Might be the only thing from this game that has concerned me from this game. He was really poor at Brighton too. Effort and decision making are way off.

Miles to go. Hope that come May, we forget this even happened.

I’m with you on this for reasons I can’t really articulate. We could win the treble and blow the league and I’d still have a bitter taste in my mouth. But if we win the league, I could live with whatever happens in the 3 cups…

*Dick and Adam *Whitman, no?

Does your whole body have to be in your own half?

Might be a function of keeping the front 4 balanced? With Noni & Havertz in for Saka and Odegaard, maybe a concern that Nelli would leave us with too technical skill up front vs a team that will certainly sit deep.

The US feed has been truly ridiculous.

I think it’s fair to say that the Bob Nutting Pirates are the purest embodiment of Loser Energy in all professional sports. At least the Jets try.

I forget who wrote about this before the season (maybe @billycarpy.bsky.social ?), but I think Gyok had this same issue in Portugal (wanting an extra touch before shooting). Just doesn’t work with the speed of defenders in the EPL.

This is a great call. Think he really could fit the Jesus/Kai style that we’ve obviously thrived with and eye test says he has the potential to become an elite finisher.

This seems very prescient right now (not to mention that the lack of technical skill up front is making Forest more comfortable coming forward in transition).

US commentary didn’t think it was even a foul and implied Noni dove.

It’s real poor.

This is after branding the Conor Bradley incident a “disgrace.”

If you cut out everything before the October international break, his npxg and xa numbers/90 (in EPL at least) look very close to 23-24 (though still worse than last year). But prob a combo of no Ødegaard for huge stretches + lack of consistent CF play are playing a role too.

Agree here. From the view behind the goal, I thought he was a bit unsighted on it, too.

Not 10-0, but feels a lot like 10-0.

We lived through Unai Emery and have seen the “over-performing metrics” catch up with us against better competition. I remember the Mustafi/Koscielny run, where we seemed unstoppable. Respect Villa and their many superb players, but this is *peak* Emery.

100%. Legend.

Honestly, I didn’t forget. I just thought it was unlikely that, after two huge knee injuries, he could look like his old self again. So so great to see.

Of course….

Giroud was a player with lots of limitations, but he was elite in the air and in link up play around the box. I’m not even sure what kind of match would suit Vik in this kind of form…

Think this is true from a strictly financial perspective, but it feels like it will have to have a negative effect on player morale. Also tdoesn’t seem like a controlled situation from managements perspective? Why burn this bridge if you can sell in July on good terms?

Totally. Our experience was with very good (but to some extent disappointing) players that everyone kind of knew we had to move on from. Think Salah has to be a Henry/Bergkamp-level club legend. He’s probably lost a step, but it’s impossible to say that their shortcomings this year are his fault.

Really like this idea. Get him in the right sided 8 and let him combine with Saka and Timber.

🤞

Brilliant, brilliant work

Really interested to see our intensity level after halftime. Really no issues with what I saw there, but I feel like we always try to manage the early part of the second half in games where we are dominant (to our obvious disadvantage). Even with Ode out, we have plenty still on the bench.

This exactly. Finishing/final action wasn’t always great. But we did what we wanted in the first half, and when the second half was a little flat, we brought on Rice, Saka, and Eze against a tired opponent. Gonna be a lot more 2.7-0.5 xg games for us.

I, for one, hope to see Newcastle continue the exact form from today into all future fixtures against Arsenal.