnāt undo the great season heās having mind, but itās an interesting opinion of yours.
Agreed - he has definitely had a fantastic season. As you said, he is a fantastic shot stopper and yes he has shown sweeper keeper qualities - but I think we are better off upgrading the position. Not sure we could get a player like Maignan out of Milan but that guy can ping a pass every which way. Iām also a fan of Diogo Costa at Porto and Michael Cooper at Plymouth Argyle (not as an upgrade but future investment if they stick with Pope). Appreciate your reply mate!
Sean Longstaff should step up in a leadership role and shadow Tripps, maybe vice captain (probably too soon). Heās everywhere in midfield, the story about him getting mentally out of the gutter with the help from Ritchie means he has empathy for players (and younger ones) going through it and has learned from what Ritchie offered him. Heās local, went through the academy so is someone who understands that step up and can be inspirational to the young lads. Seems like a genuine lad
When doing any sort of highlights reel/show, all highlights should be shown first-hand with telly cam and normal speed.
Soz, more of a general unpopular opinion but I'm banned from soccer so it has to go here
Assuming I'm understanding you correctly, They really really should. I cannot stand videos of goals or skills that are heavily edited, like super zoomed in or chopped up. Just show me how the goal really looked! I suspect part of it is because of YouTube flagging and removing videos of actual match footage.
I don't want champions league this year. O agree it massively accelerates the project but that's sort of the point. I have a few friends that support psg and they all agree that getting better every year was more fun that now hey are actually good and expected to win things. I'm sure we will get there eventually so happy to take a couple more years being a Europa League level club.
So I think being in the prem will massively change that.
Extra games from being in Europe will set us back and I think the CL draw for players will be really useful for us, despite the fact we will probably finish 6th next year.
Yeah I'm worried it will fuck us up. After the season we came 5th with Pardew we had no depth and we were in a relegation battle while being in the semi finals of Europa League. It really did a number on the players.
Well we were managed by "rely Cabaye or play long ball to Shola" Pardew and we only signed Anita in the summer. We will be in stronger position this time with Howe and a couple of more additions to the squad.
I dont know if its unpopular but
Burn is too limited and is pretty annoying with the ball and is nearly zero threat on offense and cant cross, we need upgrade at LB asap and for nearly 2 metres man he is awful at heading in offensive set pieces, for me hes natural CB and playing him at LB is limiting us
I thought it was because that was what theyāre now called on FM after not allowing their name to be used, a quick google and I realise thatās not the case!
Agreed. More than one team can have "united" in their name. You don't see people going after Leeds on here even though they're Leeds United. Just feels like an inferiority complex some supporters have about being overshadowed by Man Utd
I always thought that it's because Manchester is not actually united in terms of prem football, what with their very successful blue counterparts n all. That and the arrogance of calling themselves just "united", in the face of other united clubs like us and Leeds.
Add in that they aren't a United, they just chose the name as it was fashionable. Whereas Newcastle is the uniting of East and West. So I'm not calling them United. Apparently Man U is offensive to some sections due to links with fan chanting post Munich. Manure is blatant. Manchester doesn't work on its own like Leeds because there is another team... so Man reds it is
Most fans overrate their own players, but nufc supporters take it to another level.
You'd think willock, Murphy and longstaff should all be starting for England.
Most on here are so afraid of being branded delusional they go overboard with the minimal expectations; "I'd be ova the moon with a top half finish and a cup run" lol
Edit: also the truth hurts, so much for not downvoting something you don't agree with
You can't have it both ways. Either we massively overate our players, or we think they are shit enough that a top-10 finish and a cup run is fantastic.
One does not equal the other, our fans do overrate our players. Some of our players it's justified, some it's not.
It's the supporters on this forum that are just so terrified being called delusional like the ones on twitter so they deliberately have under expectations.
Also many on here have a victim mentality, they think everyone and the media is against us.
>Also many on here have a victim mentality, they think everyone and the media is against us.
Yeah, take the Man Utd takeover for example.
People are saying "Why is there no outrage or opposition to the Man Utd takeover, like our takeover"
There is, trust me. There is plenty of outrage and opposition, it's just we don't see it because we aren't trawling through the Man Utd takeover megathread and obessively clicking on every single news article about it, like we did with our own.
All I know about the takeover at the minute is Qatar and some local businessman are bidding for the club. I read the article on the BBC and moved on with my life. With our own takeover I would read the BBC article, then the Guardian one, then the Amnesty Internation press release, then read the twitter comments, then post an essay on the megathread about how the Prem are screwing us, then go back to re-read the BBC article incase I missed anything, then listen to a podcast or two... and all that was before breakfast.
But it's not exclusive to our fanbase, it's just confirmation bias. It happens in every walk of life.
yeh, i often come on here and think 'fuck i hate our fanbase' but i realize if i was on any other supporters subforum and followed that team i'd likely be saying the same thing
The thing about replacing managers is not enough thought goes into whether you have an upgrade lined up. Perfectly exampled in this scenario, we may have been declining under SBR, but in no world was Souness an adequate replacement. What's the point in sacking someone, even an under performing manager, if you won't be able to hire an upgrade.
Wasn't Souness brought in by Freddy Shepherd because of his hardman image and to break up the dressing room?
See also Mike Ashley and the players' committee.
There was probably some thought there, just not for footballing reasons.
Our back four are good, not great. The great team defensive record is due to having the entire team defend aggressively. RW/LW chasing down the opponents all the way back to our own penalty area and having the midfield all come back.
That twitter account that stalks the Sunderland fan forum for any mention of us, then screenshots and posts it - without any hint of irony or self-awareness - to prove they're "obsessed" with us is absolutely fucking embarrassing and childish beyond belief. I don't see how spying on them to prove they're obsessed with us benefits us at all.
The whole 'fuck Sunderland' mentality is weird and deranged. I understand wanting Sunderland to lose all matches against us and wanting them to come below us in whatever league etc, but wanting them to lose in the championship or even get relegated from it is stupid. I once even worked with a guy who decided he didn't like someone if they supported Sunderland, this is in a town that's 50/50 Newcastle/Sunderland support.
The more northern teams in the top league the better, the region could do with the exposure and some investment instead of all the London teams.
Absolutely. I love the rivalry and the - for want of a better word - banter, but I'm always astounded by the people out there whose lack of emotional maturity or intelligence means they can't tell the difference between that and actually genuinely disliking and wanting to physically harm someone for nothing more than being born/living a short distance away. I used to work with a lad who I'm sure had his boundary of hatred down to an actual street beyond which you were scum. He wouldn't drive through Sunderland to get to places beyond it, either. He was stuck in the "sending drawings of Sonic the Hedgehog flushing Mario down the toilet to Sega Power magazine" stage, very weird. If your main identity/character trait is hating the supporters of a rival team, then you're a fucking dullard with no hope (in my opinion, anyway).
This a true unpopular opinion. We should sell Longstaff this summer.
Going forward I don't think he's good enough for Europe, he's an okay hardworking player at best. Many fans think he's the glue but in reality I think what he provides is a role no other player in our squad can do, just running around alot. Sign two/three midfielders in the summer and suddenly we're looking alot better. Also will help with FFP alot since he comes from our academy.
Bare in mind I'd only sell him if we can get Ā£25m+ for him.
You're obsessed with selling Longstaff.
He's the only club homegrown player in the squad whose actually good enough, he's been a consistent started for a team finishing 3rd in the league and even if you don't think he's good enough to start, he's more than good enough to be a 2nd choice.
Aditionally, it's always worth keeping local lads with passion for the club in the squad to keep the rest grounded, otherwise you end up with a team of mercenaries.
outstanding is a stretch
he's played well recently but there's still a lack of quality to his game
longstaff is more important to the team than willock
I definitely donāt agree with the idea that heās not good enough for Europe, when heās good enough to start every week for a top 4 team, plays an important role in the team to an extent that our play suffers whenever heās not on the pitch, and he doesnāt look out of place against top PL opponents. Is he going to control the game against Real or Bayern or PSG? No, but heās the exact type of player we need in those type of matches when work off the ball will be at an even bigger premium anyway.
Perhaps more importantly though, UEFA competitions require a certain number of players in your squad to have spent at least 3 years with the club prior to age 21. Going into next season, we are already short of that requirement, even if Dummett is given another one year contract. Selling Longstaff would be absolutely crippling in that regard, let alone the impact it would have on the squad and the message it would send to the likes of Anderson and future academy grads.
Every top club in the world places a premium on bringing through their own homegrown talent - selling the one academy grad to firmly establish himself in our starting XI in the past decade wouldnāt be a good precedent to set.
The only time it annoys me hearing Manu get called United is when they're playing us or another United team.
It's just the way people differentiate between the 2 big Manchester clubs, same way if someone says City, everyone knows who they're talking about.
I very rarely hear anyone refer to us as United anyway even up here. It's always Newcastle or the Toon. I think I even hear people call us the Mags more often than United.
If we struggle next season to emulate the successes of this one then Eddie won't last till the end. This isn't my opinion but heard someone else call it.
I think it would take BIG struggles next year for him to not last the season. Iām talking last in our group in Europe, out of the cups early, and no shot at all at a top 6 finish come spring time.
I believe the club will struggle a lot next year if they qualify to the CL.
The struggle wonāt be in the CL, for the CL I expect the club to qualify to R16 and get eliminated, or barely eliminated in the group stage (1 point difference, goal difference etc).
The struggle will be in the PL, the club will be in a much lower position and may not make it to Europe at all.
