The Fish

How insecure must you be to get wound up by Newcastle being a threat? They've got an unbelievable number of trophies, a squad peppered with some genuinely talented players and a very, very good coach. If they're this precious about us already, imagine what they'll be like when we really start spending.

It does seem to be Liverpool, more than any other 'Big 6' club, that's taken the takeover really badly. I don't want a rivalry with them, I want a sporting, handshakes all round, rivalry with Man City, or maybe a Wenger/Ferguson style petty rivalry with Arsenal.

Past 5 seasons it's taken us around 30 games to get to 34 pts. 17/18 31 games 35pts 18/19 30 games 34pts 19/20 29 games 35pts 20/21 32 games 35pts 21/22 31 games 34pts 22/23 18 games 34pts We ended up with; 17/18 44pts (+10pts from 7 Benitez games) 18/19 45pts (+11pts from 8 Benitez games) 19/20 44pts (+9pts from 9 Bruce games) 20/21 45pts (+10pts from 6 Bruce games) 21/22 49pts (+15 SUPER EDDIE HOWE points from 7 SUPER EDDIE HOWE games) If we continue at this pace (1.9PpG), we are projected to finish on around 72pts. Past 30 seasons, 72pts has been good enough for 2nd 4/30 times, 3rd 14/30 times and 4th 24/30 times. Past 10 seasons 72pts has been good enough for 2nd 1/10, 3rd 4/10 times and 4th 6/10 times. Past 5 seasons 72pts has been good enough for 3rd 3/5 times and 4th 4/5 times. Break down the three periods of Eddie Howe's tenure; Nov 21 - Feb 22 = 1.36 PpG Feb 22 - May 22 = 1.93 PpG Aug 22 - Jan 23 = 1.88 PpG It's on lads.

LEAVE BRUNO ALONE!

It's a bad thing, so it is, tbstbs

He hasn't been poor, far from it, it's just that in the last 2 games his focus has been very much on getting the ball back and due to the opposition' disparate strengths we've not seen the other side to his game. Against Leeds he lead the team in tackles, drawing fouls, was had a better dribble success rate than any other starter, completed more long passes than anyone else, only Dan Burn completed more short passes... it's just a different, less glamorous side to his game. To be honest, it's more like the player I thought we'd be signing. A lot of the ugly work. Against Arsenal he was, as Craig says, clearly tasked with keeping Odegaard quiet, but he still completed more progressive passes (ball passed >10yd towards Arsenal's goal) than anyone else in the team. Only Willock had a better pass completion%, and Bruno's passes covered more ground. Nobody put more balls into the final 3rd, or into the box. Nobody on our team attempted or completed as many dribbles as Bruno.

Eh? We've played the 'top teams' at theirs and taken points from all but one, we're unbeaten at home and have won 19pts from 9 games at St James'. Stop ignoring the fact that we are now the Kings of Football, it makes you look silly when you do.

Yeah, being frustrated that your team couldn't break down a perceived lesser opponent is one thing. Blaming that opponent for not rolling over to have their tummy tickled is entitled bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to the day we turn up at the Emirates and play open expansive football to make Ty and his ilk cry into their club branded pillows. But until then they should stop crying, and fuck 'em if they can't

After the first few lines I was looking more at the league as a whole. Looking for trends that might undermine good league position now, e.g. Fulham may be in a false position because they've already played 5 bottom half sides at home to get 10pts. Chelsea haven't yet played any bottom half sides at home. Everton haven't played any team that finished 7-10th last season away from home.

Yeah, it had to be against last season as the bandings could change on an almost weekly basis.

In love with his own voice, that lad. Respect. Game recognises Game.

Alan Varela (Boca Juniors) – Scout Report – Target Scouting

Played all of the 'Big 6' and only lost to Liverpool (arguably unjustly). Played 4 of them away from home and took 5pts back home. Scored 7 conceded 6 Best defence in the league, conceding roughly 0.6 per 90. Fifth best attack in the league, scoring roughly 1.8 per 90. Simple table showing where teams have picked up their points this season. BH P = Games played against teams who finished in the Bottom Half 21/22 season, TH = Top Half 21/22 BH Pts = Points won in games against teams who finished bottom half 21/22 The sides promoted from the Championship at the end of the 21/22 season count as Bottom half for this table. Stand outs for me are; Brighton, Brentford, Fulham and Wolves. Former two have taken the majority of their points from top half sides. Double what they've taken from the bottom half sides. 80% of Fulham's and 100% of Wolves points have come from bottom half sides. Breaking it down further; Splitting the halves into more granular bandings. First table is games played against opposition in each banding. And this second one shows points returned from those fixtures. Shows that Chelsea and Tottenham have failed to beat any of the sides who finished higher than 7th, so far. Aston Villa have only taken 1pt from the promoted sides.

Yeah, apparently Simms has gone, that Diallo from Man Utd is a loanee too so the risk they could actually lose all three of them.

Who's tempted to stir the pot a little?

Saying that 16th placed Hull are genuine contenders for the Play Off spot isn't the brag he thinks it is Rumours abound that they're going to do lose their top scorer again, because that always goes well.

Fish is concerned by seeing RobinRobin unable to tell the difference between stats and opinions.

I knew it!!

I didn't want to mention Michels for fear of being called out for plagiarising Jonathon Wilson. Glad you're not afraid of that. wait... my Spidey sense is tingling.

I got a similar satisfaction from Benitez' Newcastle taking points off the big boys, as I do from not letting a cunt in a flash car merge in turn, purely out of spite.

I've a couple of Chelsea supporting mates. One is a massive toff who's not much more than an armchair fan, never goes to early cup games, always somehow gets a ticket for a final, the other is a proper salt-of-the-earth, been going since he was 5, hates modern football, hates the players, hates the people who sits around him and all that. They're both cunts, but I like them a lot... if that makes any sense.

The pressing game definitely has grown in popularity, not just with coaches, but more importantly with the fans. I think more credit has to go to those that influenced Klopp, Pep, Pochettino et al. You'd have to look at Bielsa, Sacchi and so on. They laid the ground work and the newer managers may have taken it forward and tweaked it a little, they were among the progenitors. Mourinho's football may have been successful (at the time) but holy Hell was it boring and the fans made that obvious. Benitez' game was similarly pragmatic and for a time it was working very well, and for us it made a lot of sense (we couldn't play more expansive football with Rondon up front and Lascelles at the back). However, it was very difficult to defend it from criticisms of being tedious and drab. I'd much rather watch Howe's pressing football, he's shown that despite Bruce (and Benitez' claims) you can play that kind of system without superstar players. I've not enjoyed watching Newcastle as much since Robson's time.