Back to back defeats for Newcastle United as Manchester City cruised to victory at the Etihad to move back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
We had a big chance through Chris Wood early on – who headed straight at Ederson from a Saint-Maximin cross – and were punished for that miss moments later when Sterling tapped in to make it 1-0.
Some poor handling from Dubravka then allowed Laporte to tap in from close range before the break and more goals followed in the second half, as a Rodri header and 90th minute strikes from Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling helped City to a 5-0 win.
It was a tough watch – as it often is when we travel to the Etihad – but if you combine moments of Man City brilliance with missed chances at one end and defensive mistakes at the other, it’s never going to end well away to one of the best sides on the planet.
They taught us a lesson. We’ve come a long way in a short space of time under Eddie Howe and can look forward to an exciting summer soon, but this was a reminder of the gulf in class between midtable sides and those at the top.
Were we on the beach? I don’t think so. A lot of energy and effort has gone into our remarkable turnaround over the past few months, so it’s no real surprise that we’ve ran out of steam. We were just outplayed and worn down by a far superior side.
With Brighton, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Brentford all winning on Saturday, today’s defeat means we end the weekend in 13th – but still nine clear of the drop zone after Everton’s win at Leicester left Leeds in the bottom three.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Krafth, Lascelles, Burn, Targett – Guimaraes, Longstaff, Joelinton – Almiron, Wood, Saint-Maximin.
SUBS: Darlow, Dummett, Schar, Trippier, Manquillo, Ritchie, Murphy, Gayle, Wilson.
Eddie Howe made THREE changes from the side that lost last Saturday, seeing Jamaal Lascelles, Sean Longstaff and Chris Wood replace Fabian Schar, Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Willock.
Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson were back on the bench, but Shelvey and Willock both missed out on our matchday squad with knocks.
We started the game well, setting up positively and creating the first big chance of the game. However, Chris Wood saw a free header go straight at Ederson after Allan Saint-Maximin did brilliantly to pick out the Kiwi. An ironic passage of play given what ASM had told the French press earlier in the week!
Believe it or not, we’d had more of the ball approaching the 15 minute mark, having 57% possession, yet there were a couple of lets off that went unpunished when Joao Cancelo and Aymeric Laporte both fired over after finding space in the box.
Sadly, it was third time lucky for the hosts a few minutes later as Cancelo got the run on Saint-Maximin, headed back across goal and allowed Sterling to tap in to make it 1-0.
We had the ball in the net just before the half hour mark through Wood, however it was rightly disallowed after the ball deflected off Joelinton from an offside position and into the striker’s path.
Bruno then went into the book for a late foul on Grealish that left England winger in a heap, leaving the blonde haired Brazilian walking a tightrope for the final 60 minutes.
A couple close shaves soon followed as City fizzed a few balls across the box to no avail, before a one-man counter attack from Saint-Maximin came to nothing after the Frenchman threatened to burst clear.
So, we were hanging on defensively against a fired up City side and trying to get forward when we could, although the latter was easier said than done when committing bodies at one end left us looking vulnerable at the other.
It’s a balancing act few sides find easy at City, however big mistakes are something you HAVE to avoid in games like this, making Dubravka’s contribution to City’s second a hammer blow just a few minutes before the break. He spilled a shot straight to Ruben Dias, whose effort then fell to Laporte to make it 2-0.
City were forced to make a change at the break as Fernandinho replaced Ruben Dias, but they came close to adding a third seconds into the restart after some dazzling footwork from Sterling found Jesus in the box.
The hosts weren’t playing with the same intensity in the second half, yet they had total control of the game, barely giving us a kick before Rodri headed in from a De Bruyne corner to make it 3-0.
Another poor goal to concede and some really poor marking from Krafth, who let the Spaniard get away from him all too easily before he fired home at the front post.
In truth, the second half wasn’t even a contest. Maybe Man City had sucked all of the belief out of this Newcastle side and yes they were in total control, but it was men against boys at times and another reminder of the gulf in class.