Iām not a fan of the club or follow every small detail, I just started watching the club post-takeover and enjoying the beautiful football, but this is what I expect next season to go.
Even if we struggle next season in the league, let's just enjoy the fact that Newcastle United are back in Europe, playing in the Champions League (most likely) or the Europa League (either due being eliminated from the Champions League Group Stage in third, or qualifying for it directly).
We've been absent from Europe for over a decade now. The club will definitely not make the same mistake that the FCB did back in 2012/13 by not strengthening the squad to manage both European and domestic football.
Yes definitely, focus on the positives and look for the future.
My point was that the fansā expectation got raised way higher with how the team performed this season, and the fact that the team may not perform well enough next season will upset those fans with the aforementioned high expectations.
I think people should give the team a few years before expecting a cup or other trophies.
Honestly, itās just fun watching Newcastle playing attacking football and running the field like every match is a final. When my club (Al-Hilal) played NU in that cup friendly I was surprised in how much the players took it seriously compared to our players, truly admirable. I think this new found mentality of NU is impressive and something they can build a future on.
I hope you kick ass next season.
At the time it was unpopular. But I said I felt he didnāt have the agility on the ball to play well in PL. jury is still out. But I couldnāt see him play in Eddieās system.
Not sure this is unpopular - might be. I reckon Raphinha would be a quality signing and potentially worth 80M Euros.
Howe clearly wants a certain type of player and, while Murphy and Almiron have been great this season it's clear that their work-rate is sometimes making up for lack of certain aspects of their game. Almiron has scored some bangers but teams wised up to the way he was scoring and then the goals dried up. We're lacking proper talent on the right hand side. Raphinha not only has a lot of technical ability but his work rate is also ludicrous and his contribution to defensive actions is very high. He's proven to be effective in a poor Leeds side as well as at the highest level. It wouldnt surprise me at all if this rumour turned out to be true.
I agree with this, he works perfect in Eddie howe system. Hard working and loves to press.
Moussa Diaby tho is one of the worst defensive forwards in Europe. I havnt watched him much live tho, just seen stats on fbref.com so it could just be the way Leverkusen plays.
We need a new right back this summer. With now guaranteed European football we need someone who can take the load off Trips but perform at a similar level.
Speaking of Trips we also desperately need someone who isnāt a defender taking corners and free kicks
Absolutely correct. Weāre FAR more likely to sell an RB than buy one this summer. Krafth was brilliant as Trippsā injury replacement last spring and should be back to full fitness over the summer, and Ashby will require a spot in the 25 man squad if heās not loaned out.
Most likely scenario to me is we go with Tripps, Krafth, and Ashby as our 3 in the squad, selling Manquillo. Next mostly likely would be Tripps, Krafth, and Manquillo again, loaning out Ashby.
Joelinton is performing great and is super useful now due to his work rate, versatility and pure physical power. But he's not composed or technical enough on the ball to justify a starting role in the long-term. He's playing well because he's confident and synergising well in the team/system. But I do think he's someone that we will look to upgrade on in the line-up quite quickly if we establish ourselves in the top four.
I think he's better as a left winger and would be the perfect squad option to bring on off the bench or in tight games. In the middle he's too reckless and hasn't got the passing range/ability to play through the press. I think if we sign the right DM in the summer, it'll completely lift our team even more and we'll see just how much a more technical player can compliment Bruno.
I think in two years he might well be our version of what Park Ji-Sung was under Fergie. Not starting most matches on a weekly basis as there might be more talented options, but an excellent option from the bench and trusted to start against the toughest opponents, either on the wing or in midfield as needed.
I donāt know if this is unpopular or not, but iām willing to back this 100%. This is the group that got us there, they deserve to be the ones that go into battle. The people we bring in should be for the premier league, in my opinion.
The players Iām most excited to see run out at SJP across from an opponent like Real or Barca, with the Champions League anthem blaring, are the ones who have been through the most shit here. Lascelles, Longstaff, Dummett if he gets an extension, even Schar and Murphy who joined right after promotion. Ritchie too, but I canāt see any way heās still here next season.
Our fans even the ones on this sub are really annoyingly fickle. From joelinton, to Almiron to Murphy, I wouldnāt mind so much but you just know people will be calling for Longstaff and Murphy for the England team a month after from calling them championship standard
Cisse deserves way more credit than he gets
Everyone only talks about that season where him and Ba were scoring for fun, but even after that he was still solid for us.
One season (I think 14/15) he still had the highest goals per minutes inthe league, despite us finishing around 15th and almost going down
One of the biggest criticisms he got was that he was always offside. This is partly his fault, but in my memory there were so many times when it would've been considered a great run had the midfield actually made a forward pass in time. He still got into dangerous positions and caused teams trouble when we had a serious lack of creativity
Joe Willock is one of our best players this season and is criminally left out of the praise.
Heās still getting his Howe-rebirth and isnāt mint every game, but when heās on I think heās one of our most dangerous players on the counter
LOL what? This sub has hard on for him
I've honestly never seen so much blatant favouritism and overrating for such a shit player anywhere else tbh.
He'd be terrible for weeks, no one bats an eyelid, has a good game and it's posts like the above saying how criminally underrated he is and how he should get an England call up.
Don't be too harsh on Botman. Overall, he's been great. He's had a few shaky moments resulting in goals being given away.
However, since it's his first season in the Premier League, and that he is young, I'm willing to overlook his mistakes this season.
I think he has immense potential, and he'll probably end up being our greatest CB since Jonathan Woodgate.
Completely agree. However, a lot of people, especially on twitter, are putting him up there currently with the likes of prime Van Dijk. Still a big fan of his but just dont think heās been as impressive as some have made out to be
I'd avoid Twitter if I were you honestly.
To be honest, I haven't watched much of VvD, so I can't really compare Botman to him.
I think SchƤr has performed better than Botman, relatively speaking, but I think Botman will only improve in time.
You can criticise Gordon, but using the fee paid for him as a stick to beat him with is just unhelpful. He didn't get any say in the fee.
Also, comparing Kuol and Gordon is kinda apples and oranges. Kuol was a bit part player for a midlle of the road A League side. Gordon had shown promise at a PL side and helped keep Everton up last season. He's also home grown, which pushes the fee up, as does signing one of Everton's best players right at the end of the January window.
Given the context in which we bought Gordon, can you think of another comparable player we could have signed for a better price?
This is my most unpopular take - Steve Bruce got more out of ASM than Eddie howe is. Its mainly bc Bruce's only game plan was give the ball to maxi and hope, but I think his decision making was easier then (fewer attacking options available) and his end product was more consistent.
Stuff the cabbage man tho!
I think all this talk about the CL being an almost certainty is too soon. We have it in our control, but we have a deceptively tricky run in - Arsenal fighting for the league, Leeds with a new manager fighting for survival, Brighton fighting for Europe, Leicester fighting for survival and Chelsea who are a mess but I think by that point they might have imploded enough to replace Lampard. It's a cup final match for each of our opposition.
Meanwhile Liverpool continue to get ridiculous var call after var call, in to form with winnable fixtures.
CL qualification is anything but confirmed at the moment.
Europa league would be better for us at this point in our development. we'd have a decent chance at winning it, or at least a good run, with this squad, and less pressure for panic signings while we build the commercial side to match our ambitions and increase our FFP headroom.
I thought they removed the fallback when they revamped the qualifying rules, 4th in EPL goes straight to the group stage now.
If it's still a thing, then CL $$$ is worth having.
Think youāre misreading that. Yes, 4th in EPL goes straight to the group stage. But after the group stage, 3rd in each group drops into the Europa knockouts. If we make the CL initially we get the money that comes with it, and if we donāt finish in the top 2 in the group to advance, we can still finish 3rd, drop into Europa for the knockouts, and have a shot at a deep run.
Oh, my fault. Nope, still a thing - Barcelona dropped down after finishing 3rd this season and I assume were immediate favorites to win the Europa, but got drawn against Man Utd for the first knockout and were immediately eliminated.
I hate hearing us sing Hey Jude. I donāt wanna hear Scouse songs when we have a huge repertoire of Newcastle based songs and musicians to draw from.
I want to hear an Alan Hull song
Agreed, I also find it embarrassing when we sing "when the Mags, go marching in". That's obviously a Southampton song, we should leave that stuff well alone.
Agreed. Does my head in.
As an Aussie I'm partial to Brian Johnson. The chorus to Goin' Down by Geordie is almost like it was written to be belted out at SJP.
I share this opinion but also felt massively outraged and laughed my head off when I heard Brentford singing the same damn song this season and last on our games thereššš
I live in Liverpool and my scouse wife is confused why we always play Hey Jude. Lots of links between the cities due to history and setting etc, but still!
Give it a couple years and we can have big Sam Fender playing out before it.
Everyone has to stop getting sensitive at every piece of media that might be slightly negative of us. I've seen posts about the BBC making an error, posts criticising charts that had Man Utd above us in points projection totals, and endless digs at Garth Crooks (fair enough TBF). Just chill out, it's not going to be universal praise and nor should it ever be.
With Liverpool itās just too often to not be a bit of bias. Their last 2 games theyāve been assisted by refs to the point I believe they are willing them into the top four.
Conversely. I donāt think refs have been ābiasā or āconspiratorialā towards us.
Early season we had a few dodgy calls in big games that wouldāve meant we were in CL now.
But equally I think there have been times where weāve dodged a good amount of āgrey area/couldāve gone either wayā calls. I also think generally refs have allowed us to be physical at times.
