Newcastle United v Brighton

[Holden McGroin 7505]

I think Man City and Chelsea will get 3rd and 4th. 5th could be anyone’s down to Fulham. 

[Dr Gloom 23507]

1 hour ago, Gemmill said:

As positive as I am about what we can do with the remaining league games, if we had a fixture v Liverpool among them, I'd be expecting us to get zero points. It's a huge ask to beat them in the final. 

 

Anything can happen in a one off game etc, but we know what usually happens when we play them, and what usually happens when we play in finals, and that's probably what will happen again. 

 

I have very little expectation for a positive outcome. 

they’re massive favourites, no doubt. That’s why today is so disappointing. There was a real chance to do something in this tournament given how the draw opened up. We had a decent home draw but weren’t clinical with our chances 

[Chaser 1362]

Id give Barnes a run in the team now to see if he can pick up some form.  

[wykikitoon 22668]

Well surely that will.br a 3 game ban for Gordon so not much choice. 

[Toonpack 11305]

The biggest loss for the final will be Hall if he's fucked.

Edited 20 hours ago by Toonpack

[Dr Gloom 23507]

Could play Willock out there otherwise.

 

Only other option really is Isak with Wilson up front 🙈

[Andrew 5124]

6 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

Could play Willock out there otherwise.

 

Only other option really is Isak with Wilson up front 🙈

If Joelinton is back I would do that. That was pretty much how we played when we finished 4th and Willock and Isak have shown some good chemistry too.

[Kid Dynamite 7590]

Fulham v Crystal Palace

Preston v Aston Villa

Bournemouth v Manchester City

Brighton v Nottingham Forest or Ipswich

 

[Dr Gloom 23507]

Man City are the only team to fear left in it. What a missed opportunity 

[OTF 8372]

47 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

The biggest loss for the final will be Hall if he's fucked.

Tino looked good on the left in attack in particular but Trippier doesn't have 90 minutes in him these days. If Hall wasn't available that's what Howe would go with (as he did here).

[Toonpack 11305]

10 minutes ago, OTF said:

Tino looked good on the left in attack in particular but Trippier doesn't have 90 minutes in him these days. If Hall wasn't available that's what Howe would go with (as he did here).

It's not the attacking that concerns me, it's Salah at the other end.

[Kid Dynamite 7590]

Both our conceded goals came down the RW with Tino nowhere to be seen unfortunately!

[toonotl 3402]

It really feels like the season is on the edge now with things starting to slip away from us. The mounting injuries and general tiredness feels like it could derail us completely. There's a feeling building like everything is close to exploding.

 

It's all a tad annoying too since our problems are partially the contrived product of a ladder-cutting exercise by the establishment. There's a distinct limit to the feeling of authenticity associated with our "struggle" since it feels like what happens in the offices of the games "regulators" dictates what we can reasonably expect to achieve on the pitch.

 

As for the game, Gordon is an idiot. His frustration is understandable. But that's really poor. Brighton should have had a player sent off before for a very clear second-yellow card offence. They only got the eventual red card as a square up. Pretty even game though. I can't really begrudge them a victory. A lot of wasted energy for no result for an already lagging squad just adds more concern for our last games of the season. We're coming into the League Cup final in a really bad moment. Same as last time. We've hit the self-destruct button before even getting to the venue. Same old Newcastle. We make life hard enough for ourselves without the added restrictions.

[thebrokendoll 10216]

well, these seemingly eternal, morose trips home are getting to be a bit of a habit this season. can't really be arsed to talk football other than to say one world class save by dubravka in the 1st half of extra made an absolute mockery of howe's decision to drop him. I hope the chorus of 'oh martin dubravka' and the acknowledgement for it sunk in, because it's outrageous the cunt dropped him for pope in the first place.

the time has come to raze this stadium to the ground, get rid of the stench of ashley, sports direct and decades of failure and start again, but most of all put out to pasture the superfan who inhabits the middle of the gallowgate. fucking embarrassing, they were sat down for the fucking penalty. 

the atmosphere today was a fucking abomination, but then it has been for all but about 3 of the games since the takeover, arsenal 2-0 end of '22, psg,, arsenal 2nd leg a couple of weeks ago.

fucking shameful.

[OTF 8372]

2 hours ago, Toonpack said:

It's not the attacking that concerns me, it's Salah at the other end.

Yeah that's precisely why I specified in attack.

[aimaad22 4655]

I know Gordon hasn't been great recently, but keep in mind we've been very poor in general last few games excepting Arsenal. 