On a positive note, it was great to see Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier both come on with 25 minutes remaining, seeing our top scorer appear for the first time in 2022 and the England right-back return from that broken foot suffered in February.
We improved slightly after both came on, showing glimpses on the break and forcing one corner that Lascelles almost headed into Wilson’s path, however it was an end of season performance if I’ve ever seen one and a walk in the park for City at times.
A big chance came our way with just over 10 minutes remaining as Murphy – who replaced Almiron moments before – put Wilson through on goal, but Ederson was out quickly to smother our rusty number nine.
City then scored a fourth and a FIFTH in the final two minutes of the game as Phil Foden’s close range finish was followed by an emphatic strike from Raheem Sterling. More static defending and goals that sent us back to St James’ Park on the back of another battering at the Etihad.
Next up, our final home game of the season against Arsenal a week tomorrow.
Let’s hope we’re a little more up for that one!
I’m sorry but Eddie Howe has only got his tactics right once against the free flowing class teams away from home, and that was at Chelsea. Tottenham and Man City destroyed us!
You just can’t leave yourself so open as we haven’t got the quality, St Max doesn’t work hard enough away from home and Murphy should have started.
You’ve done remarkably Eddie but you have to have a plan B at times.!
Five at the back, Four in midfield and One up top and you could get a respectable score line.
Joseph(Quote)
Didn’t work under Rafa or Bruce though did it
PremAndUp(Quote)
PremAndUp:
Have you never heard of damage limitation?
Leeds could find out to their cost by conceding too many goals!
Joseph(Quote)
Joseph – we lack the players mate. We had players out injured & the players we had available lack quality.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Quality aside, the effort & energy our players played with today was disgraceful imo.
I can forgive being outclassed by Man City, but to give them so much time & space, to not track their runs, to not put your body on the line at set pieces – I can’t forgive that.
I know if fit we’d have had Trippier, Schar, Shelvey or Willock, Fraser and Wilson in our starting 11 – there’s half of our outfield players missing. But it highlights massively how weak we are behind them – add to that Howe seems to want to replace Dubravka too & it’s a huge Summer of transfers.
Schar has signed on and I’m pleased about that. I’m fine with a 1 year deal for Dummett – but the rest, including Longstaff, they can all go for me.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Testing. Testing 123
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Completely outclassed. We didn’t take the chances we had. A huge gulf to cross. We could’ve made it much harder for them but we didn’t. Poor today.
And I’m fuc.king pis.sed off at having to keep putting my details every time I post on this site. What Is going on again? ???
Pissed of at having to keep putting name in(Quote)
Playing an attacking brand of footy against a team like City is always going to end badly. We simply do not have the players to compete, playing that style.
The heavy nature and timing of this loss is the only good to come out of this game.
It really shows how far we behind the likes Liverpool, Spurs and City.
Hopefully these rude awakenings will ensure the right money gets spent on the right players next season. There needs to be some cold hearted decisions made on many of the current squad. Many are simply not good enough and need to be shipped out.
I think it will take about 2 or 3 seasons for us to truly compete with the likes of City.
But the foundations need to be laid now. This summers transfer window is the most important for some time.
Aussie(Quote)
The PL is pretty much Man Citys now but Liverpool have the chance of a treble or just a single League Cup. I would say they would be favourites for the CL and FA Cup so could win A TREBLE. Man U still go on about 1999 but forget the details, like:
* they beat NUFC in the FA Cup final. We were 13th in the PL that year with 46 points.
* Man U won the League with 79 points. Liverpool currently have 83 with 3 games remaining. They will probably end up runners up on 92 points.
* I watched that CL final against Bayern Munich. Man U were absolutely **** until the final 5 minutes and should have been losing 5 nil.
But in the memories of the commentators it was the biggest achievement in the history of football!!!! I am not saying it wastn’t a great achievement, just saying they GOT LUCKY. Arsenal were on 78 points and could easily have pipped The Manc Reds for that title.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Play with a strong squad. It’s normal for them to win big
Happy wheels(Quote)
Gilly (artist formerly known as ?) it’s happening to me as well mate – very annoying.