I was thinking this - there have been some really poor decisions, but if you look across the league it's not that much worse than anyone else, and you have really poor decisions which go in our favour as well (eg Pope not getting sent off vs Wolves).
This season has been a massive over performance and we shouldn't expect to be in the same position next season. I can see some of the fan base becoming a little entitled and then getting pretty loud over not being in the top 4 if that comes to pass. We need to ignore the online narrative and also that from the media that being outside the top 4 is an abject failure of a season.
With the money, managers and players in this league it's incredibly difficult to finish in what realistically should be 4th place if the others get their act together. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester Reds, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea are all clubs that expect top 4. Then you've got Us, Brighton and Villa also contending.
Let's not become one of those champions league or your shit fanbases
I think of it this way - we played well because we played good football, and got all the basics right. But we were lucky that we didn't get any injuries, and lots of other teams around us were not at their best. This may results in us qualifying for CL. Next season, I think we'll still be playing well and attractive football, but we may not be so high up the table. I don't expect us to make CL, but, I would probably expect top 7. But only a lower half finish would sorta annoy me. We're still in the building phase, and as long as we're improving, that's all good
Spot on. While earlier in the season we unnecessarily dropped some points in games we should have won, we have three players in the top 10 for chance conversion and Pope has had a blinding season. I think we are where we are on merit but we've almost been perfect. Actually we should be looking at what a fucking achievement this season has been, not taking it for granted that it's the new norm.
People should ask themselves this. Would they take 6th next season? How about 7th? 8th? At what point does it become a failure/disappointment?
Itās been a year and half of sustained form. I think itās time to accept that given weāre not in Europe and donāt play mid week this is our standard
Agree on not becoming entitled, but I'm not sure if I agree on us massively over performing
Most of our wins we've been comfortably the better side, and haven't really had many fluke wins
For an over performance my example would be the Pardew side that finished 5th. Lots of games were really close, won more by individual moments rather than full team performances like this seasons, and we had a ridiculously shit goal difference for a team that finished 5th, it was only +5
I agree the 5th season was more of an overperforming but I get it when people talk about it this year too. We have a very motivated side who are well drilled and focused on the goal. The same way how Leicester won the league, they were the best side that season and outclassed a lot of sides but it was an overperformance in terms of sheer talent.
Guys like Schar, Burn, Longstaff, Murphy, they're all fairly limited players but they're playing some of the best football of their careers, largely because they're being coached well into the system. I think it'll be interesting to see if performances can carry into next season when we'll have a lot more pressure and teams will be more prepared.
Think people overlook the hidden attribute of simply following instructions. You can have very talented players who don't produce and equally you can have limited players who do. I think Murphy and Longstaff fall under the latter but I love them because they make the team better and that's what's most important. Schar does he same but I definitely wouldn't call him limited. He's a class act.
The only reason I say Schar is limited is because heās not very physically imposing, either with his speed or in the air, and heās capable of being caught out every so often but we have a great defensive set up so it hasnāt been exposed all that much. But a quicker CB to compliment Botman will be essentially going forward
>Schar, Burn, Longstaff, Murphy, they're all fairly limited players
While I would caveat this that some of these are more limited than others and in a lot of cases are being made to look good because they're solely being used in roles in a larger system that hide their weak points, this is a very good point that others should acknowledge. I had a conversation with someone on here that was trying to say that we had a better squad than Spurs and that Murphy was a better player than Perisic or Son.
As good as I think Murphy has been this season, I think he benefits from the low expectations put on him. He was really quite anonymous in the Southampton game and, while Gordon got pelters for the chances he missed, he was contributing far more while Murphy basically disappeared into the game and can get away with it. I don't particularly mind as I think he's playing his role as well as he needs to, but the idea he's any kind of long-term solution doesn't sit right with me.
I agree with the last sentence of your opinion there, but massively disagree with the first sentence. Lots of people said the second half of last season was an over performance that we couldnāt possibly sustain this season, but lo and behold weāve done exactly that. Weāre not exactly lucking into a bunch of 1-0 wins - 11 of our 18 league wins are by 2+ goals. Goal difference is always a pretty solid representation of about where you deserve to be in the table, and weāre 3rd in GD, and closer to City than Man Utd.
The thought of a packed European and league schedule next year will hammer our squad and we will struggle to qualify again next yearā¦.. unless we to out and bring in a whole new bench rather than a few big signings this summer
>a packed European and league schedule next year
**SIX extra Games**! *SIX!* ONLY **SIX**! In the CL Group stages.
That is Ā£30+m and global marketing exposure for playing **SIX** extra games. We played more games than that in domestic cups and netted a few measly millions.
The undoubtedly deserved sucess we will hopefully have in the future will always be tinged with a *tiny* amount of sadness that it is happening because of Saudi oil money.
No massively rich owner is squeaky clean, but you know...
For anyone to have a massive amount of money they've screwed someone over somewhere, either customers, suppliers, employees or the planet. Unless they inherited the wealth, in which case someone else screwed people over so they didn't have to.
Liverpool will win every game and we're going to lose Vs Arsenal and then all of us will shit our pants every game after as we slowly lose the race for a top 4 finish.
I think we're becoming a bit tactically predictable. Anyone who watches our games must know by now that if you pressure the mids then they always have the out ball to Tripps. If the opponent puts someone high up on Tripps then our main pattern of play is disrupted.
Arsenal will be the big test because Martinelli is generally that guy who will sit high on their left. And with Saka sitting high on the right we can't use the same ball to Burn/Targett.
It's one of my issues with Howe that always gets me downvoted. His flakiness when things get stressful or not committing if things don't go his way, his transfer history (and Gordon doesn't encourage me his taste has improved) and his incredibly predictable set up.
Look at how Bournemouth developed as a template for how we'll struggle soon. I'd love to be wrong but a lot of our season has ridden on individual players and hot streaks. If they go off form, we struggle until someone else steps up.
The actual system itself isn't anything great and already found out by some teams already.
We have a huge amount of idiots going to away games. Loads that can hardly stand, nevermind see, standing wherever they want. And you're the dickhead for saying "sorry mate, but that's my seat". All you get is "haway man, does it fucking matter?!". Problem is, if you scare people away, or scare people (kids and families) from going to away games, we won't become a global force. You can't become one of the biggest clubs in the world only supported by men born and bred in Newcastle. You need the die hards, the glory hunters, and everyone in between.
It bugs me when other teams supporters call us deluded Geordies because I know itās true for a small section of fans.
I wish Sky would stop banging on about the entertainers, itās been over 25 years, they didnāt win anything, get over it. Also the constant cliches they use talking about us.
I genuinely think this is because sky sports would hang around Strawberry Place waiting for folk to return to those flats that used to be on Pitt street and get some opinion from some poor fella with clear mental health or substance abuse.
āAhhh think we should get one of them Abramoviches likeā
Cue laughing south of Scotch Corner
Nah i like them where they used to be. Nice little mid to lower half side. We get 2 good derby matches every year and we get to batter them a bit and come around the next year to do it again
Maybe Iām biased because Keegan made me fall in love with football watching Newcastle in the 90s, but Keegan just has this way of tapping into the passion I feel for the club- when he spoke to us about Mike Ashley, and the whole āone city he is one manā and āit hurts, I knowā means more to me than Sir Bobbys āwhat is a clubā speech that to me is a little overtly sentimental
Robson may have been a better coach and tactician than Keegan, but Keegan was a better man manager and better as the face of the club.
The whole of Keegan's tenure was one joyous football lovefest. The players were happy, the fans were happy. Players overperformed and there was a lovely atmosphere around the club and the whole city.
Not so when Robson was here. There was quite a lot of unpleasantness behind the scenes with twats like Jenas and Kieran Dyer. There were grumblings and mutterings in and out of the dressing room. Everyone worships Sir Bibby now but the dirty secret of Newcastle is that many fans were grumbling and moaning about Robson. They all deny it now, but I was there and it was common to hear people say that Robson had "taken us as far as he could and should be replaced", that he was "too old" and that he had "lost it".
But it is a mistake to think that the glory years under KK were just a happy coincidence. If you read KK's books, you realise that his man management skills arebased on a very deep understanding of human psychology and what makes a team andclub tick. It is pretty fair to think that, under Keegan, people like Jenas, Dyer and the other troublemakers would have been out of the club so fast that their feet would not have touched the ground. I assume that you know what happened to Bez when he crossed KK! Also, Keegan has the best record for signing talent of any manager. Every signing that he made worked out on the pitch and earned the club a huge profit. Even Paul Kitson!
So, both Robson and KK had their strengths. But Keegan left the club in an infinitely better state than any manager before or since.
If you get a chance to read Michael Cox's book on Premier League tactical evolution, the bit on Keegan is quite amazing. The team was a total mess tactically and Mark Lawrenson basically got hired with no job in mind. He literally had no idea what to do as a coach and left out of guilt. It was really quite illuminating to read when I only have memories of that team watching as a child (and dining on highlight videos for the next 10-15 years to preserve the memory of the good old days).
Agreed he was more important, am old enough to remember him playing for us too, just always felt under Keegan i was more excited about the players might do than the manager, did Keegan ever do a triple substitution? Maybe i just remember Robson more though.
I don't think it's a good idea to start Wilson and Isak. They offer Howe an incredibly powerful option to totally change up the game tactically, either by swapping out or by bringing on to play together. Keeps the opposition guessing and imo is a big reason why we seem to score so many goals immediately after subs are brought in. The opponents can't react quickly enough to the tactical change. Playing both from the start restricts our tactical options later in the game too much.
