Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool: 2019/20 ends in defeat despite 26-second goal

A flat end to 2019/20, despite us taking the lead after just 26 seconds, with Liverpool coming away convincing 3-1 winners in the end.

The result means we finish the season in 13th, being 10 clear of the drop zone, the same distance from the top 10 and 15 shy of the European places on a day where Villa stayed up and Bournemouth and Watford suffered relegation to the second tier.

Back to the game itself, Bruce made one change, with Valentino Lazaro earning a rare start and replacing the injured Emil Krafth. This saw Rose and Manquillo play either side of Fernandez in a five-man defence, with Ritchie and Lazaro in at wing-back, Almiron part of a three-man midfield and ASM up top along with Gayle against a much changed Liverpool side who handed rests to Salah, Mane and Alexander Arnold.

The game started with a bang and the quickest goal of the season. After Saint-Maximin was cynically tripped by Virgil Van Dijk, Shelvey’s quick free kick put Dwight Gayle in behind – and he slotted past Alisson for his 4th goal since football returned.

A length VAR checked followed to see if he Liverpool youngster Nico Williams really was playing him on or not, but the goal was eventually given. Just 26 seconds in against the Champions of Europe and we were 1-0 up!

Liverpool then responded with a 20-minute spell of possession (the stats said they had 83% at this point!), yet they never threatened Dubravka until a brilliant effort from Minamino was superbly tipped around the post from the Slovakian, proving once again why he was officially named our player of the season earlier today!

Five minutes before the break, the Champions drew level.

Oxlaide-Chamberlain went past Rose all too easily and his cross was met by Van Dijk, whose looped header gave a sprawling Dubravka no chance this time around:

Poor defending but it had been coming. Half time and we went in at 1-1.

We’d been disciplined in general and tried to commit the odd body forward on the rare occasion we got the chance to counter, but it felt like this was only going to go one way if we continued to sit so deep and invite pressure.

Saint-Maximin made way at the break – a surprise move given he was our biggest outlet on the break but one that at least protects him for next season – and on came Joelinton, ensuring the Brazilian has played a part in all 38 of our league games this season.

The game continued from where it left off, with Liverpool having all the ball and looking the more likely without battering the door down. Another NUFC change then came when Bentaleb went down for a second time and limped off, allowing Sean Longstaff to make his first appearance since pulling his hamstring in our 4-1 win at Bournemouth.

As we all feared, Liverpool would eventually find another if we sat off, gave them too much of the ball and didn’t give them something to think about at the other end, and that arrived via Divock Origi, with Robertson’s simple cut back being smashed home from range from the Belgian international:

To add to our woe, Klopp then brought on the three amigos, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino and it didn’t take long for them to make an impact as Salah smashed the post with his second touch.

Another change then arrived, this time for our dugout, with Carroll coming on against his former club in Gayle’s place and Hayden on for Almiron. Hardly the most inspiring subs in a game we were chasing.

Some brilliant play soon followed, although it was at the wrong end of the pitch, with Federico Fernandez summing up his rock solid season with a heroic last-ditch block to deny Mo Salah his 20th of the season.

On the subject of defenders, Kelland Watts was then handed a moment to remember and Premier League debut, replacing Rose with 20 minutes to play. A baptism of fire for the 20-year-old Geordie now all of Liverpool’s big guns were on the field and looking eager to end their season on a high with a few more goals!

On the subject of Liverpool attackers looking for goals, the afternoon’s scoring was then rounded up by Sadio Mane. Another brilliant finish from the left-hand side that Dubravka could do little about after he skipped past Lazaro and let fly:

1-3 and a deserved win for the Champions, although it was disappointing the way we sat off and accepted our fate from the moment we scored onwards, with us only having one other shot on target following Gayle’s early strike.

So, that’s it for ‘2019/20’, but it won’t be long until we’re back (the new season will begin in just SEVEN weeks), making a final decision on this tedious takeover saga all the more important – especially when we’re entering tomorrow’s opening of the summer transfer window in limbo.

(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.

