The Fish

There's no way Benitez is coming back to work under Ashley, there's no way Ashley would have Benitez back either. That second half was infuriating because even though we were still average, intensity like that would have seen us pick up more points against Sheffield and Fulham. You shouldn't rely on the introduction of 1 player to get your team playing averagely. We could have been playing a 4-2-3-1 all season, even with the injuries we've had, so why haven't we? Why in the fuck did we push Hayden to rightback when we had RB's on the bench and the ghost of Jeff Hendrick on the pitch? Why, against one of the leakiest defences in the league, did we fail to have a shot on target until the 53rd minute? In the first 10 minutes we had attempted 9 passes, they had attempted 40.

Hendrick and Shelvey must have pictures of Bruce that are more offensive than that one of him on the beach.

He's clearly not enjoying it, he's lost the fans, he's likely lost the players. Just resign Steve, you'd immediately regain a scintilla of respect form the Newcastle fans, as Gullit did. You'd still be able to get another job in the Championship and you'd avoid the heartattack that is waiting around the next corner.

Yes, we can. That's the problem.

And they get to drink a nice bottle of Chateau de Chasselas.

Only joking, ya big crack addict. Even you are more insightful than Savage

There are gobshites on here who can talk more insightfully about football than Robbie Savage. Not you though.

George Elek?

Yeah, I'm struggling to have sympathy for the people who voted leave. Yes, they were lied to, but the slightest amount of critical thinking and common sense would have shown the claims by the Leave campaign to be bullshit. Part of me is actually enjoying the steady stream of regret coming from Leave voters.

And they (and shows like it) show you don't have to be antagonistic to get interaction from the audience. That said, I appreciate that my view of football and how it's reported might not be shared by the majority. talksport's entire model appears to be winding up fans and they're pretty successful. 606 have shifted that way more and more, so it must work for them too. I'm like you, I'd much prefer someone who's never played the game talking sense, instead of someone with years of experience playing football at an elite level talking shite.

What they should be doing is giving the layman actual insight. Carragher and Neville on MNF are usually good for this. They break down key passages of play, or trends that may not have been obvious to the fan. When they show the way the Leeds team were breaking in such a similar way each time it was almost like a set piece, that was good insight and something that was probably missed. That's the role of a pundit, for me.

100% I know the newer breed of pundits are improving the... craft(?) but you only have to look at podcasts (not mine so yous can all FUCKRIGHTOFF) to see that there's an appetite for people talking about football after doing some actual research/homework. Football Ramble is good for this, right mix of insight and levity. They don't rely on conventional wisdom, and while I sometimes disagree with their conclusions, I can't fault their work.

That line from Redknapp about punditry being harder now because the audience "are armed with more information. Some of it is right, some of it is wrong" had me raging. Like Howay says, if these experts actually watched us week in, week out, they'd not trot out the clichés and banality.

The way some Americans deify the Constitution is mental. Screaming you can't change it and must abide by it as it was written. Even though arguably the most famous parts of it are the fucking amendments.

Even then Rooney's ability to get past a man wasn't like Ben Arfa or Messi. It was a quick movement then a burst of acceleration, coupled with good strength and low centre of balance. Like you reference in the comparison between him and Riquelme, he would choose the option that was more efficient. Agree that Rooney and Shearer would have worked well together, even if that meant Rooney would score fewer goals.

And he had, what, 2 career threatening injuries? 260/441, if he hadn't missed 1/2 seasons in 97/98 and 00/01 he could have added another 20+ goals to that tally. Batistuta said this; "I know at first hand how fierce the gladiatorial battles are between a striker and defenders. So, to maintain your performance as a top class goalscorer over a long period of time takes phenomenal dedication, self belief and enormous willpower. If you then throw in a number of serious injuries...how many? Three? And for the man to still be producing at the highest level is really an amazing feat. After a match against Juventus I met Alex Del Piero who like myself could only speak in the most glowing of terms about Shearer. He'd terrorised the Juve defenders when the clubs met in Newcastle. They found him one of the most difficult opponents they had ever faced. The coach Marcello Lippi had been purring about Shearer's performance. So much so that his strikers Alex, David (Trezeguet) and Marcelo (Salas) were ordered to take home videos and study Shearer's display." — Gabriel Batistuta on his admiration of Shearer, February 2003.[55]

Didn't Grealish say Bruce's approach to training was basically to let them have a kick about like the Under 9s? Apparently it was De Laet, not Grealish. "The football was similar to Tony Pulis but at least Tony had a plan. I remember Steve would throw the ball in the middle in training and say "let's play" like we were under-9's. It was crazy"

You work with @wykikitoon?

There's an age thing at work here, I think. Also, an inability to value the skill, ability and footballing intelligence it takes to be the League's top goal scorer. I've genuinely heard someone denigrate Shearer by saying "Well, he just scores goals". As if that's the easiest thing in football, instead of the hardest.

We're not very good at promoting the pod. One is an actor with a big following and the other is a fairly successful comedy writer, so theoretically, if we wanted to they could push it. None of us can be arsed though, it would feel too much like 'work' when in reality we're just doing it for our own enjoyment. e.g. On Monday I got a text asking if any of us wanted to talk to the Sun about going 12pts clear at the top. Because of asleep-deprived haze I thought it was a text from the Paul that does the podcast so replied "For that soul crushing event? No. For that rag? Also No." Didn't realise it was actually from Paul who works for the company that we put it out through... I'm not very good at this.

And if they slaughtered Benitez for playing a certain way, and Bruce's style is 'identical', why aren't they slaughtering Bruce? This is the second season under Bruce and we're perceptibly terrible, statistically terrible. Jordan blames the players and the fans, Neville blames Benitez & the fans, Bent blames Benitez and the fans, Shearer blames Ashley, all the pundits seem to blame the system/formation/personnel. Nobody is blaming Bruce. Yet it's Benitez who knew the PR game...

Seems in-keeping with his behaviour. Soon to be kicked out of his home, so violently evicts someone from theirs.

Is it simply that owners believe what they hear on Sky Sports and Match of the Day? Because Neville and Murphy and Savage say Bruce is good, he must be, right?

Here's hoping.

Bonkers that pundits are searching away from the pitch for a reason why we don't like Bruce. It's not because he once managed Sunderland, it's not because he's not Benítez, it's not because he allegedly favours defensive football, it's not because I expect CL football. It's purely because he was shit before, is shit now and will be shit forever. Honestly I reckon, if Lee Cattermole had us 7th in the league, semis of the cups and playing good football I'd be walking in a Clattermole Wonderland.