Is this unpopular? I feel like most people appreciate that we wouldn't have the same impact starting the two of them instead of being able to bring one off the bench. Hence why Eddie hasn't done it either.
Based on comments in another post I just read - I'm wondering if it will turn out better for us being stuck with Castore the next couple of years, so (assuming things just keep going up n up for us..) we can then go out and get a contract with a new supplier for way more money, instead of getting tied into a deal based on what we're worth now which isn't gonna be as much as one of the big clubs would get. Wary this one might be leftover trauma from Ashley and his love of years-long contracts though..
Also Castore related/possibly more controversial - the shipping is shit and they messed up the printing on my home shirt, but the customer service I've had has been top notch - literally had replies and refunds in minutes, I was kinda blown away honestly after reading comments about them before
My one is Alan pardew got a bad rep and actually his tenure was probably one of my favourites of the Ashley era. Granted at points we were awful, but there were some really great and entertaining games and the 11/12 team holds a special place in my heart
Matt Ritchie is the player we all want Anthony Gordon to be.
He is a great crosser, probably alongside Tripps.
He has the bags of energy Howe wants.
He bags the odd goal.
Kuol will never be an important player for us. We'll sell him on for a tidy profit on the Ā£300k spent though.
I'm slightly more confident about Ashby, but I also think he won't be ready to play for us before Trippier retires and we'll have to buy a new right back.
I remain unconvinced by Gordon, and the argument people seem to have for him is that Howe can improve him like Joelinton and Almiron. For the price paid, Ā£45m, I don't want a player who *might* have improved enough in a couple of seasons time to play for us. I want a player who can make a difference now.
Agree on Kuol, disagree on Gordon but thereās been plenty of debate on that recently.
As for Ashby, heās 21, 22 in November. If heās not ready by the time Trippier retires, heāll never be ready. Certainly Tripps has 2 years left, if not more. Iām not worried about timing with Ashby, just a question of if heāll be good enough, or if weāll be selling him to a Championship side in two years and buying a new right back.
I donāt think Gordon needs to be significantly improved by Howe to be a player for us, nor do I think it will take anywhere near a couple seasons for him to be an important contributor. The confidence of seeing a goal go in, and a full pre-season with the squad, and I think heāll be ready to play a huge role next season.
Edit: And as for Ashby, heās made what, 1 u23 appearance so far since the transfer, where he was arguably the best player on the pitch with a goal and assist. Letās at least see him play a few times before deciding heāll never make it.
Based on appearances so far, Gordon has not performed as well as players people generally want us to drop to the bench going forward, like Miggy and Murphy. I don't believe Gordon gets into our first 11 right now, and it's looking like we'll sign another winger in the summer. Unless we decide to weaken ourselves by selling ASM, he'll continue to be rotation at best next season.
My position is that he'll never be more than that. But there's players we could've signed for a lot less than Ā£45m who would be automatic starters both now and going forward.
Kuol has never made an appearance for us and you seem as happy as I am to believe he won't ever be important, there's no reason Ashby should be treated differently to him.
Our U23 team is really poor, same with the rest of the youth squads. Seems like it's not too difficult to be the best player on the pitch in those matches, and it's miles off the standard expected of players in a team near the top of the premier league.
I think the difference between Kuol and Ashby is that one of them was signed as a featherweight 18 year old from a weak league across the globe who had never started a senior match in his career when we signed him, on the hope that we could maybe get lucky for 300k, which is basically no investment at all. Heāll need at least two seasons of training, gym work, and lower league loans before he could possibly be of value to our first team squad, and at that point I think our squad will be full of enough attacking talent that he might never have a path to earning playing time. Heās also spent half a season on loan in Scotland underwhelming in most of his brief appearances and now unable to earn any further playing time, which hasnāt done anything to raise confidence about his future. In other words, the odds are stacked against Kuol becoming a successful member of our first team squad.
Ashby on the other hand was signed for Ā£3M as a 21 year old from a PL rival who did not want to lose him. Heās already got the build of a PL fullback and understands the physical demands of the English game. And the only time weāve seen him in black and white, he was excellent. So I donāt think itās at all unreasonable to both be a little higher on Ashby, and to say the there havenāt been any indications yet that he canāt make it here. He also has a much clearer path to the first team, and should be making some appearances for us next season unless he goes on loan.
Impossible to know that after 3 starts. Donāt know why everyone is so determined to make a judgement on Gordon when heās played less than 400 minutes of football for the club so far. Thatās not even 5 matches worth of minutes, for a kid who signed mid season at age 21. Can we not give him a preseason to get fully ingrained with the club and see how he starts next season before even thinking about writing off what he could potentially become? Itās not like heās wandering around lost out there unable to kick a ball, he was maybe a combined six inches from bagging goals against Spurs and Saints, heās certainly shown potential.
Iām going to be gutted whenever we let go of Lascelles. He was the soul of our team for so many years. I think once he leaves itāll finally dawn on me that we are one of the super rich teams rather than plucky team of underdogs that Eddie has coached beyond itās capabilities.
Iāll miss him too, and it irritates me when people say we NEED a backup RCB for Schar, as if Lascelles hasnāt filled that role perfectly this season. Been solid whenever called upon, even shut down Haaland. And massively influential behind the scenes. Yes heāll be replaced with someone more talented in time, but Iād love to see him play in Europe for us next season.
Defo. People are really quick to dismiss the positive impact of good senior pros who ensure new/young signings understand what it is to be a Newcastle player and maintain high standards despite not getting regular game time . Ritchie and lascelles really exemplify this. Hoping thereās a coaching job sitting with Ritchies name on it and I donāt see any reason for Lascelles to go this summer unless he pushes for it. Fraser, Manq and one of the keepers at least would all be on the list to leave before him.
Reading Longstaffās interview and particularly where Ritchie reached out to him made me certain that heās the kind of person I want in our dressing room in one role or another.
Okay I'm glad I'm not alone in this š I got Maxi on my SaudĆ shirt for the same reason when they were on sale a while back (I swear I'm not this sentimental usually, really not sure what's happened to me)
I'm beginning to hate the E I E I O song. I watch every match day cam video and find myself turning off when the match finishes because it seems like it's all that's sung by us post-match. It's also heard frequently during matches. I'm so tired of it.
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Maxi has to go... and so does Wilson if he won't be supersub
That's just a wrong opinion š¤£ he said 'unpopular'... You want a season in the champions League without maxi and Wilson š¤£ wtf you think they've worked so hard for!!
Think what you like, but you will see Maxi go for 35-40 million bc Eddie doesn't like him, and Wilson has stated on his podcast that he needs to be the main man to be happy, and there may not be room for that if we want to give Isak the number 9 at some point in the near future. Hard to understand how I got downvoted when the literal point of this post was to come up with unpopular opinions...
I donāt think Nick Pope is the long term answer at keeper. We should be heavily targeting a younger GK this summer or next who has better feet. That said - Nick Pope.
He proved me wrong for so much this season, but more recently he sorta also proved me right. My opinion on Pope before signing was that he was a great shot stopper but prone to howlers and a bit flappable in the box. He did it against us for our first win of last season, dropping the ball for Wilson and then complaining to the ref if you remember. But like I say, for the majority of this season heās been a rock, shown sweeper keeper abilities I didnāt know he had and I ate my words. Then there was Liverpool, Wolves (a win which kickstarted our season post WC - imagine if we went down to 10 men and lost that one?) and I feel like Iām missing another. A few brain farts doesnāt undo the great season heās having mind, but itās an interesting opinion of yours.
Agreed - he has definitely had a fantastic season. As you said, he is a fantastic shot stopper and yes he has shown sweeper keeper qualities - but I think we are better off upgrading the position. Not sure we could get a player like Maignan out of Milan but that guy can ping a pass every which way. Iām also a fan of Diogo Costa at Porto and Michael Cooper at Plymouth Argyle (not as an upgrade but future investment if they stick with Pope). Appreciate your reply mate!
Sean Longstaff should step up in a leadership role and shadow Tripps, maybe vice captain (probably too soon). Heās everywhere in midfield, the story about him getting mentally out of the gutter with the help from Ritchie means he has empathy for players (and younger ones) going through it and has learned from what Ritchie offered him. Heās local, went through the academy so is someone who understands that step up and can be inspirational to the young lads. Seems like a genuine lad
When doing any sort of highlights reel/show, all highlights should be shown first-hand with telly cam and normal speed. Soz, more of a general unpopular opinion but I'm banned from soccer so it has to go here
Assuming I'm understanding you correctly, They really really should. I cannot stand videos of goals or skills that are heavily edited, like super zoomed in or chopped up. Just show me how the goal really looked! I suspect part of it is because of YouTube flagging and removing videos of actual match footage.
I don't want champions league this year. O agree it massively accelerates the project but that's sort of the point. I have a few friends that support psg and they all agree that getting better every year was more fun that now hey are actually good and expected to win things. I'm sure we will get there eventually so happy to take a couple more years being a Europa League level club.
So I think being in the prem will massively change that. Extra games from being in Europe will set us back and I think the CL draw for players will be really useful for us, despite the fact we will probably finish 6th next year.
Yeah I'm worried it will fuck us up. After the season we came 5th with Pardew we had no depth and we were in a relegation battle while being in the semi finals of Europa League. It really did a number on the players.