49 thoughts on “Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool: 2019/20 ends in defeat despite 26-second goal

  1. Looking forward to Olly’s ratings. Hope they are realistic, unlike a certain Lee Ryder.

    Bentelab gets a 6. Was he even on the pitch? If you just put a traffic cone in the centre circle it would have more influence on the game than Nabile. Send him back to Shalke.

    And, Joelinton got a 5. Come on. Misplaced passes and layoffs and let Van Dyk pick his pocket when through on goal.

    Carroll, 5. Makes carthorses look fast nowadays.

    Rose, 6. He still has a year on his Spurs contract and says he will sit on it and collect his wages. Good luck with Jose on that one. Even on a free I wouldnt take him.

    It is good to be “glass half full” but what game was Ryder watching?

    I thought the rest of our players did OK and deserved 6s and 7s. But you will never get anywhere if a quarter of the team or more are a bunch of donkeys.

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  2. I would take the risk on Lazano but not for the amount Inter were asking. Let his option expire and then offer them 10 million. Just because they paid 20 million for him doesnt mean they can expect their money back. He has obviously failed there and a 20 million pound player must be on decent money so they could want that off their books.

    I think he has shown enough in his limited time to say he is PL quality. I thought he played well today, some clever touches. He had the one brain fart of letting Mane cut inside but then again he is not really a defender is he.

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  3. Louise Taylor in The Guardian said that the Saudis have hired the former Chancellor Phillip Hammond as a consultant and she thinks it might help the takeover. She didnt say whether it was the PIF or the Prince but these MPs and Journos portray them as the same thing anyway.

    Maybe he can get some of his former colleagues to stick a rocket up the PL’s ****.

    What the hell does our club have to do with MPs from the middle of nowhere who have probably never been to Newcastle? There’s the one from the Hebrides with the smallest constituency in the UK. You could fit them all into SJP and then still have enough room to fit the whole of Hartlepool and Darlington supporters as well.

    I have been to the Hebrides and it is the middle of nowhere. That’s the reason I went, because it is so remote and stark and I wanted to take a few photographs. On one of the island they have an airplane landing strip. It is the beach FFS. I am not kidding. They have to cancel the flights for many days a year.

    And this yahoo is telling us what to think!!!

    He’s on some trade commission and instead of doing his job to try to block Saudi trade if that is his opinion he is sticking it into our business just for the publicity. Where was he when Bin Salmon had a State visit with the Queen?

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  4. Regarding the site issues, I’ve spoken to Andy (owner) today and he explained that the agency that hosts the site are being very slow to fix the problem so he’s now hiring a freelancer tech expert this week to sort the problem.

    I know it’s frustrating, but I don’t know why Sharpy felt the need to comment on me ‘churning out 5 articles on Saturday’ without a fix for the blog. I can not control that side of matters, I’m just pushing for answers and an update, so I really don’t know what me doing my side of the job and producing content for readers has to do with any of this.

    Anyway, there should be a fix this week.

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  5. So Keys is piping up again saying the Saudi deal is off. He said it was done 2 Fridays ago. You might think he doesnt know what the F he is talking about. If you ever watch his show you would KNOW he doesnt know what he is talking about. Possibly the worst football show ever as long as you dont could Super Saturday. Nothing could be worse that seeing Charlie Nicholas and Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Heed describe a game that you cannot see yourself.

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  6. kimtoon:
    Here’s hoping Olly.
    Thanks for the update.

    Eric, i wouldn’t read too much into phillip Hammondand the Saudi’s mate. It’s nowt to do with takeover. It’s to advice the Saudi finance minister over the upcoming G20 summit in November.
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/philip-hammond-becomes-saudi-advisor

    Nowt to do with takeover.

    Kimtoon: it was in Louise Taylor’s match report otherwise I wouldnt know anything about it. She made the connection, but she is a Mackem so what does she know 🙂 A few years ago her reports were very biased against NUFC but since Sunderland and Boro have gone into the toilet she now realises that the only NE team anybody takes notice of is NUFC so she has eased up a bit. If she relied on the other 2 to generate clicks she would be out of a job.

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  7. I just read The Spectator article. Didnt realise Saudis currently hold the Presidency of the G20. I knew they were hosting the meeting in November. How can anybody say they are not fit to own NUFC when the whole world gives their implicit approval of the regime and the country. This approval comes from all over the world.

