Polarboy

I doubt ASM would be arsing about in a hyperbaric chamber in Monaco if he wasn't injured. Plus whatever you want to say about his play acting, he was pretty much unplayable against Everton. Was just thinking that I'd take a draw against Brighton if it meant we could give Southampton a good tonking up at St Mary's. Hassenhoople can fuck right off after his whinging about us, postponed games, and the transfer window.

I could be wrong but I think the total needed for staying up is going to be lower than 36 this season. I'd say it's going to be 34, maybe even 32. Watford and Norwich for a start are incredibly unlikely to amass the 15 and 17 points respectively to reach 34 in their 12 remaining games. Then it's just a case of who's going to join them. The way Brentford's form is going can you see them getting 10 points in 11 games? Maybe Eriksen will give them a boost, but who knows. As for Leeds maybe they'll get a manager bounce if Bielsa is sacked as is looking likely, but there's no guarantee, and then you still have Everton and Burnley down there who have more games in hand, and Burnley are looking to be a building a run of form, but Everton really need to look over their shoulders regardless of games in hand, and a perceived better on paper squad than those below them and immediately above them.

Just watched Willock's goal again. Fucking hell, missed it the when I was watching it live, but what a ridiculous touch from Schar to take the ball down and around the Brentford player. Schar could be the new Phillipe Albert in this side given his ability on the ball, and propensity for making forward runs.

It was Schar not Wood.

Fucking textbook first half. As someone was saying this could be a great opportunity to give Bruno a half hour or so. Howe might want us to get the cushion of another goal before that to be extra cautious in not changing a winning side, when it's such an important game.

Joelinton is playing like Zidane with some of the little touches in midfield he's doing. Sure I'm being a bit hyperbolic, but fuck it 😀

The script for this points towards Eriksen having a cathartic stormer, so hopefully if he does have one we still come out on top regardless. It's looking like ASM will be back, and perhaps very touch and go for Manquillo, so having ASM and perhaps Javier back will be a big boost. Krafth was OK against West Ham, but if I recall correctly it was him who gave away the freekick which led to the goal and it's the type of thing he does quite often, so having Manquillo in there ahead of him should lead to less clear opportunities for the opposition.

Cheeky bid for Jude Bellingham perhaps. Of course maybe you mean someone a bit more under the radar given Lamptey was pretty much an unknown, at least to the wider public. It would be nice to get a good mix of the more moneyballesque, hidden gem signings along with the more blockbuster ones.

We basically already knew that Ashworth was on his way, but nice to see Romano put it down in black in and white with that added little detail that he's already identifying targets. It will be interesting to see what profile of player Ashworth goes for, given his budget with us will obviously dwarf what he had to work with at Brighton.

Sounds like ASM's injury isn't too serious. Howe saying that he didn't train this week because of a kick to his calf from the Villa game, but that he hoped it was nothing serious. So hopefully the swelling will go down and he'll be available for next Saturday. Very decent draw away to the 'ammers. Bit annoying that Burnley have finally found their shooting boots, and Villa shat the bed, but as someone said we should be looking upwards instead of backwards given the quality of our performances.

If it's going to be a close call I'd rather he was overcautious. It would be nasty kick in the bollocks if Trippier played and he aggravated what was originally a fairly minor calf problem.

Looking like Buendia and Coutinho will be ready for the weekend which is annoying, but we still have enough to get at them given their shakiness at the back, and I'd be confident that we are currently better at the back than Leeds who of course shipped three to them.

I see West Ham fans and Simon Jordan are saying that Newcastle fans shouldn't comment on the Zouma thing because we are majority owned by the Saudi's 😂 Our moral authority forever tarnished because we didn't all in unison quit supporting the club because a decision was made that was completely out of our hands. Like I give a fuck 🙄

He played behind Grealish for last season and didn't lose the head, I think he'll be fine 😉

Ginola's stats for us are actually pretty average for the two seasons he was here, 5 goals 8 assists his first season, and 1 goal 5 assists his second, albeit he only played 24 league games the second season. He scored a handful of spectacular goals no doubt, but he was a fair bit more productive when he went to Spurs. ASM's figures aren't far off in his first two seasons, 3 goals 5 assists and 3 goals 4 assists. He's on 5 goals and 3 assists at the minute so he will hopefully eclipse Ginola's best season goal involvement wise. Laurent Robert was mentioned above and out of the three he's was actually the most productive and consistent. First season he was here he got 8 goals and 14 assists. That's getting close to De Bruyne numbers. Not that I'm saying the Robert was as good as De Bruyne of course 😉 Robert didn't quite reach the heights of his first season from them on, but he was steady enough to easily make Ginola and ASM numbers every season after that.

If I'm remembering correctly a pundit was saying that Southampton at home in December 2019 was the last time we came from behind to win a game. It's a mind boggling stat and really frames how shite we were under Ashley and Bruce, but hopefully the lads are fully aware of it, and Eddie is drilling it home so they can take the maximum amount of confidence from the Everton result.

