Polarboy

Yeah just posted that in the Gordon thread. It all seems a bit dubious, but if he can get away with it and help us get a few results fair enough.

Seems very much like the dog ate his homework as well, but I suppose there's a small chance given how much upheaval has been in his life recently. If he can swerve it fair enough given how important he could be for us over the next few matches. It would be perfect if he scores one against the bin dippers.

I would imagine there's close to zero chance that Gordon doesn't start over ASM against Bournemouth next week. That is unless there's much in this driving while banned thing. I'd be tempted to start Isak over Wilson as well, but now that he's scored he's usually very streaky, so it might be a foolish time to withdraw him if he can score a few and build up his confidence again.

Gordon should drive himself on in one of those little remote controlled cars they had to bring the ball out in the world cup.

My guess is too much analytics and not enough common sense in use.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11712035/Newcastle-star-Anthony-Gordon-face-JAIL-time-getting-caught-driving-road-ban.html There's a worrying pattern emerging for our players and driving offences. Obviously the headline is a bit hyperbolic because the likelihood of Gordon serving time is slim to say the least. As for the alleged offence itself it says he was seen parked, so whether he was shown just in the driving seat or there's actually pictures of him driving it's not clear. We do know that he needed a lift back from the Metro Centre a few days before this, so it would seem he's either had a moment of madness or it's a misunderstanding. Regardless neither he nor the club need this craic given he's just signed and there was already controversy surrounding him. Edit. There's pictures in the sun of him clearly driving the car. What a fucking idiot.

Obviously Howe has more than earned our trust, but if he goes ultra conservative with the second choice my heart will sink a little bit. Then again if we get 6, 7 points in our next three fixtures playing that way it will have been the correct decision.

I like your confidence but in my opinion we'd be unwise to underestimate the pull of the so called top six clubs and London clubs in particular, even if the clubs geographic position is overplayed as an obstacle for us by certain pundits. Although there is of course the argument that we shouldn't be worrying about players who don't buy into the project and or would rather play for a club down south.

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.