I get the gulf in quality & it’s not forgotten that Pep alone has spent 1billion on top of an already strong squad. I don’t expect miracles & accept defeat – it’s the nature of it that annoyed me.
With all their quality, they still work their socks off – pressing high and chasing down the ball til they win it back.
We certainly can’t match them for quality, but workrate, determination, urgency – I didn’t see enough of that yesterday.
If you give the likes of KDB time on the ball, he’s bound to hurt you – but get in his face, stop the ball getting into him – hell kick the lad if you have to, but show some urgency to get the ball back at the very least.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It’s still all about ball skills. Controlling and passing accurately at the right pace. We just don’t have enough players with those skills. Remarkable really when they are the basic skills. Indeed some of our players are totally **** at it. I won’t list them.
georgio(Quote)
poor show all round effort wise wasn’t it. Don’t care that it was City, as Sharpy said there wasn’t any effort and it was annoying to see that once we went 2.0 down we pretty much gave up.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Yes it’s really about the way we lost. I expected a loss and would’ve been ok with 1-0 2-0 and restrict them like we did with Liverpool. We had some very good chances, Wood in particular had an almost open goal from a few yards out! That annoys me, but hey ho! It is what it is. Let’s see what happens with Arsenal.
Still have to put details in ??(Quote)
I like what Howe has to say about our recruitment and how we intend to build the club. Hopefully it puts pay to all the media nonsense of suggesting we will go after players like Pogba or Neymar.
The players we brought in in January were undoubtedly better than those we had – but more over, their character and winning mentality is what changed our form imo.
We need more of those. WH are a good example of that imo – players like Soucek, Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma – players who work hard & have that quality to win the game.
Where we are right now I think players like Sarr and Toney would offer more. Once we are established as a top 6-8 side, then we go for the next level players.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Olly – and chance of sorting these issues with the site like buddy?
Sharpy17(Quote)
from what i have been told Ashworth will sign in Sept,not Nov as some of the press are saying
icedog(Quote)
That’s better if true
KIMTOON(Quote)
I would agree mate, slow steady build. Everton are an example of why not to throw money at players as our Manure to a certain point.
KIMTOON(Quote)
are not our
KIMTOON(Quote)
Anderson needs a chance now not another loan. He’s 20 soon. No good blooding a 21 year old into the PL.
Foden’s an England regular at 21.
georgio(Quote)
Yes Anderson needs a chance in our first team. We need to see if he can handle it.
?????????(Quote)
So the Mackems made it to the play off final. Oh dear. They’ll have even bigger heads. ???
?????????(Quote)
I tend to disagree about Anderson. He’s done brilliant for Bristol and that will stick with him for life – good on him for going and making the absolute most of his loan (mind you Joey would have kicked his teeth in if he hadn’t ?).
But there is a huge gulf between the Championship and PL – so doing it in L2 means nowt im afraid.
If he took a loan move to somewhere like Boro or Forest and played regular football in those teams, I think that would do him the world of good. I’ve watched both of them & their style would be ideal for his game.
I know goal scoring is different, but if you look at Armstrong scoring for fun with Bburn, he’s struggling to get into Saints first team now.
I think Elliott might well make it to be fair, but I think a season in the championship would allow us to gauge it better & do him the world of good.
I’d use him to broker a deal for Brennan Johnson from Forest, or Djed Spence from Boro.
Sharpy17(Quote)
true mate,thats from himself ime told,wink wink
icedog(Quote)
So, the SUPER computer predicts we will stay up when it also predicted we would be relegated when we were bottom at Xmas! Not very “SUPER” is it???
It seems to change its mind based upon current league position and league place. That’s not very PREDICTIVE FFS.
If it had said we would be relegated before the 1st game of the season and Callum Wilson would be our top scorer on 6 goals I might have agreed.