 

But he's so critical to everything good we do going forward. Even today he seemed to be the only one that could find Isak with a simple pass or at least cut in and make some trouble. He's involved, he's energetic and he's a nuisance even when not playing well. Barnes and Murphy are either very good or terrible, completely anonymous for large parts. 

 

We can now only hope they buck that trend and the team finds some semblance of form from somewhere to stay in the run for the CL. 

[OTF 8372]

2 hours ago, aimaad22 said:

I know Gordon hasn't been great recently, but keep in mind we've been very poor in general last few games excepting Arsenal. 

 

But he's so critical to everything good we do going forward. Even today he seemed to be the only one that could find Isak with a simple pass or at least cut in and make some trouble. He's involved, he's energetic and he's a nuisance even when not playing well. Barnes and Murphy are either very good or terrible, completely anonymous for large parts. 

 

We can now only hope they buck that trend and the team finds some semblance of form from somewhere to stay in the run for the CL. 

I agree, even when he's not at his best his pace troubles defenders and causes them to make mistakes. We don't have anyone with the same combination of acceleration, speed and fast feet. I feel like Osula will be more of a nuisance than Barnes, though Barnes is capable of a great shot and can also stand up a good cross. From everything we've seen Howe is more likely to use Willock and Barnes there than Osula, I'd be leaning toward Barnes and Osula (at least give him some minutes to throw everything he can at the defense). Willock has just frustrated me too much, getting into good positions and then being wasteful. It's not through a lack of effort though which is at least one positive.

[aimaad22 4655]

Aye. Willock and Schar seem to be competing for the steepest fall off in quality in recent memory for us. 

[Dr Gloom 23507]

1 hour ago, aimaad22 said:

Aye. Willock and Schar seem to be competing for the steepest fall off in quality in recent memory for us. 

 

Callum Wilson enters the chat 

[RobinRobin 12427]

7 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

 

Callum Wilson enters the chat 

He's well ahead in that race (although likely to pull up soon with a torn hammy). 👨‍🦽 

[AgentAxeman 233]

16 hours ago, Meenzer said:

 

OK boomer

Gen X and proud bonny lad! 😎

[Dr Gloom 23507]

Willock is a funny one. He’s shown glimpses of his old self but has been so up and down since returning from injury. I’m still hopeful he might return to something like his form a couple of season ago. He needs a run of games, which he might get now Gordon is out. I fear Schar and Wilson might be done. 

[NJS 4557]

I think we're being a bit harsh on Wilson - he's bound to be a bit rusty after the lack of any games this whole season. 

 

Of course whether he has enough time to turn it around given he's probably out the door is another matter. 

[sammynb 3902]

It's taken me all day of avoiding the result and trying to watch 15 minutes here and there, to finally get to the end of that, and excuse me for a moment, utter fucking dross. Brighton are absolute shite and yet somehow we, at home, make them look like galatico Real Madrid. 

The FA cup is something we should be busting a gut to win, especially considering who we are playing in the LC final and yet we still turn up playing fucking that. 

Time and time again they revert to a team that looks like 11 players running in different directions with no plan or ability.

This fucking club!

Enjoy Isak, Gordon (you moron), Tonali, Bruno and big Joe because they will be agitating for moves at the end of this season once we finish 9th or 10th.

</end of reactional rant>

[Dr Gloom 23507]

3 minutes ago, sammynb said:

It's taken me all day of avoiding the result and trying to watch 15 minutes here and there, to finally get to the end of that, and excuse me for a moment, utter fucking dross. Brighton are absolute shite and yet somehow we, at home, make them look like galatico Real Madrid. 

The FA cup is something we should be busting a gut to win, especially considering who we are playing in the LC final and yet we still turn up playing fucking that. 

Time and time again they revert to a team that looks like 11 players running in different directions with no plan or ability.

This fucking club!

Enjoy Isak, Gordon (you moron), Tonali, Bruno and big Joe because they will be agitating for moves at the end of this season once we finish 9th or 10th.

</end of reactional rant>

I feel a bit like we did just before the winning run. Questioning the manager’s loyalty to certain players etc. But then Howe found a way to galvanise the players and we went on that run. Who knows what happens next. We’ve always been a bit of a streaky team under Howe. The cup final has come at a crap time again and it will take some effort to win but all hope is not lost for the season. Champions league football is still a possibility if we can get on a heater again. 
 

I do feel very sorry for Howe because the owners weren’t able to find a way to help him out in January. I understand we had to sell the likes of Miggy and Kelly because of PSR but even a loan signing, like Villa were able to do with Arsensio and Rashford, would have given the squad a boost for the run in. If it goes tits up, we lose the final and miss out on Europe, Howe might end up losing his job, which I think would be incredibly harsh given the circumstances.