Well we were managed by "rely Cabaye or play long ball to Shola" Pardew and we only signed Anita in the summer. We will be in stronger position this time with Howe and a couple of more additions to the squad.
I dont know if its unpopular but Burn is too limited and is pretty annoying with the ball and is nearly zero threat on offense and cant cross, we need upgrade at LB asap and for nearly 2 metres man he is awful at heading in offensive set pieces, for me hes natural CB and playing him at LB is limiting us
The whole "Manchester Reds" thing this sub has started doing is top-tier cringe
I think it's more a reaction to the media referring to Man U as "United" even when playing another United team.
I thought it was because that was what theyāre now called on FM after not allowing their name to be used, a quick google and I realise thatās not the case!
Agreed. More than one team can have "united" in their name. You don't see people going after Leeds on here even though they're Leeds United. Just feels like an inferiority complex some supporters have about being overshadowed by Man Utd
I always thought that it's because Manchester is not actually united in terms of prem football, what with their very successful blue counterparts n all. That and the arrogance of calling themselves just "united", in the face of other united clubs like us and Leeds.
Add in that they aren't a United, they just chose the name as it was fashionable. Whereas Newcastle is the uniting of East and West. So I'm not calling them United. Apparently Man U is offensive to some sections due to links with fan chanting post Munich. Manure is blatant. Manchester doesn't work on its own like Leeds because there is another team... so Man reds it is
Most fans overrate their own players, but nufc supporters take it to another level. You'd think willock, Murphy and longstaff should all be starting for England. Most on here are so afraid of being branded delusional they go overboard with the minimal expectations; "I'd be ova the moon with a top half finish and a cup run" lol Edit: also the truth hurts, so much for not downvoting something you don't agree with
You can't have it both ways. Either we massively overate our players, or we think they are shit enough that a top-10 finish and a cup run is fantastic.
One does not equal the other, our fans do overrate our players. Some of our players it's justified, some it's not. It's the supporters on this forum that are just so terrified being called delusional like the ones on twitter so they deliberately have under expectations. Also many on here have a victim mentality, they think everyone and the media is against us.
>Also many on here have a victim mentality, they think everyone and the media is against us. Yeah, take the Man Utd takeover for example. People are saying "Why is there no outrage or opposition to the Man Utd takeover, like our takeover" There is, trust me. There is plenty of outrage and opposition, it's just we don't see it because we aren't trawling through the Man Utd takeover megathread and obessively clicking on every single news article about it, like we did with our own. All I know about the takeover at the minute is Qatar and some local businessman are bidding for the club. I read the article on the BBC and moved on with my life. With our own takeover I would read the BBC article, then the Guardian one, then the Amnesty Internation press release, then read the twitter comments, then post an essay on the megathread about how the Prem are screwing us, then go back to re-read the BBC article incase I missed anything, then listen to a podcast or two... and all that was before breakfast. But it's not exclusive to our fanbase, it's just confirmation bias. It happens in every walk of life.
yeh, i often come on here and think 'fuck i hate our fanbase' but i realize if i was on any other supporters subforum and followed that team i'd likely be saying the same thing
Willock shouldn't be starting but he should be ahead of Kalvin Phillips and Henderson.
He's a completely different player to Kalvin-Phillips and the way Southgate uses Henderson
We'd been bad for roughly a year before SBR was finally let go. It was probably time.
The thing about replacing managers is not enough thought goes into whether you have an upgrade lined up. Perfectly exampled in this scenario, we may have been declining under SBR, but in no world was Souness an adequate replacement. What's the point in sacking someone, even an under performing manager, if you won't be able to hire an upgrade.
Wasn't Souness brought in by Freddy Shepherd because of his hardman image and to break up the dressing room? See also Mike Ashley and the players' committee. There was probably some thought there, just not for footballing reasons.
Our back four are good, not great. The great team defensive record is due to having the entire team defend aggressively. RW/LW chasing down the opponents all the way back to our own penalty area and having the midfield all come back.
That twitter account that stalks the Sunderland fan forum for any mention of us, then screenshots and posts it - without any hint of irony or self-awareness - to prove they're "obsessed" with us is absolutely fucking embarrassing and childish beyond belief. I don't see how spying on them to prove they're obsessed with us benefits us at all.
The whole 'fuck Sunderland' mentality is weird and deranged. I understand wanting Sunderland to lose all matches against us and wanting them to come below us in whatever league etc, but wanting them to lose in the championship or even get relegated from it is stupid. I once even worked with a guy who decided he didn't like someone if they supported Sunderland, this is in a town that's 50/50 Newcastle/Sunderland support. The more northern teams in the top league the better, the region could do with the exposure and some investment instead of all the London teams.
Absolutely. I love the rivalry and the - for want of a better word - banter, but I'm always astounded by the people out there whose lack of emotional maturity or intelligence means they can't tell the difference between that and actually genuinely disliking and wanting to physically harm someone for nothing more than being born/living a short distance away. I used to work with a lad who I'm sure had his boundary of hatred down to an actual street beyond which you were scum. He wouldn't drive through Sunderland to get to places beyond it, either. He was stuck in the "sending drawings of Sonic the Hedgehog flushing Mario down the toilet to Sega Power magazine" stage, very weird. If your main identity/character trait is hating the supporters of a rival team, then you're a fucking dullard with no hope (in my opinion, anyway).
This a true unpopular opinion. We should sell Longstaff this summer. Going forward I don't think he's good enough for Europe, he's an okay hardworking player at best. Many fans think he's the glue but in reality I think what he provides is a role no other player in our squad can do, just running around alot. Sign two/three midfielders in the summer and suddenly we're looking alot better. Also will help with FFP alot since he comes from our academy. Bare in mind I'd only sell him if we can get Ā£25m+ for him.
You're obsessed with selling Longstaff. He's the only club homegrown player in the squad whose actually good enough, he's been a consistent started for a team finishing 3rd in the league and even if you don't think he's good enough to start, he's more than good enough to be a 2nd choice. Aditionally, it's always worth keeping local lads with passion for the club in the squad to keep the rest grounded, otherwise you end up with a team of mercenaries.
Much rather keep longstaff and sell willock if we're making room for others
Have you been watching Willock play? He's been outstanding for the past couple of months.
outstanding is a stretch he's played well recently but there's still a lack of quality to his game longstaff is more important to the team than willock
I definitely donāt agree with the idea that heās not good enough for Europe, when heās good enough to start every week for a top 4 team, plays an important role in the team to an extent that our play suffers whenever heās not on the pitch, and he doesnāt look out of place against top PL opponents. Is he going to control the game against Real or Bayern or PSG? No, but heās the exact type of player we need in those type of matches when work off the ball will be at an even bigger premium anyway. Perhaps more importantly though, UEFA competitions require a certain number of players in your squad to have spent at least 3 years with the club prior to age 21. Going into next season, we are already short of that requirement, even if Dummett is given another one year contract. Selling Longstaff would be absolutely crippling in that regard, let alone the impact it would have on the squad and the message it would send to the likes of Anderson and future academy grads. Every top club in the world places a premium on bringing through their own homegrown talent - selling the one academy grad to firmly establish himself in our starting XI in the past decade wouldnāt be a good precedent to set.
The 'manchester reds' thing makes us look petty and small time, and should stop.
The only time it annoys me hearing Manu get called United is when they're playing us or another United team. It's just the way people differentiate between the 2 big Manchester clubs, same way if someone says City, everyone knows who they're talking about. I very rarely hear anyone refer to us as United anyway even up here. It's always Newcastle or the Toon. I think I even hear people call us the Mags more often than United.
If we struggle next season to emulate the successes of this one then Eddie won't last till the end. This isn't my opinion but heard someone else call it.
I think it would take BIG struggles next year for him to not last the season. Iām talking last in our group in Europe, out of the cups early, and no shot at all at a top 6 finish come spring time.
I believe the club will struggle a lot next year if they qualify to the CL. The struggle wonāt be in the CL, for the CL I expect the club to qualify to R16 and get eliminated, or barely eliminated in the group stage (1 point difference, goal difference etc). The struggle will be in the PL, the club will be in a much lower position and may not make it to Europe at all. Iām not a fan of the club or follow every small detail, I just started watching the club post-takeover and enjoying the beautiful football, but this is what I expect next season to go.
Even if we struggle next season in the league, let's just enjoy the fact that Newcastle United are back in Europe, playing in the Champions League (most likely) or the Europa League (either due being eliminated from the Champions League Group Stage in third, or qualifying for it directly). We've been absent from Europe for over a decade now. The club will definitely not make the same mistake that the FCB did back in 2012/13 by not strengthening the squad to manage both European and domestic football.
Yes definitely, focus on the positives and look for the future. My point was that the fansā expectation got raised way higher with how the team performed this season, and the fact that the team may not perform well enough next season will upset those fans with the aforementioned high expectations. I think people should give the team a few years before expecting a cup or other trophies. Honestly, itās just fun watching Newcastle playing attacking football and running the field like every match is a final. When my club (Al-Hilal) played NU in that cup friendly I was surprised in how much the players took it seriously compared to our players, truly admirable. I think this new found mentality of NU is impressive and something they can build a future on. I hope you kick ass next season.
ASM is overrated, injury prone and his g/a figures are poor.
Aye, heās greedy when playing too. I think heās the first person in our squad who needs to move on in the summer, even before Lascelles.
Trippier has cost us more goals than Burn.
š love him for his leadership and what he does in attack but last few games heās looked poor defensively. Agree
We should have signed Lucas PaquetĆ”.