    Members of the G20 include UK, US, China, Russia, Japan, Canada, Australia, France, Brazil.

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  8. I usually think Olly’s ratings are relatively accurate but he didnt give anybody below a 5 today. I said on the last thread that a few of our players deserved 2 or 3. The Mag run a feature where they ask their readers for their ratings and put up averages for each player. Bentaleb got a 2.9, Joelinton got a 2.7 and Carroll a 3.1. I would say these are closer to the truth.

    As regards Ryders grades. I never think he watched same game as me.

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  9. I watched a re-run of Man U and Chelsea and realised that there is a bigger flop than even Joelinton. Kepa. I think he cost 78 million, a world record for a goalie. He was absolutely terrible and watched at least 2 of the goals rooted to the spot as they flew by him. He didn’t even do a Joe Hart and dive meaninglessly with having no chance of getting there. The stats bear this out as well as he has the lowest % of shots saved in the PL. Small mercies, eh.

    Chelsea are building a formidable attacking team but wont challenge for the PL until they get rid of Kepa a get a few defenders. They are in the Joelinton conundrum though because he has looked so bad that I doubt they could even get 20 mil for him now.

    They have bought 2 very good players, soon to be 3. Meanwhile we dont even know our budget or Manager. We are screwed if the PL doesnt do something soon. Ashley has given Brucie a much reduced budget and says he has to sell to buy. We have heard this one before a few times. And who do we have to sell that would bring in anything? I bet we couldnt get more than 2 mil for Atso and Muto.

    The other thing that is going on is the press are still using the same transfer figures as pre-Covid19. No body has any money except a very few elite teams and even then Barca are broke. Their players took a 75% wage cut to cover a 200 million expected shortfall in their revenue. How can players still be worth the same?

    On a more optimistic note, Sean Longstaff looked OK again. Looks like it might have been him taking a while to recover from injury and not being suited to the 9-0-1 system. Hopefully he will help us not make the mistake of buying Bentaleb who looks bottom 5 material at best to me.

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  10. All 3 of the loanees can go for me. None of them look PL material and should join the long list of useless players we’ve got. Looks like we’re in a mess again!

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  11. Just spent the last 4 hours at A&E getting the lads foot xray done, place was packed, not many worrying about going to A&E now by looks of it.

    Still no takeover then .

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  12. We were 2nd best yesterday but werent really overrun until their usual front three came on. THere seems to be this narrative that Klopp has a really deep squad and that is just not true. He plays the same players in just about every match and might stick in Keita (who has been a bit of a bust) or Milner to give the midfield a breather.

    I just dont understand these narratives that get repeated so often that they are just accepted but are simply not true. Yes, I am on my high horse about pundits and journos again but they get paid to tell us facts not lazily accept something that is not borne out by the facts. Just look at Klopp’s teamsheets week after week and you will see this.

    What brought this on is I was looking at Man U fan comments and they were saying they could not possibly challenge Liverpool next year because of squad depth. Rubbish, they are scared and making things up. They now have a very strong first team and that is what Liverpool’s success has been based on. It is the front 3 of Liverpool who are brilliant and then his attacking fullbacks and his high press that makes this work. They do not have a deep squad, they have been incredibly lucky with fitness and injuries.

    Klopp has burned out teams before. His last year at Dortmund they were in relegation places much of the year. I am so used to seeing the Manc arrogance that when they dont even whisper that they might have a good team who can challenge NOW that it throws me off. Still think Klopp and Pep will outcoach OGS. And City are a different kettle of fish because they DO have a deep squad that they will add to.

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  13. It just gets on my nerves when the Journos just repeat stuff that is utter ****. We saw a different team yesterday when Salah, Mane and Firmino came on and to a lesser extent Trent Alexander Arnold.

    Liverpool are still good enough to beat us without their star forwards but Klopp was preparing them BEFORE Origi’s goal.

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  14. So now there is a holdup because the PL want to know who does what. My guess is that they will follow the Man City model where Mansour is pretty much a figurehead and others make the decisions. It is not unusual to have consortiums own a football club.

    From what I have seen the head guy at the PIF will be Chairman. He runs a 250 BILLION dollar investment fund so i doubt he will have time for the day to day. He will be there just to protect the investment.