I said before the season started that 2 of the promoted teams would be relegated along with Leeds or Burnley. Does that make me a super computer?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpster, Harry Kane had a couple of loan seasons in the Championship and it didnt turn out too bad. Same with Mason Mount.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I still think we will spend 200 million in the summer, inclusive of signing bonuses and agent fees. I dont care what anybody told any of the Journos/Luke Edwards. I think that is a con to keep other teams guessing.
Luke Edwards doesnt mention the 60 mil number now. I think he knows he was being duped, although I also think he mainly has the best sources at NUFC. Better than Ryder and John Gibson anyway. And all of the interns they seem to have now!!!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Not at all mate. I think Kane was about 22/23 when he became a first team regular as well.
I think it’s important to send him to the right club though. It would be no good sending him to a team where he’ll get little game time or to a team like WBA (yes I’ll happily use them as an example) or Milwall – who’s style of football just won’t develop his game at all.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Watching Liverpool/Villa and Fat-Boy Moss never strays from the middle 3rd of the pitch. I mean, he never keeps up with play!!! He only has 2 games left until he retires at which point he will reach the combined weight of Bernard Manning, James Cordon and Fat B@rsterd from the Austin Powers movies. He still might be quicker than Mike Dean after that though.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Atkinson, Mike “rolls of belly fat” Dean, Marriner and Fat Boy Moss are all retiring at the end of this year. I will then stop complaining but they have been unable to keep up with play for at least 3 years!!!
Need Kevin Friend to go as well. He is 51, slow and ugly.
I am not saying their replacements will be any better, just that their fitness might be better and they can keep up with play.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
My Grandfather worked in Brenkley Colliery (a coalmine) from when he was 13 until 65. I bet he could have beaten Jon Moss in a footrace on their respective retirement dates!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wonder why Pep didn’t send Foden out on loan.
georgio(Quote)
City have a world class academy. That counts for a couple of years of player development in my opinion.
I’d say put Anderson in the summer tour squad and see how far he has come. If up to scratch, great get him in the squad. If not (likely), send him to a decent level Championship side and see what he is made of and how he progresses.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham – when they are talking about build the club the right way, it’s an area that probably needs the most focus & should be fairly easy to improve – it certainly can’t be any worse!!.
As it stands we have Shola overseeing it all. I love Shola, but I’m going out on a limb here by saying he’s not the most qualified – and the academy is huge in terms of long term prosperity.
I know Shola isn’t in charge of the academy sorry but does oversee those players going out on loan – and the monitoring of their development is so important.
Anderson is getting all the attention for what he achieved at Bristol – but we shouldn’t forget Kelland Watt either – he was a huge part of Wigan winning the league – he’s another that could have a big future at Newcastle.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Just looking at available players
FREE (all worth a shout)
Denayer RCB and Kamara DM
Entering Last year of Contracts
Oblak GK N’Dicka LCB
RELEGATED
Aarons RB Norwich
Sarr RW Watford
Nobody from Burnley
Phillips from Leeds, but not if we get Kamara
Nobody from Everton
To increase Quality
Bakker or Hickey LB
Paquete AM
Blas either Wing
Nunez CF
With Anderson and Watt coming through, decent squad
PremAndUp(Quote)
In my totally BIASED opinion I think the owners have told Bruno we will get Paqueta, Nunez and a world class CB in the summer, otherwise he wouldnt have signed.
Screw players like Pogba and Neymar. We don’t need no instagram warriors.
Badges, Badges?!!? We don’t need no stinking badges!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Am I right in thinking that if Leeds lose tonight vs Chelsea, then we are mathematically safe?
Gilly Toon ?(Quote)
A draw will do
PremAndUp(Quote)
My comments still disappearing and my details disappear every time I post despite ticking the keep my details box!
Still pissed off with site issues(Quote)
The site was hacked last week, so the people who deal with the tech side of things had to change a few things and delete a few plug-ins.
