Polarboy

Fair play to Gee Ballbag though, he was 100% correct.

What a fucking disaster. Regardless of who we get they're going to be massively undermined given how publicly and embarrassingly we missed out on our number one target. In a lot of cases teams can sort of play it off that it was just rumours and say whoever they got was who they wanted all along, but they can't really do that in this case unless they want to call most of the media liars, which they are in fairness, but in this case it seems pretty definite that it was the club leaking info.

We were never getting someone on Conte's level in any case. That's equivalent to people in the media saying we think we should be trying to sign Neymar straight away. As for Howe I wouldn't really give a fuck who the next manager was as along as I was confident he could keep us up. The person we bring in likely won't be here very long anyway. The problem is I'm in no way confident that Howe can keep us up. He did well to get Bournemouth up and keep them up for several seasons, but the way in which they got relegated, and his apparent inability to arrest their decline that season is more than troubling. It also has to be said that even in the seasons he kept them up, they seemed to go through some very tough spells before pulling it together and going on a run, and it's not as if we have much margin of error after our shocking no win start.

That's from football insider, but how reliable are they. Could be that they are just hedging their bets by writing this, assuming that Balague is right on the money and the only other choice is Howe. They might actually know fuck all, and have no actual source of their own. Clutching at straws here a bit, but I'm not aware of football insider being a highly respected source of news.

Howe is a lot better than Bruce, but he's still a bottling nonce. At least according to Celtic supporters, who I'm sure are in no way biased.

The lady doth protest too much. He sounds like his mum the way he was so adamant that it was nothing to do with money.

🤣 Hey I left it open ended with the question mark. I even knocked on the imitation wood table I was writing it on. With regard to this Emery situation, if Balague is correct then this is a major embarrassment for Staveley and co, there's no two ways around it. The club have acted like a lad who already had a girl coming home with them, who then scares her off by wittering on about how much he can dead-lift for an hour. Although I see Keith Downie is saying it could still happen and that the club still see Emery as their number one target, so maybe Ballbag got his wires crossed, or Emery and or Villarreal are just trying to get more money. Surely the club wouldn't make it be known that he was still their number one target if they didn't think they could get him through the door. It would just make the eventual rejection even more embarrassing, and make the second choice look like someone you took home with the beer goggles on. But maybe it is just a case of amateur hour at the club at present.

Obviously not 100% yet with Emery, but as good as it would seem unless something drastic happens. I just have to say thank fuck neither Howe or Martinez got the job.

Also from the Telegraph "Club Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan is said to have casually lifted a saracen sword off the wall and started polishing it during the zoom call."

Balague is usually pretty accurate when it comes to his patch in Spain. At the end of the day it's entirely down to Emery on whether he leaves or not given he has a buy out clause.

The Villarreal president has spat the dummy out a bit on Emery being linked with us, and has said that he believes Emery's professionalism will prevent him from leaving Villarreal. Hopefully it's just sour grapes, and he's blowing out a bit of hot air, and or trying to get as much compo as possible. Newcastle: Unai Emery will not become Magpies new boss, says Villarreal president Fernando Roig | Daily Mail Online

I wouldn't say I moved on.

🙄 Moved on to a non sequitur I see. The Cabbage is Stephen Hawking in football terms compared to you mate.

That's a pretty solid team given what we have to choose from in the squad. Murphy and Almiron will graft when we're out of possession, and have the pace to trouble teams in attack. Of course both their ends products are patchy, but if they can even just get it to either ASM or Wilson consistently in the oppositions half, we'll be doing a hell of a lot better than we are at present.

Reading an article about Emery taking through Willock into the first 11 when he was at Arsenal. If Emery can get Willock back to playing like he did last season it would obviously be a big bonus. https://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/this-is-why-the-arrival-of-unai-emery-at-newcastle-united-could-be-excellent-news-for-joe-willock-3441742

Nah it's the pitch they play on 😉

Skirmish? Get a life man. Wilson easily outdoes Maupay in goal contributions when on the pitch over both their histories in the league, it's as simple as that. Just to explain that for you one last time, Wilson has a better record having played less games over a season, over multiple seasons. Do you even have a notion of what xG is?

🤨 Ah yeah. The point is that Maupay has never got close to the 14 goals and 10 assists in 30 games Wilson got two seasons back. Maupay scored 8 goals and made 3 assists last season, and scored 10 goals and three assists the season before that. So yes, if a striker is making more goals contributions when on the pitch that is significant. Wilson is clearly a better player.

I don't have to do anything I don't want to 😉🤣

It's brave of Emery to go straight into the dugout for Saturday's game if some of the reports are to be believed. Given how little time he'll have with the players, a lot of managers would have watched from the stands and took over the reigns on the Monday. Obviously it would be a dream scenario for him to come in and get three points before the international break. It could set us up nicely with the teams around us having some tough games.

Maupay is decent, but he's a 1 in 3 striker. Wilson has proven himself to be 1 in 2 when fit, and has 4 in 6 this season. Maupay has never got past 10 in the league, and doesn't offer the same assist ability as Wilson. So yeah Maupay has a better injury record, but that's all he has over Wilson.

Of the people we could conceivably get at present, I'd have perhaps edged Potter over Emery. I know it sounds a bit daft when you consider Emery has won 4 Europa leagues, but Potter does really seem to be the next up and coming manager. Potter obviously knows the league, is a very competent coach, improves average players, and gets his teams playing some great stuff. I mean if you look at Brighton's squad it's far more balanced, but apart from Lamptey and that new lad in midfield they don't have people on the level of ASM, Wilson, and Willock when he isn't carrying an injury, yet he's getting a great tune out of his squad. The argument may be that Emery could attract a higher calibre of player, but Potter does have a growing reputation, and money talks at the end of the day. Having said all this I'm more than willing to give Emery a go given his CV.

I wouldn't say a lot comparatively, but they are injuries to crucial players like Calvert-Lewin, Doucoure, Andre Gomes, and to a lesser extent than them, Mina. The amount of money they've spent on their squad they should be able to absorb those loses more easily, but they've spunked literally hundreds of millions almost entirely up a wall.

By the sounds of how little of a fuck the Everton players seem to have, it seems Rafa really could be looking for a job pretty soon. Although I'd imagine the Everton owners will be a bit more patient than Levy, by which time we will hopefully have a manager. Mind you if Everton get a hammered tonight, and again on Saturday against Spurs, then there's a pretty real, albeit small, prospect that he'll be let go.