Tottenham 0-1 Newcastle: Outstanding display earns Bruce crucial win

What a performance! What a win!

An improved display felt absolutely essential after last week’s collapse at Carrow Road and it well and truly arrived here.

Not only did we work tirelessly, defend outstandingly and show real discipline and desire, the players that needed to step up really did, with Joelinton silencing the critics with a well taken goal and impressive all round display.

It was a stunning return to how to defend, with us hunting in groups and looking supremely organised in every department, limiting a talented Spurs side to few chances and starving Harry Kane of service. A defensive display Rafa Benitez would’ve been proud of and a result he would’ve been praised for had he pulled it off. Credit to Bruce where it’s due – that was superb and MUCH more like it.

The return to 3-4-3 worked a treat as it did last season. The three centre-backs didn’t put a foot wrong, Ritchie and Krafth put in huge shifts and remained disciplined all day at full-back. Longstaff and Hayden were superb in midfield, Joelinton and Almiron much improved in attack and Christian Atsu also put in a huge shift, creating the goals and doing a great job defensively.

The way we pressed was a far cry from the debacle at Carrow Road and I’m man enough to admit, if I hammer Bruce for losing at Norwich then I have to praise him for winning at Spurs.

A monumental win and the perfect pick up ahead of our midweek Carabao cup clash with Leicester and next weekend’s crucial game against Watford at St James’ Park.

Howay the lads!

(Fancy writing for us? Get in touch at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

145 thoughts on “Tottenham 0-1 Newcastle: Outstanding display earns Bruce crucial win

  1. The one thing better than a toon win away to Spurs, is being sat in an all inclusive bar with a bunch of Spurs fans twisting and possession and VAR ?. Dry ya tears you cockney, jelly eel eating bell ends – the score is all that matters ?

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  2. Spurs had 2 shots on target – one scuffed, the other a relatively routine push away by Dubravka. I am sure we will hear the usual moan about bus parking. Did anybody watch Spurs/Man City? 3 shots to 30 and Spurs hardly got out of their own half. We now have the same number of points as Norwich and yet they are great and we are ****.

    Hopefully Bruce will bin that 3 centre-mids from now on. That, more than anything is what got us spanked at Norwich.

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  3. Sort of interesting that everybody, EVERYBODY, on here said to not play the 3 centre mids. We knew they would get in each others’ way. I thought Longstaff started slowly today but has to play if he is to regain match fitness. Rest him for Leicester, then he has 2 weeks after Watford. Gayle should be fit after that as well. And probably St Max, so for once the International Break might come at a good time.

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  4. Dummett was outstanding today – 3 at the back really suits him I think. Lascelles and Schar were very good too.

    I thought Joelinton showed he’s better with players around him – good play for the Longstaff chance in the first half and excellent movement and finish for his goal.
    But I think we need Gayle alongside him. He’s not going to break his neck to get into the box where Gayle will.

    I’m really struggling with Almiron though. Can’t fault his enthusiasm, but he’s like an 8yr old kid. He gets the ball and just runs. He never looks like he has a clue what he wants to do with it – he has no link up play with any team mate at the moment and that a real shame and problem I think. He should be a danger player for us, but I’d love to see his stats for completed passes, key passes and chances created – I bet they are low.

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  5. Lejeune is also back with the squad doing light training. My guess is another 6 weeks based on his last, similar, injury. So, middle of November we should have plenty of defenders to choose from.

    Lascelles bounced back well today, but that was still a 50/50 penalty. I would keep him on a short leash, especially as we will have plenty of alternatives soon.

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  6. Sharpy: that deflected Almiron shot was headed for the top corner. He will come good when he stops trying to do it all by himself. He was good at Copa America and good for Rafa.

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  7. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: that deflected Almiron shot was headed for the top corner. He will come good when he stops trying to do it all by himself. He was good at Copa America and good for Rafa.

    Eric – I’m not writing him off mate, just saying he’s frustrating as well at the moment.