    It looks like Stavely would be MD and she would run things, but just like City she would appoint the football people – Manager and Director of Football. They would probably be on the board as well and Stavely would do her usual flitting between the UK and Mid East.

    Then there are the Reubens. I read that they will appoint their nephew to the board but he had to give up a directorship of QPR i think. I think the Reubens are in it as an investment but also if it follows the Man City model there will be a lot of scope for property development. That’s my guess anyway.

    I have no inside knowledge, just what I have read as this has dragged on. Seems like a storm in a teacup but who knows as there has been barrier after barrier put up in this whole process. Maybe it is the lawyers justifying their fees?

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  15. kimtoon:
    Just spent the last 4 hours at A&E getting the lads foot xray done, place was packed, not many worrying about going to A&E now by looks of it.

    Still no takeover then .

    hope the lads ok mate what takeover?

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  16. icedog: hope the lads ok mate what takeover?

    Got an injury to his foot last wednesday, didn’t happen at home but day center say didn’t happen there. All i know is it was fine in the morning when i put his socks on him and there when he got home. Anyway still swollen so took to A&E for xray, no broken bones thankfully but it looks bad. He broke his ankle in their care about 10 years back when they took him wheelchair racing and an untrained person rode the bike attached to the wheelchair. They lost control on a bend and went into a park bench . Then last year he had bruising to his toes and top of his foot which couldn’t be accounted for and now this. I’m not happy but cannot prove anything so it will just be reported to risk assessment team as unknown injury. They did admit eventually that there had been an incident with the previous injury but not this one yet.
    His chair is a beast really heavy and long (he’s a tall lad )and you need to fully recline his chair when moving around and if you don’t there is a danger of the foot plinths banging on camvers in the road or ramps. I suspect it’s something like that that’s happened and his foot has taken the impact. Or possibly when turning a corner into a room a door jam has been wacked? I don’t think it’s deliberate more likely an accident or not even realised they have done it.
    Doesn’t help poor lew though all the same.

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  17. If the latest BBC report is true, then someone from PL is leaking stuff and breaking the NDA, or is it Ashleys side?
    The BBC report is completely biased as well, they mention human rights in Saudi yet fail to mention that the PL sold it’s broadcast rights to a terrorist state who turn a blind eye to stadium labourers losing their lives on the sites. The same sites treating the immigrant workers as slaves and taking away their passports and housing them in huts like prisoners .
    The fact that they are being taken to court on bribery chargers relating to the WC bid and that Bein broke the law on broadcasting rights by making people take enhanced packages in order to view football via Bein.
    Stones and glass houses come to mind.
    Or the fact that their are reports Qatar want to buy Clearview tv owned by a certain Henry Mauriss.

    Anyway , sick and tired of it now, PL,**** or get off the pot ffs

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  18. I think there is a lot of internal pressure being put on Richard Masters by other member clubs to reject the deal tbh.
    When you considers this was done, https://www.teamtalk.com/news/eight-premier-league-clubs-launch-cas-bid-against-man-city#:~:text=Liverpool%2C%20Tottenham%2C%20Manchester%20Un

    In an attempt to stop City playing in the CL before that ruling overturning the ban. Then it’s not much of a stretch to the imagination that they could be applying the same type of pressure to Masters over the takeover which will be seen as a threat to the status quo.
    Don’t forget David Dein is PL international ambassador and holds a lot of influence there. And we now have Dickey Keys pal working at the PL now.
    Skullduggery all over the shot imo.

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  19. How the hell can the PL not know who the hell will be running us under new owners ?
    Are we to seriously believe that in this so called 350 page dossier pcp presented to the PL that the person actually running and responsible for nufc isn’t made clear !!
    Give over .

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  20. I dont understand what part of Sovereign Wealth Fund the PL don’t understand. The Sovereign will obviously be involved and that is Mo bin Salmon as his father is gravely ill. From the outside it looks like his job as Chairman is to appoint the money managers and then assess the job they are doing, and fire and hire. He is an unelected, hereditary dictator but we all knew that going in. Ban Sovereign Wealth Clubs if you want, but that is not the state of play or your rules at the moment.