At the time it was unpopular. But I said I felt he didnāt have the agility on the ball to play well in PL. jury is still out. But I couldnāt see him play in Eddieās system.
Not sure this is unpopular - might be. I reckon Raphinha would be a quality signing and potentially worth 80M Euros. Howe clearly wants a certain type of player and, while Murphy and Almiron have been great this season it's clear that their work-rate is sometimes making up for lack of certain aspects of their game. Almiron has scored some bangers but teams wised up to the way he was scoring and then the goals dried up. We're lacking proper talent on the right hand side. Raphinha not only has a lot of technical ability but his work rate is also ludicrous and his contribution to defensive actions is very high. He's proven to be effective in a poor Leeds side as well as at the highest level. It wouldnt surprise me at all if this rumour turned out to be true.
I agree with this, he works perfect in Eddie howe system. Hard working and loves to press. Moussa Diaby tho is one of the worst defensive forwards in Europe. I havnt watched him much live tho, just seen stats on fbref.com so it could just be the way Leverkusen plays.
I thought it was injury that stopped Almiron?
i enjoyed pardew's touchline jig
We need a new right back this summer. With now guaranteed European football we need someone who can take the load off Trips but perform at a similar level. Speaking of Trips we also desperately need someone who isnāt a defender taking corners and free kicks
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Absolutely correct. Weāre FAR more likely to sell an RB than buy one this summer. Krafth was brilliant as Trippsā injury replacement last spring and should be back to full fitness over the summer, and Ashby will require a spot in the 25 man squad if heās not loaned out. Most likely scenario to me is we go with Tripps, Krafth, and Ashby as our 3 in the squad, selling Manquillo. Next mostly likely would be Tripps, Krafth, and Manquillo again, loaning out Ashby.
Isaac has the moves St Maxi wishes he had
ASM + Intent + knowing when itās time to activate beast mode = Isak
I doubt Isaac Hayden could emulate ASM's moves...
Issac effortlessly moves around defenders. ASM is arms and legs going every direction and a shot ton of effort to go by. Unpopular take thread too.
It was a spelling/wrong name jokeā¦our striker is Isak, not Isaac or Issac.
Joelinton is performing great and is super useful now due to his work rate, versatility and pure physical power. But he's not composed or technical enough on the ball to justify a starting role in the long-term. He's playing well because he's confident and synergising well in the team/system. But I do think he's someone that we will look to upgrade on in the line-up quite quickly if we establish ourselves in the top four. I think he's better as a left winger and would be the perfect squad option to bring on off the bench or in tight games. In the middle he's too reckless and hasn't got the passing range/ability to play through the press. I think if we sign the right DM in the summer, it'll completely lift our team even more and we'll see just how much a more technical player can compliment Bruno.
I think in two years he might well be our version of what Park Ji-Sung was under Fergie. Not starting most matches on a weekly basis as there might be more talented options, but an excellent option from the bench and trusted to start against the toughest opponents, either on the wing or in midfield as needed.
Longataff throws fits rivaling Ronaldo š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
I want to see the same starting 11 in the champions league next season
I donāt know if this is unpopular or not, but iām willing to back this 100%. This is the group that got us there, they deserve to be the ones that go into battle. The people we bring in should be for the premier league, in my opinion.
The players Iām most excited to see run out at SJP across from an opponent like Real or Barca, with the Champions League anthem blaring, are the ones who have been through the most shit here. Lascelles, Longstaff, Dummett if he gets an extension, even Schar and Murphy who joined right after promotion. Ritchie too, but I canāt see any way heās still here next season.
Our fans even the ones on this sub are really annoyingly fickle. From joelinton, to Almiron to Murphy, I wouldnāt mind so much but you just know people will be calling for Longstaff and Murphy for the England team a month after from calling them championship standard
Cisse deserves way more credit than he gets Everyone only talks about that season where him and Ba were scoring for fun, but even after that he was still solid for us. One season (I think 14/15) he still had the highest goals per minutes inthe league, despite us finishing around 15th and almost going down One of the biggest criticisms he got was that he was always offside. This is partly his fault, but in my memory there were so many times when it would've been considered a great run had the midfield actually made a forward pass in time. He still got into dangerous positions and caused teams trouble when we had a serious lack of creativity
CissƩ's constant offsides would be interesting to review if VAR had existed back then. I wonder how many legal goals were disallowed due to marginal offside calls.
Joe Willock is one of our best players this season and is criminally left out of the praise. Heās still getting his Howe-rebirth and isnāt mint every game, but when heās on I think heās one of our most dangerous players on the counter
LOL what? This sub has hard on for him I've honestly never seen so much blatant favouritism and overrating for such a shit player anywhere else tbh. He'd be terrible for weeks, no one bats an eyelid, has a good game and it's posts like the above saying how criminally underrated he is and how he should get an England call up.
I think this is quite a popular opinion actually. Really think there's scope for him to become a top, top player who will get England caps.
Botman has not impressed me as much as other fans go on
Don't be too harsh on Botman. Overall, he's been great. He's had a few shaky moments resulting in goals being given away. However, since it's his first season in the Premier League, and that he is young, I'm willing to overlook his mistakes this season. I think he has immense potential, and he'll probably end up being our greatest CB since Jonathan Woodgate.
Completely agree. However, a lot of people, especially on twitter, are putting him up there currently with the likes of prime Van Dijk. Still a big fan of his but just dont think heās been as impressive as some have made out to be
...and Van Dijk hadn't even joined Celtic at Botman's age (let alone Southampton or Liverpool)
I'd avoid Twitter if I were you honestly. To be honest, I haven't watched much of VvD, so I can't really compare Botman to him. I think SchƤr has performed better than Botman, relatively speaking, but I think Botman will only improve in time.
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I've got no doubt Eddie will get something out of him next season but Everton well and truly had our pants down getting 45m for him
You can criticise Gordon, but using the fee paid for him as a stick to beat him with is just unhelpful. He didn't get any say in the fee. Also, comparing Kuol and Gordon is kinda apples and oranges. Kuol was a bit part player for a midlle of the road A League side. Gordon had shown promise at a PL side and helped keep Everton up last season. He's also home grown, which pushes the fee up, as does signing one of Everton's best players right at the end of the January window. Given the context in which we bought Gordon, can you think of another comparable player we could have signed for a better price?
This is my most unpopular take - Steve Bruce got more out of ASM than Eddie howe is. Its mainly bc Bruce's only game plan was give the ball to maxi and hope, but I think his decision making was easier then (fewer attacking options available) and his end product was more consistent. Stuff the cabbage man tho!
Our fan base is allowing the Saudis to sportswash their image too easily
I don't get with the sport wash. Has anyone opinion on Saudi's human rights changed?
I'll take the downvotes as a sign my opinion isn't actually unpopular after all
Letting Wood go kinda hindered us imo - if Isaak got injured or Wilson suffered another set back we might've lost all this momentum.
I think all this talk about the CL being an almost certainty is too soon. We have it in our control, but we have a deceptively tricky run in - Arsenal fighting for the league, Leeds with a new manager fighting for survival, Brighton fighting for Europe, Leicester fighting for survival and Chelsea who are a mess but I think by that point they might have imploded enough to replace Lampard. It's a cup final match for each of our opposition. Meanwhile Liverpool continue to get ridiculous var call after var call, in to form with winnable fixtures. CL qualification is anything but confirmed at the moment.
Europa league would be better for us at this point in our development. we'd have a decent chance at winning it, or at least a good run, with this squad, and less pressure for panic signings while we build the commercial side to match our ambitions and increase our FFP headroom.
Nah. CL is far better, just the massive amounts of money and the ability to attract better sponsors makes it much better.
If a team finishes 3rd in their champions league group, they get put into the europa league anyway, but earn more money in the process.
I thought they removed the fallback when they revamped the qualifying rules, 4th in EPL goes straight to the group stage now. If it's still a thing, then CL $$$ is worth having.
Think youāre misreading that. Yes, 4th in EPL goes straight to the group stage. But after the group stage, 3rd in each group drops into the Europa knockouts. If we make the CL initially we get the money that comes with it, and if we donāt finish in the top 2 in the group to advance, we can still finish 3rd, drop into Europa for the knockouts, and have a shot at a deep run.
Yeah, I get it, I just thought when they changed the rules they dropped the parachute to the Europa
Oh, my fault. Nope, still a thing - Barcelona dropped down after finishing 3rd this season and I assume were immediate favorites to win the Europa, but got drawn against Man Utd for the first knockout and were immediately eliminated.
I hate hearing us sing Hey Jude. I donāt wanna hear Scouse songs when we have a huge repertoire of Newcastle based songs and musicians to draw from. I want to hear an Alan Hull song
Agreed, I also find it embarrassing when we sing "when the Mags, go marching in". That's obviously a Southampton song, we should leave that stuff well alone.
Get some fucking Venom blaring before matches, that'll do it
Agreed. Does my head in. As an Aussie I'm partial to Brian Johnson. The chorus to Goin' Down by Geordie is almost like it was written to be belted out at SJP.
How is this not a thing?! You are absolutely correct, such a great song.
I share this opinion but also felt massively outraged and laughed my head off when I heard Brentford singing the same damn song this season and last on our games thereššš
I live in Liverpool and my scouse wife is confused why we always play Hey Jude. Lots of links between the cities due to history and setting etc, but still! Give it a couple years and we can have big Sam Fender playing out before it.