    To follow your point – when all fit and available, I’d like to see this team –

    ——————- Dubravka—————-
    – Schar —- Lascelles —- Dummett –
    Yedlin ———————————- Ritchie
    —— Longstaff ———— Hayden ——-
    ———-——— Almiron ———————-
    ——- Joelinton———— Gayle ———

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  8. Sharpy, frustrating, yep that’s the word i used about Miggy when watching the game.
    He needs to get his head up, he’s running with his head down too much, desperate for him to get a goal .

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  9. Just read Olly’s player ratings. Yes, we were excellent in defense but to get the 8-9-10s that Olly gives out I think we would have to be much more of a threat going forward. That said, we probably had the 3 best chances in the game – the goal, Longstaff’s shot that was tipped by Lloris and Almiron’s deflected shot.

    They had 80% possession and hardly had a sniff of goal.

    A true Rafa (I mean Bruce) masterclass.

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  10. Say one thing for Miggy though, he did some cracking defensive work cutting out a few crosses today. He’s like the duracell bunny, up and down the pitch all game, helluva engine like.

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  11. Well, Bruce has 7 games in hand to equal Rafa’s start of last season!!!

    Yeah, I know I am banging that drum a bit hard but at the start of this season I read the comments on a couple of blogs and the Chronicle comments sections and they had written Bruce off before our first game. I wouldn’t quite say it got to the point of hatred but there was so much bile. I stopped reading them about 10 days ago. They are poison.

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  12. Kimtoon: So, Stuart won 1,320 on a 20 quid bet. Yep, the money really does go to those that don’t need it 🙂

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  13. Looked at the PL table:

    We are second bottom on 3 points.

    We are 1 point off Man U in 5th who have 4 points

    Relegation 6 pointer next week with Watford who are bottom on 0 points 🙂

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  14. I’m in the Ivy at the moment but I really can’t remember how we played. I don’t think it was an attacking display and who will there but here’s hoping it takes us on a bit for future…

    Well done everyone involved

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  15. NUFC Index

    @NUFC_Index
    Follow Follow @NUFC_Index
    More
    Pass success rates v Spurs:

    Dummett 9/13 69%
    Lascelles 7/9 78%
    Ritchie 22/27 81%
    Schar 13/17 76%
    Krafth 11/16 69%
    Longstaff 7/13 54%
    Hayden 10/12 83%
    Atsu 19/24 79%
    Almiron 11/15 73%
    Joelinton 22/23 96%

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  16. Sharpy17
    August 26, 2019 at 09:23
    Mike Dean and VAR being told to f@ck off in a c0ckney accent is funny to hear though.

    FACK OFF, isn’t it, that’s how it sounds.

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  17. KIMTOON:
    Say one thing for Miggy though, he did some cracking defensive work cutting out a few crosses today.He’s like the duracell bunny, up and down the pitch all game, helluva engine like.

    People have criticised Bruce for concentrating on fitness. Yesterday I think fitness paid off. I have got used to us falling apart in the last 15 minutes. Against Spurs the defence looked organised to the very end. Not convinced by our RB though. He gave Rose too much freedom and had Yedlin’s fault of drifting to the centre leaving the wing uncovered. As Manquillo was playing his best since arriving I cannot understand why he was dropped.

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  18. Groucho, agree mate Manquillo is a solid defender, i know he doesn’t have Yedlins pace but Yedlin always makes me nervous defensively, he’d be a better winger imo. Not convinced by Krafth at all so far, perhaps he just needs more time . He was ok yesterday, better than his last outing anyhow.

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  19. It was a big improvement from Kraft but he never crossed the halfway line. For that system to work fully the fullbacks have to push on.
    Having said that, the selection, formation and tactics were straight out of the Benitez text book. See Mr Bruce – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! All he or Rafa needed was a couple of upgrades player wise. Joelinton’s display was so reminiscent of Rondon but we still need to replace Perez’s goals and a better wing back than Ritchie. It’s possible ASM and Willems are that but I doubt it.
    Definitely a spirit raising win.

    Wonder if Bruce does read this blog? No Shelvey – thanks Steve.