    And while you are at it maybe ban them from bidding on PL TV rights. And ban Bein, part of the propaganda Media network of an equally dysfunctional regime in Qatar. But you wont do that will you. Too much money at stake for your little fiefdoms and it would interfere with your empire building.

    Blocking the NUFC takeover because of the involvement of a Saudi Prince would be one of the most hypocritical things ever if they then ask them to bid for the TV rights. It might even be worse than FIFA who gave the world cup to Qatar even though they knew it was a fix. Or the FA sending and England team to Russia. Or tacit Govt approval for sending athletes to China for the Olympics.

    There are corrupt and oppressive regimes all over the world but now the Saudis are being singled out not for Trade, not when they bid for the next PL TV rights deal but because they want to buy a wee football club in the NE as Alex Ferguson called us.

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  21. Looking at transfer targets in the papers they note we need a new central defender. Why? We have enough already. If you invite pressure for 90 minutes eventually even the best defenders are going to crack and make mistakes. We have seen they can do a job under Rafa, but:

    Lejeune – I think he will be back to his old self. He was never fast so the latest injury is unlikely to slow him down.

    Clark and Fernandez are 2 no nonsense players who can fill a role. At worst, they are good backup.

    Dummett – probably our best defender and always tagged as a future centre half. He will be 29 in September. It is about time he was played in his best position.

    Lascelles – I have never been totally sold on him but he was good in Rafa’s system. I have seen a lot worse play for the Toon in better teams.

    Schar – regressed under Bruce.

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  22. What I dont get is that if the PL block the Saudi bid for NUFC how could they then entertain a Saudi bid for TV rights which would probably be by the PIF or Govt TV?

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  23. Eric Sykes:
    What I dont get is that if the PL block the Saudi bid for NUFC how could they then entertain a Saudi bid for TV rights which would probably be by the PIF or Govt TV?

    Because it’s us mate, you know if this was Manure, Pool or one of the london clubs, it would already be done.
    We should know our place it seems.
    The PL sold broadcasting rights to a terrorist state who have a terrible human rights record in regards migrant workers and have not batted an eyelid to Saudi partnerships with Manure either.
    Our Government can trade and sell arms to them but god forbid they try to buy NUFC.
    The whole process stinks and they are desperate to get out of making a decision imo.

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  24. Had a look at the squad to figure out who we would keep and sell with or without a takeover. Even with new owners we are unlikely to see more than 6 additions because it dosn’t work like that. You have to keep some of the existing squad and build on it and then make changes over probably 4 transfer windows to ugrade as players become available.

    Keep:

    Dubs
    Clark
    Dummett
    Lascelles
    Shelvey
    Joe (by default)
    St Max
    Gayle
    Hayden
    Fernandez
    Manquillo
    Almiron
    Longstaff

    That squad are probably 16 or 17 and relegation fodder with a couple of injuries.

    Sell

    Schar
    Carroll
    Muto
    Krafth
    Yedlin
    Darlow
    Atsu
    Murphy

    In this market we would probably only get about 25 million for the lot of them. If there is no takeover we would have to keep the likes of Carroll, Krafth and Darlow as cover.

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  25. We really are in for a relegation fight if there is no takeover. I think Bruce said there would be 2 or 3 in. I dont believe this 35 million “warchest” either if Ashley stays. We were generating about 50 million extra before the covid hit and I have seen numbers that NUFC will owe the TV cos about 12 mil. Add in loss of gate money for about a year and our budget will be about 20 million if Ashley will even release that. No, it is definitely a sell-to-buy situation and our surplus players will not be in demand. Some are Championship quality but the Champo teams do not have any money!!!

    I said at Christmas that we would stay up this year but Bruce would take us down next year because luck usually evens itself out. Without the sale we are doomed.

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  26. Grealish has been in the news as he scored the goal that kept Villa up and now has an 80 mil price tag on his head. He is a very skillful player but finally some journos have noticed his party trick of deliberately running across people/into their legs and falling over. It is very hard to spot that he is doing it on purpose until you see it repeated 5 or 6 times a game, game after game. It is cheating. I just hope that Refs get wise.

    But I did see one journo say that Man U should buy him at any price as they are on 14 PL penalties this year and he could get them to the holy grail of 20.