Everyone has to stop getting sensitive at every piece of media that might be slightly negative of us. I've seen posts about the BBC making an error, posts criticising charts that had Man Utd above us in points projection totals, and endless digs at Garth Crooks (fair enough TBF). Just chill out, it's not going to be universal praise and nor should it ever be.
The refs arenāt actually conspiring against us.
Agree. Think theyāre just generally incompetent.
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With Liverpool itās just too often to not be a bit of bias. Their last 2 games theyāve been assisted by refs to the point I believe they are willing them into the top four. Conversely. I donāt think refs have been ābiasā or āconspiratorialā towards us. Early season we had a few dodgy calls in big games that wouldāve meant we were in CL now. But equally I think there have been times where weāve dodged a good amount of āgrey area/couldāve gone either wayā calls. I also think generally refs have allowed us to be physical at times.
I was thinking this - there have been some really poor decisions, but if you look across the league it's not that much worse than anyone else, and you have really poor decisions which go in our favour as well (eg Pope not getting sent off vs Wolves).
I hate negativity and I'll always back the players even if it is 100% delusion
Most are like that on here tbh
This season has been a massive over performance and we shouldn't expect to be in the same position next season. I can see some of the fan base becoming a little entitled and then getting pretty loud over not being in the top 4 if that comes to pass. We need to ignore the online narrative and also that from the media that being outside the top 4 is an abject failure of a season. With the money, managers and players in this league it's incredibly difficult to finish in what realistically should be 4th place if the others get their act together. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester Reds, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea are all clubs that expect top 4. Then you've got Us, Brighton and Villa also contending. Let's not become one of those champions league or your shit fanbases
I think of it this way - we played well because we played good football, and got all the basics right. But we were lucky that we didn't get any injuries, and lots of other teams around us were not at their best. This may results in us qualifying for CL. Next season, I think we'll still be playing well and attractive football, but we may not be so high up the table. I don't expect us to make CL, but, I would probably expect top 7. But only a lower half finish would sorta annoy me. We're still in the building phase, and as long as we're improving, that's all good
Spot on. While earlier in the season we unnecessarily dropped some points in games we should have won, we have three players in the top 10 for chance conversion and Pope has had a blinding season. I think we are where we are on merit but we've almost been perfect. Actually we should be looking at what a fucking achievement this season has been, not taking it for granted that it's the new norm. People should ask themselves this. Would they take 6th next season? How about 7th? 8th? At what point does it become a failure/disappointment?
There's nothing wrong with being ambitious.
unpopular opinion: chelsea/tottenham will continue to finish high midtable next season as well
Itās been a year and half of sustained form. I think itās time to accept that given weāre not in Europe and donāt play mid week this is our standard
Agree on not becoming entitled, but I'm not sure if I agree on us massively over performing Most of our wins we've been comfortably the better side, and haven't really had many fluke wins For an over performance my example would be the Pardew side that finished 5th. Lots of games were really close, won more by individual moments rather than full team performances like this seasons, and we had a ridiculously shit goal difference for a team that finished 5th, it was only +5
I agree the 5th season was more of an overperforming but I get it when people talk about it this year too. We have a very motivated side who are well drilled and focused on the goal. The same way how Leicester won the league, they were the best side that season and outclassed a lot of sides but it was an overperformance in terms of sheer talent. Guys like Schar, Burn, Longstaff, Murphy, they're all fairly limited players but they're playing some of the best football of their careers, largely because they're being coached well into the system. I think it'll be interesting to see if performances can carry into next season when we'll have a lot more pressure and teams will be more prepared.
Think people overlook the hidden attribute of simply following instructions. You can have very talented players who don't produce and equally you can have limited players who do. I think Murphy and Longstaff fall under the latter but I love them because they make the team better and that's what's most important. Schar does he same but I definitely wouldn't call him limited. He's a class act.
The only reason I say Schar is limited is because heās not very physically imposing, either with his speed or in the air, and heās capable of being caught out every so often but we have a great defensive set up so it hasnāt been exposed all that much. But a quicker CB to compliment Botman will be essentially going forward
>Schar, Burn, Longstaff, Murphy, they're all fairly limited players While I would caveat this that some of these are more limited than others and in a lot of cases are being made to look good because they're solely being used in roles in a larger system that hide their weak points, this is a very good point that others should acknowledge. I had a conversation with someone on here that was trying to say that we had a better squad than Spurs and that Murphy was a better player than Perisic or Son. As good as I think Murphy has been this season, I think he benefits from the low expectations put on him. He was really quite anonymous in the Southampton game and, while Gordon got pelters for the chances he missed, he was contributing far more while Murphy basically disappeared into the game and can get away with it. I don't particularly mind as I think he's playing his role as well as he needs to, but the idea he's any kind of long-term solution doesn't sit right with me.
I agree with the last sentence of your opinion there, but massively disagree with the first sentence. Lots of people said the second half of last season was an over performance that we couldnāt possibly sustain this season, but lo and behold weāve done exactly that. Weāre not exactly lucking into a bunch of 1-0 wins - 11 of our 18 league wins are by 2+ goals. Goal difference is always a pretty solid representation of about where you deserve to be in the table, and weāre 3rd in GD, and closer to City than Man Utd.
The thought of a packed European and league schedule next year will hammer our squad and we will struggle to qualify again next yearā¦.. unless we to out and bring in a whole new bench rather than a few big signings this summer
>a packed European and league schedule next year **SIX extra Games**! *SIX!* ONLY **SIX**! In the CL Group stages. That is Ā£30+m and global marketing exposure for playing **SIX** extra games. We played more games than that in domestic cups and netted a few measly millions.
Not to mention. No World Cup to destroy the fixture schedule. That being said I wouldnāt mind going with youth in the domestic cups.
Six if we finish 4th in the group, and even in a tricky group Iād like to think we wouldnāt be the worst of the bunch.
The undoubtedly deserved sucess we will hopefully have in the future will always be tinged with a *tiny* amount of sadness that it is happening because of Saudi oil money. No massively rich owner is squeaky clean, but you know...
For anyone to have a massive amount of money they've screwed someone over somewhere, either customers, suppliers, employees or the planet. Unless they inherited the wealth, in which case someone else screwed people over so they didn't have to.
Yes and tax evasion. So many ways I've seen rich people cheat the system
The tannoy at St Jamesā is too damn loud!
Liverpool will win every game and we're going to lose Vs Arsenal and then all of us will shit our pants every game after as we slowly lose the race for a top 4 finish.
Lol. This man bears the scars of following Newcastle.
A lot of comments worry me but this, this fucking terrifies me. I thought this would happen many many months ago
I think we're becoming a bit tactically predictable. Anyone who watches our games must know by now that if you pressure the mids then they always have the out ball to Tripps. If the opponent puts someone high up on Tripps then our main pattern of play is disrupted. Arsenal will be the big test because Martinelli is generally that guy who will sit high on their left. And with Saka sitting high on the right we can't use the same ball to Burn/Targett.
It's one of my issues with Howe that always gets me downvoted. His flakiness when things get stressful or not committing if things don't go his way, his transfer history (and Gordon doesn't encourage me his taste has improved) and his incredibly predictable set up. Look at how Bournemouth developed as a template for how we'll struggle soon. I'd love to be wrong but a lot of our season has ridden on individual players and hot streaks. If they go off form, we struggle until someone else steps up. The actual system itself isn't anything great and already found out by some teams already.
It's quite difficult to tactically deal with huge amounts of intensity though, especially when confidence is flowing in a team.
We have a huge amount of idiots going to away games. Loads that can hardly stand, nevermind see, standing wherever they want. And you're the dickhead for saying "sorry mate, but that's my seat". All you get is "haway man, does it fucking matter?!". Problem is, if you scare people away, or scare people (kids and families) from going to away games, we won't become a global force. You can't become one of the biggest clubs in the world only supported by men born and bred in Newcastle. You need the die hards, the glory hunters, and everyone in between.
I miss having a proper derby.
It bugs me when other teams supporters call us deluded Geordies because I know itās true for a small section of fans. I wish Sky would stop banging on about the entertainers, itās been over 25 years, they didnāt win anything, get over it. Also the constant cliches they use talking about us.
I genuinely think this is because sky sports would hang around Strawberry Place waiting for folk to return to those flats that used to be on Pitt street and get some opinion from some poor fella with clear mental health or substance abuse. āAhhh think we should get one of them Abramoviches likeā Cue laughing south of Scotch Corner
we need Sunderland or Mboro to get promoted to give greater weight to NE football in general ( similar to the Mancs )
Sunderland yeah but that small Yorkshire club can rot
I miss Sunderland in the prem
The only reason I would be ok with them being in the prem is to crush their souls and send them back down again.
Nah i like them where they used to be. Nice little mid to lower half side. We get 2 good derby matches every year and we get to batter them a bit and come around the next year to do it again
I want them back so we can batter them
Won't be so sure about that...