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  20. Good win with a well worked goal, for which players/ manager deserve plaudits .. no problems with a manager who builds on foundations set by a better craftsman .. just complement it if possible

    Media view is usual patronising / spite .. this time with the twist of plucky team overcoming odds .. wonder if bruce will be criticised by the cockeyed critics for following similar tactics to his predecessor ?

    Must admit I’ll take a well organised aggressive defensive display playing on the counterattack as an approach as the best option under current ownership.

    Need to consolidate with a win against one of the lower / mid table rivals when playing watford next week otherwise this victory becomes moot.

    Will enjoy my Wednesday morning working with spurs fans when I’m next in .. altho they are depressingly rational in my experience, despite perceptions

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  21. KIMTOON:
    Sharpy17
    August 26, 2019 at 09:23
    Mike Dean and VAR being told to f@ck off in a c0ckney accent is funny to hear though.

    FACK OFF,isn’t it, that’s how it sounds.

    Kim – that’s exactly it ?. They really are a bunch of sore losers though.
    I tried to cheer them up by saying it’s the nicest stadium we’ve ever won in – but it didn’t seem to help ??‍♂️

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  22. Sharpy, we were expected to roll over, don’t think Spurs expected a fight, i know i didn’t.

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  23. West Ham have their friends in the media but Spurs are the real darlings despite only winning a League Cup in the last 30 years. In his match report this was part of the patronizing lead-in from Iam Ladyman at The Mail:

    “a home defeat by Newcastle…nobody could have foreseen such a shock…Poch will have a reason to ponder after this”

    I know we had lost the last 12 against the top 6 but Spurs lost 13 games in the PL last season. Charlie Nicholas had us for a 4-0 loss. Olly had 3-0 🙂 I predicted 0-0.

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  24. I agree with georgio that Joelinton looked exactly like Rondo yesterday. He held the ball up and laid the ball off. He was advertised as someone who would take a player on but we don’t need that from him at the moment. He can leave that to Miggy, St Max and Atsu and let Gayle play on the Centre Backs’ shoulders.

    I think there is a glimmer of hope and that comes from Bruce not sticking rigidly to his 3 centre mids. Every team is playing the bloody high press which makes Shelvey a contradiction. He is the player most likely to beat it with his speed of thought and accuracy, but he is also the player most likely to get caught on the ball or miss a tackle.

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  25. I think Bruce has a dilemma and is on a hiding to nothing with team selection on Wednesday. He said we would target the Cups but there is only a 3 day turnaround. Atsu was cramping up and Joelinton was out on his feet. Longstaff also admitted he is still coming back from his injury so it would be mad to play him 3 times in 7 days. Lascelles took a knock and St Max is out. So who? And will Bruce get stick for a weakened team? And we have other injuries.

    Darlow

    Manquillo Clark Fernandez Willem

    Shelvey Ki Matty Longstaff

    Ritchie Muto Miggy

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  26. Decent pick there Eric. I’m not sure, but is it possible Aarons could play? He’s not in the PL squad but cup ties? If he can I’d start him and rest Miggy.

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  27. I might be inclined to start Dummett as Captain and for continuity. I think he should be club Captain anyway. I have never understood the fans that give him stick. He has always been a good defender and their complaint was that he was not a wing-back. He should patent that sliding tackle on left touchline when he plays as a fullback. He does it 2 or 3 times a game.

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  28. And Dummett asked not to be picked for Wales during the International Break. He said it was so he could concentrate on NUFC. I think it is more he is sick of going off to Wales training and then not being picked. That is pretty ridiculous really when you consider their options at full back and centre back. Giggs probably wants to play wingbacks where they have a couple of young speedsters.

    I still think it is insane that a team with as few options as Wales can ignore Dummett. He was one of the first names on the teamsheet for Rafa and Giggs might want to consider why.

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  29. Until yesterday I was reading comments in the Chronic and other blogs saying Dummett is ****. What games do they watch?

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  30. Eric, Dummett is very good, like you i don’t understand the bad comments he’s had at times.