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  27. Don’t really understand the BBC report about the Premier League wanting to know who will run NUFC. Look at most large companies the largest shareholders, often pension funds, don’t run the companies. Sometimes people running companies have little or no shares in the company. As I see it running Newcastle will be left probably to Amanda Staveley. Who owns a company and who runs it are different things. Of course people who have large stakes in a company are not without some influence but I cannot see KSA wanting to control the day to day running of NUFC. Given the NDA and the lack of any real information coming from the parties involved I suspect the BBC report is as accurate as the rest of the stories.

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  28. Groucho: the main headline in The Chronic today is that the PL should be “very robust” in looking at the ownership group looking to buy NUFC. I thought it would be a quote from somebody connected with the takeover but no, it is from Chronicle hack Mark Douglas. There is no news so they interview themselves 🙂 He goes on to say he doesn’t want the de facto owner of NUFC to be a dictator.

    Has he asked the queen why she had this dictator over to the Palace. Has he asked the G20 why this dictator is chair and why they are having their summit in Saudi in November?

    Has he looked at other owners of PL clubs? I don’t see many complaining about Abramovich who is banned from the country. Or Mansour. Has he asked the FA why they are sending the England team to Qatar when it was obvious the vote to get it there was fixed and there many reports of human rights abuses in the building of the stadium?

    There are plans to hold a Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia in 2023. Should Lewis Hamilton boycott?

    The WC was held in Argentina when it was run by a military Junta and there were thousands of political prisoners. So many that they had a name for them – the disappeared. England still went to that and in fact it was a great tournament resulting in Spurs getting Ardiles and Villa.

    I fckin hate this attitude that we as NUFC fans are expected to fix the world when this has never been a factor in any other takeover. And I hate that it is the Chronic’s sports editor who is espousing it.

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  29. We are being linked with Jesse Lingard. Actually, I dont believe the link but anyway, please nooooo. The lad isnt a bad player but he got too caught up in his own fame with a lot of instagram stuff and thinking he could sell fashion with his own stupid logo on it. He lost focus and admits it now. He would, wouldn’t he! Plus he is supposedly on 100k a week and his Agent is Mino Raoila (Pogba’s Agent who got like a 30 million kickback in the move from Juve).

    It all begs the question of how he ever played for England? He was never that good, he was OK. There are many examples of Man U players being picked for international teams just because they play for Man U and when they leave they are found out. Apart from the ones that Fergie fell out with (Stam, Beckham, Van Nistlerooy) how many internationals have Man U sold that were shown to be pretty **** without Fergie’s guiding hand and excellent players around them. I’ll name a few:

    Nicky **** – he was **** for us
    Tom Cleverly
    Darren Gibson
    John OShea
    Wes Brown
    Phil Neville

    There are loads more.

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  30. I watch a lot of football and there are some things that dont really irritate me but when I see them it just reminds me how immature a lot of the players are. It was Jesse Lingard that got me thinking about it because of his stupid hand gesture of his logo. But there are many other celebrations they do that betray that they are just big kids and a bit lame:

    * the thumb sucking to tell everyone they have an infant. Maybe it is a nod to their girlfriend, it is always girlfriend now, they dont get married. Too much money to protect.

    * the ball under the shirt to show their girlfriend is pregnant

    * the dance moves they practiced in the mirror

    * Bales heart

    * Robbie Keane’s forward roll and pretend shooting

    * anything by Pogba. I think he spends more time on the celebrations than on football which is why he only plays well 1 game in 3. Such as waste of talent in the last 4 years.

    And oh so many more…

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  31. I see Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Heed is talking shyte as usual. He is discussing the transfer window and advising Ashley not to spend 200, 300 or 400 million in the transfer window as that will not get top 6. I actually think it might Merse, as everybody below the top 4 are much of a muchness down to 10th. Spending 200 million with new owners and above all a new Manager will probably guarantee us top 10.

    Then he goes on to say that Ashley should only spend what will guarantee safety. What is that Oh wise and drunken fool? Norwich spent nowt and were relegated. Villa spent 140 million and were only safe in the dying minutes of the last day. Watford and Bournemouth actually outspent us by quite a margin in the past couple of years and went down.

