Craig

Nice one Renton - must be really welcome to know that's one less thing to worry about.

The mere fact he couldn't get back to his feet for ages confirmed to me he'd likely cracked a rib at the very least - possibly even the ribcage given the height of it. For him to accept he was unable to continue was one thing, for him to do it in his first tyne-wear derby was another. Last thing he'd want to do was leave the pitch.

They might not have improved to the same degree as those listed further up, but each one of them definitely improved on what they were prior to working with Howe. Too early to throw any of those we obtained in the summer under the bus though. Gen-Z mindset - expecting almost instant results.

I know a Mackem called Keith. However he can barely work out how to switch a TV on let alone mod a forum so I'm fairly confident it isn't him.

$5bn?! And there'll be daft right-wing cunts in this country oblivious to the fact he's effectively making a claim against the UK economy.

Have a feeling this one might go the distance and be settled on pens. Can't call it.

Has Keith posted that in response to now, or yesterday? Fucking weapon

The talk is understandably about Xhaka in terms of leadership, but it's not just him. Ballard embodies everything they're standing for at the moment and is rightly called out as a massive benefit to them and undoubtedly a leader.

I never doubted it for one second.

All hail CT, the 'anti-Gemmill'! If that's your idea of victory sunshine, it's a horrendously hollow one.

As I said to one of the ones I work with today, they didn't beat us ... we beat ourselves.

It's fucking atrocious that he finds it appropriate to denigrate a successful Hollywood director in the wake of his violent death simply on the grounds that he dared to question Trump. Free speech really isn't a think in the US any more is it?

... and the set piece coach truly does need binning off. We used to be so effective from them. WTF has gone wrong there?!

The jury is still out for me, but I do wonder if he lacks the dynamism to quickly recognise when something is no longer working, or his opponents have worked him out. Feels rotten to say it given how he played Slot like a fiddle for the Carabao final but there's been one too many times this season that he's put of the same game plan that quite clearly isn't working.

I get the dilemma of this. In the ideal world I'd want us to go as far as we can in every competition we enter, but realism determines we're not going to win them all so there is a need to define priority. For me it's 1. Qualify for Europe (preferrably CL) 2. Go as far as well can in this season's CL (to boost our UEFA Coefficient) 3. FA Cup 4. Carabao Cup.

I do think there are some within the squad who have hit their saturation point. We always said that the squad he would initially bring in would be to start the journey and be interim. That group of players undoubtedly outperformed expectation and the impact of that is our expectations have been naturally elevated as a result.

The truly tragic point is that pre-President Trump, the notion of POTUS saying anything but pleasantries about someone in death would be deemed a heinous act that would command all the leads. These days, it's almost expected of the orange buffoon. He's not just making himself, but also the office he represents an absolute joke. Perhaps that's his bigger goal - to dispense with mainstream democratic politics at the expense of autocratic, capitalistic, business leaders. What a sorry, sorry mess.

Not giving him a free pass - he's got a level of responsibility for this as well, but if he's not articulating the fuck ups above have in no way helped the situation, he's falling short. He shouldn't have had to be filling in for DoF, and whilst he has responsibility for what has been signed, the fact he's had to have that is on others, not him - coaching is his area of expertise.

On the contrary I'm convinced he's well within the bounds of his own faculties and is just a cunt. I also think he will use every and all opportunities, however distasteful, to detract from the fact he has to release those files imminently.

Trump proving he is always available to out-cunt himself

There's not many of us who reflected on our approach to the summer as being anything but calamitous - though some did try to see positives in the transfer business being 'net improvements'. Didn't detract from the reality that there's seldom been a less well prepared summer (the year we got rid of Robson probably eclipses it) so the outcome shouldn't really be a surprise to us. What it needs to do is serve as a wake up call to those running the club that it cannot happen again. There's a need for Howe to be having some difficult conversations behind closed doors, articulating he can only work with what's in front of him.

Few points on this: 1. Is this opposed to daisy-cutting headers. 2. He certainly won one within 60 seconds of the restart. 3. His goals against Wolves & Arsenal suggest otherwise.

We exited the summer transfer window 'ill prepared' for an assault on 4 fronts. I don't hold any one individual solely responsible for that, but I also absolve no one of blame either. So many factors at play that worked against us in that regard.

I think Ramsey will come good. He's definitely potential

Livramento probably had his worst game for us. Tonali seems knackered and I wonder if given the enormity of the game, Miley should have come from the bench. Biggest issues were the wings though - completely ineffective and the fact they both ran the ball out of play summed it up for me. This game was prime for Gordon & Elanga getting in behind their man - neither of them seemed to have it in their locker though.