toonotl

Unfortunate for Lascelles. He'd had a good game.

Fuck sake.

Silly from Schar. Complete panic defending.

Nice play. Cool finish.

Good work from Karius distracting Havertz with his sexy bare neck.

I think the findings from these past few weeks is that Joelinton needs to be paid. Whatever he wants pay him. Do we have anything else from the boardroom to sell ManU? Are they in the market for some rustic cheeseboards?

Operation Puerto begins again!

The Arsenal player has just clearly had a snap at Bruno's ankles from behind there with zero chance of winning the ball. Ref does nothing. No wonder Bruno ends up wound up to the max. Refs offer no protection.

It seems like a pretty hostile atmosphere as well to be fair to their crowd. Just take our lumps and move on from this one. We're getting bodies back, particularly in midfield which is most important. These aren't our competition this season.

It was a dive and it was never a penalty! Never forget.

God damn it. That's some terrible luck. Not what we needed.

Good stuff Tripps. Taking a breather. This is what Kleown wanted, right?

ManU's approach to this situation reveals a subconscious insecurity about themselves. If they figured they were still this massive club above us and everyone else like they suggested with the rhetoric then they would have had no trouble coming to the club and striking a deal for Ashworth. The fact that they have gone to the media to big note themselves and try to represent our completely normal and reasonable request for compensation for someone under contract as somehow unrealistic speaks to the level of concern they have about our progress and the lack of self-awareness they have for their own situation. I can't see how this doesn't blow up in their faces. I'm not an expert by any means but I would've thought that publicly insulting the other party is probably viewed as a rather ineffectual opening negotiating tactic by at least some experts. Unfortunately for ManU I believe that things like contractual law deals with pesky items like reality and facts and not the death rattles of an old dinosaur's delusions of grandeur. I'd be happy with 10m from this situation. And I'm sure the club would be too. But ManU's approach could result in them having to pay 20m in order to save face. They simply can't walk away from this deal now. And they equally can't go two years without a DoF. If I were Ashworth, I'd have reservations already about going over there based purely on the way they've managed the situation of his attempted hiring. You might argue that he is being sought to take up a position that would make this sort of carry on a thing of the past. But something tells me that there is a distinct lack of self-awareness permeating ManU and Dan Ashworth is seen as an ornamentation to their vanity without an appreciation for what he actually does.

I could be wrong but I thought Brighton's approach also resembled a very data driven "moneyball" type approach led by their owner who has some sort of background in data science or whatever. Potentially adds some context to the situation at Brighton. Perhaps Ashworth's contribution to signings there might have been oversold.

Is that an extract from Ashworth's spreadsheet?

Davey rocking up to the local to have a pimms and discuss football with the lads.

We're practically fuckin Archimedes.

To be fair to Ashworth he's found a truly creative way to find the funds to allow us to resign Joelinton.

I can't really fathom that people are seriously questioning Howe's position. He has so much credit in the bank. And, like Holden mentioned, seventh this season (all things considered) would actually be a good result and improve his station in my opinion. And we're right in the race for seventh. That's fuckin miraculous considering where we were not too long ago with a lot of the same players (who weren't injured and playing on fumes for months on end). Not calling you out Wyki. You're a reasonable voice on here. Just speaking to the question posed. It boils my piss a bit that gobshites on twitter are so hyperbolic. Prolly why I avoid the place. It'd drive me mental.

7th would be a wonderful result for the season. Even 8th is not too bad all things considered. Does 7th get us Europa League? Or would that get us the tin-pot Europa Conference league or whatever it's called? (Assuming that a team above us wins the FA Cup and we don't pull off a miracle.)

I wonder if there's a consideration to play 5 at the back from the outset in this match. We've looked solid when doing so and haven't really seemed to lose much in attack either. Also, it has the added benefit of providing us with an option on the bench in midfield if we drop Miley to the bench. Debruv Tripps Schar Botman Burn Tino Longstaff Bruno Miggy Gordon Barnes Subs bench: Bench -- Bench -- Shrub -- Bench -- Bench -- Donation -- Shrub I dunno. It feels like something needs to change because we've leaked goals against absolute shite teams for the past month. Now up against a quality side we're likely to get pumped if we do the same expecting a different result. (Please note that I do not actually believe I am the manager of Newcastle United. This is the mere opinion of a colossal idiot.) If we implement MY gameplan then we are bound to win 9-0. And all 9 goals are scored by the squad's blind and best leftback, the moonlighting English country music star, Garth Brale, as he whips the ball into the net with the loose strands of his topknot that he's fashioned into a cat-of-nine-tails. Whip-crack went his whippy tail!

Somehow a worse refereeing performance than last week. Teams come to SJP with the aim of unfairly disrupting our patterns of play, particularly focused on Bruno and our pacey front three, and the ref consistently lets them do it. It is the refs job to ensure that the contest is played within the rules. And failing to book a player for three separate yellow card worthy offences does not fit the bill. It's as simple as that really. The refereeing standard is atrocious. In saying that, I think we should be more aggressive in our tactics to disrupt opponents in transition as well, particularly at home. I'm sure the same standard wouldn't be applied to us and we'd end up with booking and suspensions across the park but at least if we do what is done to us it puts the point to the ref to make it the same for both sides. As for our performance, we needed to get in front first half when we had a bit of freshness in the legs. After going behind 1-0 and given the refereeing performance, it's really a positive to end up 2-2. In a game we played without a recognisable striker in the squad too. Not a bad point really all things considered. It's a result that is a product of our season to date. Also, they could've been 2-0 up in the first half if Solanke could finish. He's clearly had a purple patch similar to Miggy. I hope Arsenal or Chelsea look to sign him in the summer. He'll be a terrible waste of 50m for whoever gets him.

It was notable as well that Howe mentioned that Ashworth's impact was difficult to assess because a DoF position is a long-term position and developments from such a position don't materialise over the short-term. I'm paraphrasing, but, I think given how carefully Howe selects his words, that this is tantamount to telling the press that Ashworth hasn't done fuck all yet and he's already looking for the exit for his own career progression. And moreover he's taking insider secrets with him like a rat. I reckon Howe doesn't like him. That's good enough for me. Pack up ya desk nerd and ...

I don't profess to know much about what Ashworth does as DoF but safe to say that if Winter thinks keeping a detailed spreadsheet is some sort of world shattering level of organisation then he doesn't know either.

Isn't it clearly the case that our best signings since the takeover have been from prior to Ashworth coming in? Weren't Bruno, Tripps, Botman, Pope and Isak all prior to Ashworth? Ashworth has overseen the signing of a gambling addict and a LB who is third-string. Credit for Tino and Barnes. But they weren't exactly unearthed gems. I hope ManU continue to fail with him or anyone else. I don't think this effects us much if he goes. ManU are signing a reputation. We've seen this coming so there'll be contingency in place to deal with it. By the way, ManU must be expecting some nice marginal gains now that Sir Brailsford has his foot in the door. That cunt is a massive cheat. Looking forward to him failing miserably in a sport where PED use is light years ahead of little ol' le Tour.