    Nobody knows what NUFCs transfer spend will be until this takeover is concluded, either way.

    My guess is 20 million will be the max that the club has from its own generated funds and that we will get very little from sales. We have some decent players if they are the support players for 5 or 6 much better players that we will buy if there is a takeover. On their own, and with Bruce at the helm, we will be relegated. We got so lucky this year, that will not continue.

    I only read the snippets in The Chronic but I didnt see any mention that the whole market will have changed. Last year we might have got 5 million for Schar or Murphy. We will be lucky to get 3 now. No Championship clubs will have any money. 2 of the 3 that had real ambition have been promoted and the other, Fulham, might be as well. Bournemouth’s wage bill was 83% of their revenue so they are skint even with sales and parachute payments. Same for Watford.

    Why does anybody ask Merson about football. May as well ask him about crying on TV about what a fck-up he is. That’s his real speciality.

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  32. I looked at some values on Transfermarkt. It is a website that keeps track of fees paid but also estimates the worth of players. They are the go-to site for the journos for estimates, who being click wh@res will add on 50% anyway. So what did I see? Their valuations are in cloud cuckoo land. I know they had slashed valuations by 20% across the board, but they still have not caught up with reality. Here are their valuations in EUROS of some NUFC players:

    Lascelles 14m
    Schar 13m
    Danny Rose 16m
    Yedlin 6m
    Muto 5m
    Joelinton 20m

    I have a bridge to sell them!!!!! The real values in a global pandemic and probable global recession are half that at best.

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  33. Olly: it is not fixed. It saves your name but there is a lag for new posts. That’s OK as I am talking to myself at the moment 🙂 But on a matchday that is annoying.

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  34. Eric Sykes:
    Olly: it is not fixed. It saves your name but there is a lag for new posts. That’s OK as I am talking to myself at the moment ? But on a matchday that is annoying.

    A lag for new posts?

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  35. Yes Olly. I posted something and it showed up when I was on at the time. I came back an hour later and it was not on. Later, I came back and lo and behold it was now on. This has been happening for about a month.

    I was never that bothered about the site not saving my information as I had aurofill for my details. But this seems to be fixed now.

    You should put the end of season awards as the featured comments section otherwise it will get lost in the back articles. I think we have had enough of thinking about the Liverpool game 🙂

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  36. What a underwhelming season and a fizzling out of the takeover as usual. Depressing.

    Rather more depressing is the governments reaction to the so called “second wave” of Covid. What a load of tosh. Countries around the world are testing more than ever which naturally means more positive cases. In Spain deaths haven’t risen even though cases have. It’s pretty obvious that the more we come out of lockdown the more cases we will have. We have to live with this, not run away with it. We can’t afford to ignore the economy anymore and this government really are terrifying everyone with their over bearing and panic stricken actions.

    Oh well, we have football to look forward to in a few weeks… ??

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  37. Eric Sykes:
    Yes Olly. I posted something and it showed up when I was on at the time. I came back an hour later and it was not on. Later, I came back and lo and behold it was now on. This has been happening for about a month.

    I was never that bothered about the site not saving my information as I had aurofill for my details. But this seems to be fixed now.

    You should put the end of season awards as the featured comments section otherwise it will get lost in the back articles. I think we have had enough of thinking about the Liverpool game ?

    I was planning to do exactly that re. end of season awards mate! Will do that now.

    As for those other issues, I’ll raise them with tech guys.

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  38. Stuart: there’s the FA Cup then the Champions and Europa League. There’s really not going to be that much of a gap.

    Covid has been completely mismanaged over here because there was no national strategy and Trump ignored it to begin with and the thought it would magically go away. If you watch the news there are 50 different messages coming from 50 different states which only serves to confuse everybody. Plus the hotspots now are the most populous states with the most old people. I am hoping that this is the peak but deaths will continue because that is the way it works.The big fight is about reopening schools and that will get ugly. It is a total mess.

    It will probably derail the Orange Man Baby’s reelection so every cloud has a silver lining. But it should never have got to this point. Trump has proven himself totally incompetent which quite a few of us knew well before this. His agenda was not like the British Tory party it was and is absolutely crazy.

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