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  31. Nearly finished spending my winnings! No flights home till 2100 so had to spend all day in London – drinking and celebrating.! Hahaha!

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  32. Was thinking about yesterday’s game and although it was a good win, I think Spurs have overachieved in the past 3 seasons. The usual suspects have had dire teams compared to what they had only a few years ago – Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U.

    Spurs finished top 4 almost by default. They were also incredibly lucky to make the CL final.

    Look at yesterday’s starting 11. Would any of these even make the bench at Man City or Liverpool?

    Lloris
    Walker Peters
    Sanchez
    Rose
    Sissoko
    Winks
    Lamela

    They, Poch, Levy, their stadium, Kane are the media darlings – but for how much longer? That $1 Billion stadium needs CL football and ****, Chelsea and Man U won’t stay bad forever.

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  33. Along with deluded what do the media always accuse NUFC fans of being? ENTITLED. The press coverage yesterday showed the media and Spurs fans as being the biggest entitled fans out there now. They have a decent team but got lucky with Kane coming through and a couple of signings. Erikson is in the last year of his contract, Alli has regressed and they rely too much on Son and Kane. Lucas Moura scored a wonder hattrick against Ajax but if I had to name the top 20 forwards in the PL week in, week out he might just sneak in at number 19.

    City had 30 shots to their 3. We actually had more shots on target than them 3 to 2.

    I am sort of hoping the media darlings slip up. I never really had much against them but the continual w@nk fest about the stadium and Daniel Levy’s negotiating skills has turned me against them. Add in Kane being a dirty ****** and the Refs always turning a blind eye and I have had enough.

    And that is without that fcking song – when the Spurs go marching in.

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  34. Eric Sykes:
    West Ham have their friends in the media but Spurs are the real darlings despite only winning a League Cup in the last 30 years. In his match report this was part of the patronizing lead-in from Iam Ladyman at The Mail:

    “a home defeat by Newcastle…nobody could have foreseen such a shock…Poch will have a reason to ponder after this”

    I know we had lost the last 12 against the top 6 but Spurs lost 13 games in the PL last season. Charlie Nicholas had us for a 4-0 loss. Olly had 3-0 I predicted 0-0.

    Some of us predicted a win, Eric… ?

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  35. Thought a bit more about Lloris. With the mistakes he has made for Spurs AND France, Pep would have him out of Citeh faster than you could say Joe Hart.

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  36. Funny how yet again we seem to have 5 or 6 injuries when it comes to a cup game… I think we are past peak coincidence aren’t we…

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  37. So Harry Kane is still moaning about not getting a penalty. He should try playing for NUFC where we get about 1 penalty a year.

    It seems obvious now that there is a really high bar for VAR and penalties where the Ref initially doesn’t give it. That’s probably good as there would be a penalty for shirt pulling at every corner.

    The accidental handball rule is still ridiculous but letting VAR deal with offsides and red cards is probably a good thing.

    I would say the Kane “penalty” was probably 60/40. The retired Refs couldn’t agree and VAR went with the initial call. I told you Spurs players and fans are all entitled now. But what about that stadium, eh.

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  38. So Miggy is injured. That probably means Aarons. I think he can play even though he does not have a PL shirt number. With the other injuries I am going with that change to the team I said earlier, so:

    Darlow

    Manqillo Clark Fenandez Willem

    Shelvey Matty Longstaff Ki

    Ritchie Muto Aarons

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  39. So Spurs “legend” Paul Merson says Spurs are out of the title race. He said he was certain they would finish top 3 before the season started and now he is unsure of top 4. Did he look at the squad? They have overachieved. I noted the players I didn’t even think would get in the Citeh or Liverpool benches earlier. Bit 3 of their better players are unsettled – Vertongen, Alderweldereid and Erikson.

    It is quite funny that this mini-crisis has come about because the entitled tw@ts failed to beat the lame duck Magpies who everybody has as certs for relegation. They are a Harry Kane injury away from 7th.