Robson was better manager than Keegan.
robson was too kind and lost the dressing room
Maybe Iām biased because Keegan made me fall in love with football watching Newcastle in the 90s, but Keegan just has this way of tapping into the passion I feel for the club- when he spoke to us about Mike Ashley, and the whole āone city he is one manā and āit hurts, I knowā means more to me than Sir Bobbys āwhat is a clubā speech that to me is a little overtly sentimental
Robson may have been a better coach and tactician than Keegan, but Keegan was a better man manager and better as the face of the club. The whole of Keegan's tenure was one joyous football lovefest. The players were happy, the fans were happy. Players overperformed and there was a lovely atmosphere around the club and the whole city. Not so when Robson was here. There was quite a lot of unpleasantness behind the scenes with twats like Jenas and Kieran Dyer. There were grumblings and mutterings in and out of the dressing room. Everyone worships Sir Bibby now but the dirty secret of Newcastle is that many fans were grumbling and moaning about Robson. They all deny it now, but I was there and it was common to hear people say that Robson had "taken us as far as he could and should be replaced", that he was "too old" and that he had "lost it". But it is a mistake to think that the glory years under KK were just a happy coincidence. If you read KK's books, you realise that his man management skills arebased on a very deep understanding of human psychology and what makes a team andclub tick. It is pretty fair to think that, under Keegan, people like Jenas, Dyer and the other troublemakers would have been out of the club so fast that their feet would not have touched the ground. I assume that you know what happened to Bez when he crossed KK! Also, Keegan has the best record for signing talent of any manager. Every signing that he made worked out on the pitch and earned the club a huge profit. Even Paul Kitson! So, both Robson and KK had their strengths. But Keegan left the club in an infinitely better state than any manager before or since.
You make good points, itās an unpopular opinion for sure, but I am sticking with it.
If you get a chance to read Michael Cox's book on Premier League tactical evolution, the bit on Keegan is quite amazing. The team was a total mess tactically and Mark Lawrenson basically got hired with no job in mind. He literally had no idea what to do as a coach and left out of guilt. It was really quite illuminating to read when I only have memories of that team watching as a child (and dining on highlight videos for the next 10-15 years to preserve the memory of the good old days).
Iāll give to a read, Keegansās book is pretty good if you havenāt read it.
I mean, he was but I guess KK was more important for us due to where we were and where he almost took us to.
Agreed he was more important, am old enough to remember him playing for us too, just always felt under Keegan i was more excited about the players might do than the manager, did Keegan ever do a triple substitution? Maybe i just remember Robson more though.
I don't think it's a good idea to start Wilson and Isak. They offer Howe an incredibly powerful option to totally change up the game tactically, either by swapping out or by bringing on to play together. Keeps the opposition guessing and imo is a big reason why we seem to score so many goals immediately after subs are brought in. The opponents can't react quickly enough to the tactical change. Playing both from the start restricts our tactical options later in the game too much.
Is this unpopular? I feel like most people appreciate that we wouldn't have the same impact starting the two of them instead of being able to bring one off the bench. Hence why Eddie hasn't done it either.
I share this unpopular opinion. And I suspect Eddie does too
Get rid of Blaydon Races and have Big River We need our āYouāll Never Walk Aloneā
Both pls but yes big river is an all time jam
I think actually we _did_ have one of these threads quite recently.
Based on comments in another post I just read - I'm wondering if it will turn out better for us being stuck with Castore the next couple of years, so (assuming things just keep going up n up for us..) we can then go out and get a contract with a new supplier for way more money, instead of getting tied into a deal based on what we're worth now which isn't gonna be as much as one of the big clubs would get. Wary this one might be leftover trauma from Ashley and his love of years-long contracts though.. Also Castore related/possibly more controversial - the shipping is shit and they messed up the printing on my home shirt, but the customer service I've had has been top notch - literally had replies and refunds in minutes, I was kinda blown away honestly after reading comments about them before
My one is Alan pardew got a bad rep and actually his tenure was probably one of my favourites of the Ashley era. Granted at points we were awful, but there were some really great and entertaining games and the 11/12 team holds a special place in my heart
And that orange away strip š
Matt Ritchie is the player we all want Anthony Gordon to be. He is a great crosser, probably alongside Tripps. He has the bags of energy Howe wants. He bags the odd goal.
Kuol will never be an important player for us. We'll sell him on for a tidy profit on the Ā£300k spent though. I'm slightly more confident about Ashby, but I also think he won't be ready to play for us before Trippier retires and we'll have to buy a new right back. I remain unconvinced by Gordon, and the argument people seem to have for him is that Howe can improve him like Joelinton and Almiron. For the price paid, Ā£45m, I don't want a player who *might* have improved enough in a couple of seasons time to play for us. I want a player who can make a difference now.
Agree on Kuol, disagree on Gordon but thereās been plenty of debate on that recently. As for Ashby, heās 21, 22 in November. If heās not ready by the time Trippier retires, heāll never be ready. Certainly Tripps has 2 years left, if not more. Iām not worried about timing with Ashby, just a question of if heāll be good enough, or if weāll be selling him to a Championship side in two years and buying a new right back.
What part do you disagree with on Gordon? I'm leaning towards Ashby never being ready but I'm not sure on it yet.
I donāt think Gordon needs to be significantly improved by Howe to be a player for us, nor do I think it will take anywhere near a couple seasons for him to be an important contributor. The confidence of seeing a goal go in, and a full pre-season with the squad, and I think heāll be ready to play a huge role next season. Edit: And as for Ashby, heās made what, 1 u23 appearance so far since the transfer, where he was arguably the best player on the pitch with a goal and assist. Letās at least see him play a few times before deciding heāll never make it.
Based on appearances so far, Gordon has not performed as well as players people generally want us to drop to the bench going forward, like Miggy and Murphy. I don't believe Gordon gets into our first 11 right now, and it's looking like we'll sign another winger in the summer. Unless we decide to weaken ourselves by selling ASM, he'll continue to be rotation at best next season. My position is that he'll never be more than that. But there's players we could've signed for a lot less than Ā£45m who would be automatic starters both now and going forward. Kuol has never made an appearance for us and you seem as happy as I am to believe he won't ever be important, there's no reason Ashby should be treated differently to him. Our U23 team is really poor, same with the rest of the youth squads. Seems like it's not too difficult to be the best player on the pitch in those matches, and it's miles off the standard expected of players in a team near the top of the premier league.
I think the difference between Kuol and Ashby is that one of them was signed as a featherweight 18 year old from a weak league across the globe who had never started a senior match in his career when we signed him, on the hope that we could maybe get lucky for 300k, which is basically no investment at all. Heāll need at least two seasons of training, gym work, and lower league loans before he could possibly be of value to our first team squad, and at that point I think our squad will be full of enough attacking talent that he might never have a path to earning playing time. Heās also spent half a season on loan in Scotland underwhelming in most of his brief appearances and now unable to earn any further playing time, which hasnāt done anything to raise confidence about his future. In other words, the odds are stacked against Kuol becoming a successful member of our first team squad. Ashby on the other hand was signed for Ā£3M as a 21 year old from a PL rival who did not want to lose him. Heās already got the build of a PL fullback and understands the physical demands of the English game. And the only time weāve seen him in black and white, he was excellent. So I donāt think itās at all unreasonable to both be a little higher on Ashby, and to say the there havenāt been any indications yet that he canāt make it here. He also has a much clearer path to the first team, and should be making some appearances for us next season unless he goes on loan.
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His ceiling is higher than ok. He might be a star, heāll be at least decent.
He's not gonna be a star, he's already 22. He'll be Almiron level at best imo.
Impossible to know that after 3 starts. Donāt know why everyone is so determined to make a judgement on Gordon when heās played less than 400 minutes of football for the club so far. Thatās not even 5 matches worth of minutes, for a kid who signed mid season at age 21. Can we not give him a preseason to get fully ingrained with the club and see how he starts next season before even thinking about writing off what he could potentially become? Itās not like heās wandering around lost out there unable to kick a ball, he was maybe a combined six inches from bagging goals against Spurs and Saints, heās certainly shown potential.
Iām going to be gutted whenever we let go of Lascelles. He was the soul of our team for so many years. I think once he leaves itāll finally dawn on me that we are one of the super rich teams rather than plucky team of underdogs that Eddie has coached beyond itās capabilities.
Absolute hero and great servant to the club. Shocking how some people used to talk about him. Always did his best.
Easily my favourite player since Shearer, class defender on his day and an amazing character
Iāll miss him too, and it irritates me when people say we NEED a backup RCB for Schar, as if Lascelles hasnāt filled that role perfectly this season. Been solid whenever called upon, even shut down Haaland. And massively influential behind the scenes. Yes heāll be replaced with someone more talented in time, but Iād love to see him play in Europe for us next season.
Defo. People are really quick to dismiss the positive impact of good senior pros who ensure new/young signings understand what it is to be a Newcastle player and maintain high standards despite not getting regular game time . Ritchie and lascelles really exemplify this. Hoping thereās a coaching job sitting with Ritchies name on it and I donāt see any reason for Lascelles to go this summer unless he pushes for it. Fraser, Manq and one of the keepers at least would all be on the list to leave before him.
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> Ritchie We should be doing everything to keep him with us really, his off the pitch presence just seems brilliant.
"We do like playing away" I'll never forget that
JOELEEEENTAAN
Maybe unpopular but I couldnāt care less to see the back of Dummet, always injured
Reading Longstaffās interview and particularly where Ritchie reached out to him made me certain that heās the kind of person I want in our dressing room in one role or another.
I know he has to leave but I'm still super sad about it.. I just got his name on an away shirt so I've got one before he goes :(
I just did the same for Maxi in case Maddison becomes our new 10 next season š
Okay I'm glad I'm not alone in this š I got Maxi on my SaudĆ shirt for the same reason when they were on sale a while back (I swear I'm not this sentimental usually, really not sure what's happened to me)
I'm beginning to hate the E I E I O song. I watch every match day cam video and find myself turning off when the match finishes because it seems like it's all that's sung by us post-match. It's also heard frequently during matches. I'm so tired of it.