Polarboy

Just seen Craig Hope drop Ruben Neves' name as someone we'll go back in for in the summer. We'll be lucky to avoid a lot of competition for his signature and subsequently a bidding war. We just have to hope the teams capable of competing for him have other targets in mind for that position. Chelsea for one are surely well stocked in that position after their spending spree, Man U have Casermiro but I suppose they need quality back up for that position, Spurs have plenty of players of that type but it comes down to whether Conte fancies Neves over them or has other priorities, Liverpool should really be doing everything they can to sign Neves but will probably go for Bellingham who's a great player but Neves is a type they arguably need more, Man City again are fairly well stocked with Rodri and Philips. It would be amusing if Liverpool miss out on Neves to us because we qualified for the CL and they didn't.

It's going to be very interesting to see how we set up tomorrow. The obvious change is Joelinton pushed back into midfield and ASM on the left, but with Isak probably going to be available and Gordon ready to be selected there's a few ways we could go. The answer as to whether Howe still trusts ASM to play 90 minutes will be answered fairly conclusively. Actually now that I think about it it's very unlikely Gordon will start given he's only had one training session with the rest of the squad, and Howe's general reluctance to through players straight in.

He's 22 and Maddison is 26. Also they're not completely different in the sense that Gallagher can also score and create depending on where you deploy him. They're different in the sense that Maddison can also play wide and can't play in a more defensive role like Gallagher, but I think for our squad's needs Gallagher probably fits a little better if it's a choice of one over the other. I'd be delighted with Maddison given as you say he's coming into his prime years, but I think Gallagher has the potential to fit our team ethic and set up more given, as I've already said, he's a better presser of the ball and arguably a better runner, athlete than Maddison. Any deficiencies in technical skill in comparison I believe would be compensated by the other parts of his game. And again given his age he may yet go up a level technically under Howe's tutelage.

According to the Evening Standard we're at the head of the queue for Gallagher come the summer market. There's some rule that means that it's better financially to sell homegrown players so Chelsea are set to clear out players like Gallagher, Loftus-Cheek etc. so they can go on yet another spending binge. I know the majority on here would prefer Maddison, but I honestly think Gallagher, who's four years younger, is potentially of a similar level to Maddison and has a better all round game given he's much better at the defensive side of the game. I'd love to see how much Howe could improve him, again given he's relatively young. Obviously getting both would be the ideal, but I can't see us spunking 80 odd million on two fairly similar players.

Just seen a match report. Apparently the Hearts manager played some weird formation using Kuol and another forward out of position in centre midfield. By the sounds of it, it wasn't Kuol's fault by any means.

Somebody needs to fix the sub heading for this thread.

In fairness Desperate Dan, beardy big chops is being a cunt. Pearson may be an annoyance but he seems to be basically harmless.

https://www.newcastleworld.com/news/police-launch-hate-crime-probe-into-distressing-video-shared-by-newcastle-united-youtuber-adam-p-4010506 I wouldn't condone someone calling anybody a "faggot" or whatever slur it was, but I can't help but find it a bit amusing given the Mr Bean levels of ineptitude displayed by Pearson. I haven't seen the video either, so maybe it's not funny in any way.

Seen Danny Mills say Bruno's straight red was a disgrace because he wasn't actually out of control in the tackle. I think by the letter of the law you have to be out of control for it to be deemed dangerous, or obviously that's what Mills is implying. Then again it still could have broken the players ankle, but I suppose the weird way he controlled it made it so Bruno was far more likely to make contact. It would be amazing if we could get it reduced to a second yellow, but I won't be holding my breath. If memory serves you also run the risk of games being added to the suspension if you bring forward what they deem to be an unwarranted challenge to said decision.

Howe seemed to have accepted that it's going to be a three match suspension in one of his post match interviews. Perhaps he was just keeping his powder dry before appealing. He did say it looks a lot worse than it was slowed down for the cameras, but again while it wasn't violent conduct it will almost certainly be seen as dangerous play which also results in a three match suspension.

The bromance is real between Longy and Burn. A question for anyone; would you rather Howe just started ASM and pushed Joelinton back into midfield in Bruno's absence, or would you like to see Gordon play as a ten starting ahead of Willock, Big Joe in midfield and ASM on the left. Gordon according to Howe and others is versatile in being able to play in more central attacking positions, and his pace excites me. It's probably just new player bias on my part though given Willock hasn't done much wrong apart from his dry spell in front of goal and the odd stray pass. It should also be said that Gordon, even if her were to play as a ten, has the ability to press and could drop back and help defend to decent effect when needed.

I'd be surprised if there's any way of getting around a dangerous play charge unfortunately. Even if we can be confident he didn't mean to hurt the player he still had his studs up.

To me that sounds like, I'm actually pleased my missus cheated on me, it really opened my eyes to what she's like 😂👍

Don't know how accurate it is but seen someone say that we'd be fucked for a few transfer windows to come if we overspend in this financial year. I know it's been said but it boggles the mind how Chelsea are managing it, even if their commercial revenue currently dwarfs our own. I know it seems like they're doing it by spreading things over long contracts and structured payments, but the question is why couldn't we have done the same for at least one player. Hopefully by this time next year we'll have the new sponsorship, shirt deals money rolling in and we'll be in a much better position.

There's close to zero chance that Howe will mess up Shelvey's move when it's this far down the line. Especially when it's probably his last big contract. The lad has just travelled up from Nottingham so it's most likely signed off and just not officially announced.

You'd imagine they've advanced a few deals to a certain stage, but perhaps baulked at wage demands in Loftus-Cheeks case, or a fee in Gallagher's case. Of course that's assuming that Chelsea wouldn't just point blank not deal with us, but we've probably been speaking to other clubs as well. As long as you get a deal sheet in before 11 all the contract negotiation, medical etc can be signed off after the deadline. Also I think rules aren't as strict for loan deals in terms of deadlines. Bruno was sent off at about 21:35, so an hour and twenty-five to get the aforementioned team sheet in if again there was any deal close to being agreed if not for the finances involved. Best case we actually had something agreed before the match but it hasn't been announced yet, but yeah it is a very long shot in any other case.

With this three match suspension for Bruno you'd hope the club would bite the bullet and get a player in even if they have to overpay to do it, but with FFP and how little time is left perhaps it's not possible.

Literally this week Longstaff was getting interviewed and he said he speaks to Shearer about tips for finishing given his recent record in front of goal. Shearer's tip was to not over complicate it. You can try and hit it top corner so a keeper can't get it, but getting it on target every time is more important than how sweetly you hit it given pulling off those types of shots are low percentage ones.

The money the owners have they should be cloning Beckenbauer for us the twats 😉👍

Shelvey is reportedly travelling back up from Nottingham to watch the semi final and say his goodbye's. It's perhaps the least he can do after being at the club so long, but it's never wise to expect common courtesy these days.

Doherty is off to Atletico. It sounds a weird transfer but I suppose it's the same path that Trippier took.

Kylie Minogue?

He's Austrian 🤣

This Marcel Sabitzer who plays for Bayern that Man U are reportedly after sounds like he'd be ideal for us. He can reportedly play defensive mid, CM, AM, SS and on the wing. Pity Manure seem to be front of the line for him.

Yeah but aren't a lot of Casey's followers following him for the craic? Not that I hold much confidence in the account I posted as I've already said.