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  40. There has been a cozy consensus for the past couple of years that the current top 6 will always be the top 6 for ever more. Whenever this happens it is inevitable that something will change – that’s just the way it works. I expect either Spurs or Man U to fall out of the top 6 this year. Not sure who will replace them but this consensus is too cozy to go on.

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  41. Staying with Spurs, because the sense of entitlement from fans and media alike sort of pissed me off this weekend. They lost 13 PL games last year FFS.

    I think they have the worst squad of the current top 6 considering Vertongen is 32 and Alderweldereid and Erikson want away. I even think Man U have a better squad, although like NUFC, it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from with them.

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  42. My brother lives in Thailand and he had some of his girfriend’s relatives there when I visited a couple of years ago. Barry is a 50 year old Spurs fan, Landan born and bred. He was there for 2 weeks and his entire wardrobe consisted of Spurs tops – current, retro, 3rd team. All c@ckerel all the time. During the day he would even wear Spurs shorts so you had this grown **** man wandering around town and the beach every day in full Spurs kit. I thought that was a bit lame.

    It was January, I think Spurs were 3rd in the PL, and they were showing a Spurs game live at about 10pm. About 10 of us went to the pub to watch the game. Barry couldn’t watch. What a fan! Spurs went 3 nil up and I am like Barry, Barry what are you doing, you’re supposed to be a supporter and you are 3 nil up. Suddenly it is all “when the Spurs go marching in” and songs about German Bombers.

    I will always remember him as the epitome of an entitled fan.

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  43. I read the reports of Sunday’s game as well. Everybody agreed that the only noise in that new super-duper stadium was coming from The NUFC fans. There were comparisons to the Arsenal library. There was also mention that the 17,000 end that was modelled after the Dortmund yellow and black wall will need a bit more atmosphere to compare. You just can’t build thing and your fans remain mute because you are having trouble against a lower half team.

    See, I even know the capacity of the new wall of sound end it has been talked about so much. I have never seen this before – where a ground has been given so much publicity.

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  44. Spurs rant over. I was just getting a bit p!ssed off with the love-in with everything Spurs over the last few years. At least they have kept up their recent form of falling at the last hurdle. I don’t think they have a chance of winning anything this year either. Remember, it took a miracle for them to get to the CL group stage last year but the pundits soon forget in their rush to praise Poch, Levy and Kane.

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  45. Poch is gone anyway. His stock will still be high enough after this year’s drop off to go to Man U. Maybe even Real Madrid unless they win the CL. Zidane will probably walk if he doesn’t get his shiny new Pogba toy and Perez will take the gamble on Poch as he can always sack him like he has numerous others.

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  46. It’ a pity we played Norwich 2nd game. There is always a team that surprises by playing a different style when they first come up, even after few signings. Huddersfield did it. Then, after a while, they get sussed. I am about 50/50 now on them being relegated and we play them Feb 1. I think we will win that one as even if we are struggling they will be too and there is another transfer window.

    It is just that after 1 bad loss to a promoted team we were being written off by everybody. That is about as daft as assuming we are safe because we beat Spurs.

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  47. And Pukki has 5 goals after 3 games. That wont last. I think Mitro had like 7 after 10 and then got 9 for the whole season.

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  48. Eric Sykes:
    Just read Olly’s player ratings. Yes, we were excellent in defense but to get the 8-9-10s that Olly gives out I think we would have to be much more of a threat going forward. That said, we probably had the 3 best chances in the game – the goal, Longstaff’s shot that was tipped by Lloris and Almiron’s deflected shot.

    They had 80% possession and hardly had a sniff of goal.

    A true Rafa (I mean Bruce) masterclass.

    Don’t think those marks were too high in fairness. Defenders barely put a foot wrong and limited them to so few shots and kept Harry Kane so quiet. Dummett was faultless, hence the 10.

    As for Joelinton, there’s not much else he could’ve done. Not only scored the winnger and took it very well, but held the ball, was a real handful, linked the play and ran himself into the ground.