I’ll pass on these issues to those guys and try to get them sorted!
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Well, Everton won’t be happy dropping 2 points, bet they thought that was a banker
KIMTOON(Quote)
Cheers Olly ??
Sharpy17(Quote)
Thanks a lot Olly! Sorry to hear it was hacked. Hope that didn’t cause too many other issues mate!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
So we are mathematically safe! ???
Gilly Toon(Quote)
This relegation battle is not over yet. Looks like it will be Leeds but it still could come down to our last game at Burnley. We are safe, and that’s what’s important.
Super-Frank’s pundit pals will say he has pulled off a miracle if Everton stay up. It has actually been luck of Steve Bruce like proportions – against us, and some other teams. I dont want to say it but the Mackem T-Rex has been amazing and saved them at least 4 points which could be the difference in the end.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The Eurovision Song Contest is this weekend.
I predict the winner will be the Slovakian entry:
“Bing Bang Bong pass me my Pot Noodles and a Vodka”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I like the links with Eddie Nketiah – I’ve mentioned him before as one to go for.
He’d be in the Toney pool of forwards, probably more pace than Toney but less physical – certainly cheaper!!.
I think the lad would score goals. He’s best mates with Willock so it would be good for both of them.
Then sign Paqueta and we could have a proper bring a friend to work day ???
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric Ukraine will win it, not the best song but they will win it.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Well a massive thanks to Eddie Howe and the coaches and team for re writing the history books and keeping us up with 2 games to go. We were nailed on for relegation and I honestly could not see us staying up especially given no club has ever come back from the situation we were in of just 12 points after 20 games ! Incredible achievement and surely Eddie has to be manager of the season.
Lampard has not saved Everton with his tactics, Pickford has, if not for his form over last two games they would still be in the bottom three, fact. Klopp and Pep have teams of superstars and are where they should be so for me it HAS to be Eddie for the award.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kimtoon: I totally agree on Pickford, as I have said. You have to give credit where it is due and say he has almost singlehandedly saved them. He still plays shyte against us though as he gets himself too worked up. He is highly strung to begin with and then turns into a toddler with 8 cups of coffee in him when he plays NUFC.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So we are being linked again with Ekitike who was valued at 30 mil in Jan. And Calvert-Lewin who would cost 50 mil. Then we need a goalie and a CB as well as Targett for 15 mil.
And yet, our budget is repeated as 60 mil just because Luke Edwards was fed a line of BS 2 months ago!!! They were conning the journos I TELL YA!
Our budget is 150 mil minimum. Just add up the numbers for the above players. They are playing the long con and want to keep the selling teams from upping the price when we go in for a player.
Who really thinks we would have got Bruno unless they told him that we wanted European football next year and were willing to spend to get it?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I also think we will be able to sell or “offload” some of our unwanted higher earners to either promoted teams or relegated teams. I doubt we will receive much money but why wouldnt WBA buy Gayle for 2 mil or Lascelles for 4 mil? The way the parachute payments work, they are still getting money even this year.
The relegated sides will get 40 mil so why not get yerself a Gayle!!!
The promoted sides are guaranteed about 100 mil whilst it was about 10 mil in The Championship so they can afford Lascelles or even Shelvey.
I just dont think the journos and pundits think logically about what we can do here and how much money we have. Eddie and the Owners are conning them into thinking we are going to go slowly, slowly catchy monkey! I have complete faith that the owners will see the state of Chelsea, Man U, and Arsenal and see an almost unique opportunity.
Liverpool and Man City are out of sight at the moment but the rest are catchable.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’m confused.
I understand that we need three strikers.
What we have is Wilson and a couple of others that will not be here next year, so I can see us buying 2 new ones.
Ekitiki is 19 and showing tremendous promise and I can see that being one of the two
Our new front line striker is Nunez, if he comes.
DC-L and Nketiah are surely just alternates if bids fail. I can’t see three new strikers.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem – I think it’s exactly that mate.