No idea, could be 😉. I won't dash your dreams like Gemmill did.

As has been said Konsa is out for Villa, but apparently Buendia and Coutinho both had to come off with injuries, and are subsequently doubts for Sunday.

Pretty decent video, if a little repetitive in terms of what we already know about Bruno.

As I was saying in the Everton match thread my only worry for this game is the full backs. But as you say Tree, Burn can fill in for the ineligible Targett if Dummett is still going to be out. Thank god we don't have to rely on Ritchie to fill in any more. He's always game to play anywhere, but he simply doesn't have the instincts of a defender. At RB hopefully Trippier will shake off his calf issue, but if there's any doubt around it I'd rather we wrapped him in cotton wool and played Manquillo who, while has a mistake in him, rarely lets us down. We obviously don't want Tripps' injury to turn into a Wilson saga. It's odd to say it about a right back, but Trippier could literally be the difference for us from now until the end of the season. But yeah Villa are nothing special, and hopefully Gerrard's new manager bounce is starting to wane.

Villa, West Ham, Brentford and Brighton the next four, and if the team take as much confidence as they should from last nights result and performance, then I don't see why we can't go on a bit of a run and take 8 to 10 points. All four sides form has been spotty at best, with Brentford looking to be in free-fall and Brighton struggling to score. My only slight worry for Sunday is with Targett ineligible and Trippier a doubt, what's likely in large part made us much more solid, as in having decent full backs played in their favoured positions, will be missing. Hopefully Bruno will start and absolutely boss the midfield thereby making my concern moot 😄 But yeah if we can go on a run, which hopefully two on the bounce is the start of, we could be well on our way to safety by the first week in March. Edit. I will say that I'd trust Dummett at LB and Manquillo at RB to do a job for us for the Villa game, but it becomes a bit more difficult if Dummett is going to be out for an extended period of time. Now that I'm thinking though Burn can play LB so we likely won't have to rely on Ritchie to fill in.

Apparently Trippier had a slight calf issue which is why he came off. Hopefully it is slight and it was just Trippier being sensible that late in the game and coming off as a precaution.

Monkey hands Keys talking before this round of matches. He really hasn't got a fucking clue has he 😂 What else did we learn in the PL break? Well - that Newcastle are still in big trouble, that’s for sure. Their spend in January was interesting I mentioned Wood in the last blog. He’s a solid citizen. Trippier is too, although he’s not going to win you many games. Dan Burn? Underwhelming. So was the addition of Targett. Guimaraes is the wrong man, at the wrong time, at the wrong club for me. Is he really going to dig them out of trouble? I don’t think so. He’s got quality that’s for sure - but he might just be ‘new’ Dmitri Payet. You can see why Newcastle bought him. They just had to land a big one (big-ish) to prove they could, but they came up well short. They were nowhere near the ones they really wanted. All the money on the world doesn’t guarantee success. I don’t see enough goals in them to survive. I was texting a Geordie legend on another matter this week and he agreed - although he mis-understood my question - which was ‘do you think they’ve got enough to come straight back up?’ 🤷‍♂️😂. Another problem which has emerged for the Toon is that two of the other strugglers are going to give it a right go. Norwich are finding some form under Dean Smith - whose been the course before - and Roy Hodgson will get a tune out of Watford. What a great start - their first PL clean sheet in two years and six managers - at Burnley! Hodgson will have been delighted with the result. Yep - if Newcastle are going to stay up they’ve got it all on. I can’t wait for the game against Everton this week. What a difference in the attitude and atmosphere around Goodison for the tie against Brentford. It was as if a stiff breeze off the Mersey had blown the stench of the Benitez era away. I’ve spoken to people who suffered the pain of the Spaniards time with Everton. Three words keep coming up - distanced, difficult and destructive. Three ‘d’s. Here’s another - dunce. Good luck Frank. It’s great to have you back in business. Taking Paul Clement is a smart move. Listen to him talk on KeysandGray The Podcast @keysandGraypod. He’s worked with the very best all over Europe. He’s a smart guy. I’m not suggesting it’s going to be easy for them - quite the opposite - but it was a great start and I think they’ll win at Newcastle this week. Everybody at Goodison looked refreshed.

Joleon Lescott, action man who's been left too near the fire, reckons if ASM looked up more often than he does and played the sensible ball he wouldn't be at Newcastle, he'd be at one of the top European sides. In fairness we can probably all agree on that.

Bruno easily could have created a goal for himself with that ball he played to ASM. Had ASM pulled it back Bruno had bust a gut to get into the box. It also has to be said that it looks like from the replay of Trippier's goal, that Pickford got Gordon to leave a gap in the wall which Trippier duly smashed the ball around. The twat was likely trying to be clever and invite Trippier to try through that gap 😂