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  49. Olly: I didn’t hammer you about the ratings. However, where do you go from 9 and 10s in a win where the other team had 80% possession? If by some miracle we beat a team 5-0 are you going to go all Spinal Tap on us and give out 11s?

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  50. The Spurs rant was more about how fickle fans are. They are 3 games removed from the CL final and look at their comments in The Mag. They were treating us as mid-table Championship and said so, assuming the win. Then they flipped after the match and were questioning their Manager who was a God before the match. Same with us. Bruce could not manage a Sunday League team according to some before Sunday.

    It is very hard to stay level headed but I try not to call people clowns unless it is completely obvious and deserved like Ugly John Carver.

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  51. There were many on Blogs and The Chronic who were forecasting zero points in our 1st 10 games. Some even seem(ed) happy when we lose as it plays into their agenda that Bruce is **** and all the new signings are **** and a boycott is the only way.

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  52. If our uninjured/second team get beat by Leicester’s 2nd team tomorrow it will be back to the doom and gloom again. We have a whole team out injured but the narrative will be that Leicester have better reserves and that is unacceptable.

    Leicester have done a good job reinvesting the 200 million from McGuire, Drinkwater, Mahrez and Kante. They also did not get relegated and had a year in the CL. It is hardly a fair comparison at this point in time.

    I agree that we SHOULD be better than Leicester and that is partly Ashley’s fault but also partly Leicester’s good management and some luck.

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  53. Nat Lofthouse will be spinning in his grave with the goings on at Bolton and then there is Bury too ofcourse. They both look doomed, sad days for English football and something tells me they won’t be the last either. 🙁

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  54. Know someone who went to the club shop today for a strip for a kid with his name on. It’s barely believable but they had no M, no I or no A’s ffs! How does this club function?

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  55. Stuart: most of the injuries and saving players extra stress are genuine this time. We know that Atsu and Longstaff are coming back from long-term injuries. Then St Max and and Lejuene were taken off on Sunday. That only leaves Miggy and Schar who could be said to have “fortuitous” injuries.

    Clark and Fernandez are cover for Schar so I doubt he would have played anyway.

    You don’t want to burn Miggy out with all of the running he does. I would have had him on the bench. He’s probably off to Panama as well so will get no rest.

    I would agree with the conspiracy theory normally, because it has been true 🙂 Not this time.

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  56. Maybe all the M , I, and A letters have been used on the shirts of the Almiron and Saint Maximin fans.

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  57. Read the article on here about Chopra and it seems like he is trying to set himself up as some sort of “In the Know”, a fans spokesman. Bruce made a mistake of giving him the oxygen of publicity. Nobody outside of NUFC even knows who he is. It is this unfortunate development of having so many media outlets and so much social media that even the most minor of celebrities/players now has their 15 minutes of say/fame. Chopra is on a lower rung than the likes of Robbie Savage, or over here Robbie Mustow, are even above. Mustow is OK but a journeyman ex-Boro player is hardly likely to be the 1st I would ask for opinion on the PL and nether is Chopra.

    I am sort of being snobby-elitist a bit and maybe even contradictory in saying you had to be a good player to be a pundit, but that is usually the way it works. Jermaine Jenas excepted of course.

    I don’t believe that really, it is just that the media want NAMES. I do think that if you are the lower rungs you have to out-controversial everybody else to get noticed/heard.

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  58. Its sort of a Richard Keys syndrome with Chopra. He has to say something controversial to be noticed. Keys is stuck in Dubai and still thinks he is relevant. His show is populated by has-beens and never weres. He has/had a vendetta against Rafa and gets his name out there again by defending Ashley and rubbishing Rafa.

    Better than interviewing the Mirror’s Arsenal lackey, John Cross. for 15 minutes each show, talking to non-league chairman, the goalie who ate the pie before a game, and a start up company who were reviving a boot from 25 years ago (predator I think it was {I have a good memory} and who have probably gone bust by now).

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  59. sidekick:
    Maybe all the M , I, and A letters have been used on the shirts of theAlmiron and Saint Maximin fans.

    Quite possibly. But isn’t it normal to order new stock before you run out?

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