Though of the strikers mentioned so far, my first choice would be Nunez – though I think he ends up at Man Utd or a club where he’s replacing an outgoing – BD for example – though Man Utd is still a likely place given there need for a CF.
Of the others, I’d favour Nketiah over DCL – mainly coz of the injuries but also if we don’t spend £40-50m on DCL we can spend it on a Paqueta or someone like that.
I also like our link to Dyabala – I think that would be a brilliant signing – though see him at Spurs with Conte.
Ekitike looks excellent in France, but so did Thauvin and the other lad we got who couldn’t handle the PL – can’t remember his name now.
I don’t like the idea of £30m risk players just yet. I’d rather have Toney and know what we are getting.
Once our squad is stronger and we are established up the league – then start taking those risks imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy and Prem: I must be the only one who thinks this is a bluff by NUFC. The information coming from The Telegraph is completely contradictory. One minute they say our budget is 60 million and the next they say we are after 5 players with either DCL or Darwin alone costing 60 million. They put in the caveat that it is 60 mil plus sales, but seriously how much will we be getting in sales?
I have seen in various places that Ekitike is a done deal at 30 million. The French clubs are skint because their TV contract collapsed so I am sure we are on the phone to Lyon about Paqueta as well. I know we wont get every player but the so-called 60 million budget is farcical and yet keeps being repeated.
I think we will announce a bumper Saudi endorsement deal AFTER the transfer window closes. I doubt we want to poke other PL clubs until we get some tranfers done even though Man U are happy to take Saudi money and Everton took the coin from the Russian Oligarch Usmanov.
This is all speculation on my part, but I think the plan is to get into Europe ASAP. The real money apart from the PL that is already guaranteed is in the CL and endorsements. I think I read somewhere that the CL Group stages are worth up to about 100 million.
I really think Eddie and the NUFC hierarchy are doing a deliberate head fake here to throw the media off our real plans. Anybody can disagree with me but I just cannot see the Saudis wasting much time to get us to the next level – that is 3 to 6 as I think Liverpool and Man City are 3 years ahead of everybody, and I mean even the likes of Spurs and Arsenal.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Judging by past history I think Luke Edwards has the best sources at NUFC. However this time I think he has been bluffed with the 60 mil transfer budget claim. I think he knows this as well because he said it once and never repeats it. It is others on blogs etc who keep repeating it and causing it to be an “accepted fact”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Given the ages and wages of players we will want to shift I dont know where this windfall that some journos and Blogs think is going to come from. Here is my attempt to value our surplus players:
Gayle 2M
Darlow 3M
Longstaff 0
Clark 0
Hendrick 0
Fernandez 0
Ritchie 1M
Hayden 5M
Manquillo 2M
So that’s a total of about 13 million.
We could/should top it up by selling Miggy based on stats and not effort. I reckon maybe 10 million for him.
I doubt we would be able to shift Wood but he will be purely a squad player from now on.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What I am saying is that it is a total fantasy that the clearout of our so-called deadwood will add much to our transfer budget. If my figures are correct it is about 25 mil if we include Miggy. That is what we paid for Wood FFS.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Breaking news – Coutihno joins Villa – so pleased about that. I did not want that being the route we take.
Nowt against the lad, I just don’t think he was right for NUFC.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Agreed Sharpy
PremAndUp(Quote)
I have been saying for a while that Arsenal are overrated. They are where they are because the chasing pack are mediocre – I mean the likes of Villa, Wolves and Leicester. I think we have a chance on Monday of at least a draw.
It is not very often that an academy produces more than one or two players at the same time and that is what Arsenal are relying on.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I have been looking at the Manager of the Season award and the last 5 years it has gone to the winner of the PL. That points to Pep again. I have seen some say Klopp should get it if he finishes runner up and AND CL and/or FA Cup winner.
Am I missing something here? It is PREMIER LEAGUE manager of the season. The rest shouldnt come into it. The PL is a completely different entity to the FA, UEFA and the rest of the English League.
It would be nice if they dont just go for the obvious again and recognize Eddie’s amazing job at NUFC.
Pards won it when we finished 5th.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Exactly Eric, it’s the best performance by a coach in the PL not European competitions. Pep and Klopp have teams full of superstars and SHOULD be where they are. Eddie has taken over a lost cause and bought it back to life and then some.
kimtoon(Quote)
Manager of the season candidates have been announced. 5 in all. Klopp, Pep, Viera, Thomas Frank (Brentford) and wor Eddie. I’ve already voted to Eddie. There’s links to vote on FB.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Miles Starforth
@milesstarforth
·
1h
Replying to
@milesstarforth
Majed Al Sorour is the CEO of Golf Saudi. The country wants to become a ‘global destination for golf’, so not hard to see why they’re seen as a potential new sponsor. #nufc
kimtoon(Quote)
Me too
kimtoon(Quote)
Miles Starforth
@milesstarforth
·
46m
Majed Al Sorour joins Newcastle’s board amid speculation over the club’s next sponsor. #nufc
kimtoon(Quote)
https://www.premierleague.com/news/2612175
Link to vote for manager of the season.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
I looked at how the Manager of the Season is decided and only 10% is by public vote. This is probably for the best as the biggest fan bases would otherwise tilt the odds. The rest is by a large panel (about 30) of mainly ex-players who are now pundits. It is mainly the sensible pundits and I found it interesting who was missing. There was no place for the hype merchants who are only interested in tooting their own horn. So no place for Merse, Stan Collymore and Robbie Savage.
Eddie might stand a chance with this setup but I still think it will be Pep.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think that Thomas Frank (Brentford) is a good shout as he has done a great job all season. Eddie of course has done a brilliant recovery job, but I suspect the usual suspects will attribute that to money.
Viera has not done badly with Palace, but I think Eddie and Frank have achieved more.
Klopp and Pep have built brilliant teams, but even I could win things with them
PremAndUp(Quote)
What exactly is happening with Sean Longstaff? Reports by journos of him staying or leaving seem to differ with the phase of the moon. I would prefer him to leave as he is too slow and is found out even against middling teams.
He could even get a PL move. I saw Dan Gosling playing for Watford the other day, so anything could happen. Hell, Phil Neville stole a living for years when actually being a bit shyte. There are so many examples of PL journeymen that I wouldnt be surprised if Sean got a PL move.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We have a terrible record against Arsenal but our best chance in ages comes Monday. Their defense is in tatters and I think they are seriously over-hyped. The only thing they have going in their favour is they have something to play for (4th) and we don’t.
I see it said all too often that the PL table never lies. True for the most part, but I think 4th flatters Arsenal. There is an example of the table lying closer to home. Bruce’s 2 years at NUFC!!! How the hell we finished lower mid-table I will never know – pure blind luck?
The players have openly said (mostly in code and with praise of Howe) that Bruce and the Steves didnt know what they were doing. Even Ashley knew it because he sanctioned the appointment of Graeme Jones.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I dont envy Olly making his team selection this week. You would think we will go with the same team as against City??? I highly doubt Wilson or Trippier will start but they will each get about 30 mins. The midfield picks itself BUT why start Longstaff if he is leaving? But, who else do we have with Jonjo and Little Jo ruled out? Maybe Eddie will throw us a googly and put Jacob Murphy in midfield like he did with Big Joe?
Anyway, I would have Murphy on instead of either Miggy or Longstaff.
I am done with Miggy, despite his industry. 1 goal and no assists in like 40 games tells the real story that he is not a PL player. We need to sell in the summer so why play him! Fraser has been training so he should get the minutes instead of Miggy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
My only real fear about the Arsenal game is having Lascelles on the pitch. They are not really a lump it into the box team and have tricky players in Saka, Odegaard and Martinelli. Lascelles’ skillset is not really suited to playing against their forwards.
Eric Sykes(Quote)