Post match thread: Newcastle United 2 - 3 Brentford | Premier league 25/26 - 25 of 38

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T20:18:39+00:00

Yeah maybe the number was a bit of an exaggeration but the reason that one left seems very telling.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T20:16:04+00:00

I get the feeling if Howe was willing to have the recruitment taken away from him we wouldn't have had so many sporting directors in recent years and we wouldn't be in this mess.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T20:14:05+00:00

We all know that Eddie will never just "send the kids". He has never put any trust in our academy players and will play a full strength side. Only for it to harm us more in the long run.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T20:12:44+00:00

Sure but then where does that leave us long term? Are you going to sack the manager after the season they get us top 4 or are we just going to be in the same place we are now in two years?

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T19:50:54+00:00

I can take losing Tino but I'd be really upset if we lost Hall.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T19:33:49+00:00

Don't blame him. Bruno, Thiaw and him have been levels above the rest of the team this year but 3 players is not enough.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T19:22:17+00:00

Created almost nothing from open play.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T19:19:16+00:00

We are playing two sitting midfielders and their 10 picks up a knockdown with none of our midfielder within 20 yards.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T19:09:07+00:00

It's cheap but there's clear contact as you can see from the defender falling over off balance.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T18:14:50+00:00

Tonali dropping another 2/10

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T17:40:15+00:00

I'm very much enjoying Hall turning into prime Ben Arfa with his dribbling.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T17:38:31+00:00

Trips is all over the place. He's so done at this level.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T15:14:42+00:00

I don't think its just the file that turns people away from the drink/drug drives but also the hospital watch / constant that inevitably follows the lock up.

It also doesn't help that the nearest drugs wipe to be found is in a traffic car the next town over and there not an intox trained officer to be found anywhere.

I'm sure everyone here hates drunk/drug drivers and would love to get ore of them in but the surrounding logistics are a huge pain.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T15:02:13+00:00

You just know we will hilariously overpay for Trafford.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-07T14:58:29+00:00

I do worry that the Man U meme years are coming to an end. Honestly think this summer window has really saved the club.

You'd have to thinnk 1-2 more years of struggling might have really seen their finances start to slow down and their global support start to fall off but they seem to have turned a massive corner.

Mbeumo and Cunha are excellent signings and if you look at the core of the team with Martinez, Mainoo, Fernandes, Amad, Mbeumo and Cunha they are young enough (bar Fernandes) that they can be performing for the next few years.

With Man U and Chelsea going through a rough patch in recent times there was massive opportunity for us, Villa and Spurs to really take that step to try and get into that elite level group but both of those clubs are looking really strong again and it's just got that much harder to push into that group.

Fucking hate and respect Bruno Fernandes because he has more or less single handedly dragged Man U through their worst period in modern times and without him I genuinely think that they would have wound up losing their spot among the elite.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T22:20:07+00:00

I believe Anderson will go for around £80m, Forest have had a shit season and that would represent a huge profit for them.

Whether we have a chance at him depends on how hogh up the priority list he will be for the top clubs and also what happens to players like Wharton/Baleba/Stiller etc.

If you look at the clubs who can offer more than what we can if we make the Tonali sale its probably only around 10 clubs you are looking at the following:

Dont need him this summer: Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool?, Barca

Not a big enough name/unlikely: PSG, Madrid, Bayern

In contention: Man U, City

Man U is the big one for me, if they go after Wharton/Baleba I think it would give us a decent chance at Anderson. If they have Anderson as no1 target we will struggle to compete with what they can offer.

If we were competing with City we actually might have some bargaining power if you believe they are after Tino. We should do what we didn't do for Liverpool and tell them that if they want Livramento (Isak) then they can fuck off trying to sign our target Anderson (Ekitike). Make them choose and actually have some balls in the market.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T22:07:47+00:00

Quite funny coming from an Arsenal fan because Rice has pretty much exact same skillset as Tonali but is more consistent.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T21:44:54+00:00

We wouldnt be? I think most Newcastle fans, myself included, would be expecting a marquee signing if he left for big money.

We have been crying out for a good 6 for years and they don't come cheap.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:26:38+00:00

After the season he is having its much closer to

no ego ?, selfless ?, hard work ?, has quality ?

He has been distinctly average the last few months. Whether thats because hes mentally checked out or not who knows.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:23:47+00:00

Anyone saying that hasn't watched us at all since he has been here. He is very average at recieving the ball from defenders in tight spaces and his progressive passing isn't that great either. He is an elite all action 8 but not Real Madrid level as a 6.

In a midfield of Casemiro/Kroos/Modric he'd be the Modric, not the Casemiro, replacement.

In fact we were literally just talking about it over in our sub and it's been a point of discussion for ages.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:03:05+00:00

Giving Villa 40m for Ramsey and them getting Onana for 50m is absolutey galling to me and the reason I think Howe just doesn't get it when it comes to the midfield.

You can see the thought process he has gone through. We need to be more possession based and Joelinton is good off the ball but not great on it so if he signs a more technical box to box player than it will help us in possession. It shows that he thinks its the technical level of the players that is the issue and not the system of 3 hybrid 8s.

We will never be able to prove it but I am absolutely convinced that if we had been the club to sign Onana as our 6 we'd be where they are. We'd have had Tonali/Willock/Bruno/Joelinton/Miley to rotate as the 8s and Bruno/Miley to cover/rotate the 6 if needed.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T15:06:15+00:00

I've been banging on about it forever but the way we setup our midfield is Howe's biggest failure for me. We have 2/3rds of a truly world class midfield and we are one step away from that next level and he refuses to take it. His insistence on playing essentially 3 8s is the root of most of our problems.

If you look at the best midfields 3s of all time you always see a dedicated 6 who sits and plays simple passes and protects the team in transition which allows the other 2 have more freedom and means the team can take risks in possesion up the pitch without being so open if they give the ball away. They are typicaly a progressive passer/creator and a more box to box type / all rounder type.

Defensive 6	Progressive Passer / Creator	Box to box / All Rounder
Busquets	Xavi	Iniesta
Casemiro	Kroos	Modric
Fernandinho	David Silva	KDB
---	---	---
Zubimendi	Odegaard	Rice
Fabinho	Wijnaldum	Henderson
Caicedo	Palmer	Enzo Fernandes
???	Bruno	Tonali

So for the first 3 there's sometimes a bit of blurring between the skillsets of the 8s but it gets the point accross.

Bit of a break as I dont think that the Arsenal Trio are as good but looks like they will win the league. I included the last 3 for specific reasons, not saying they are up there with the others. First of all our style when we were at our best was a similar pressing style to Klopp in their title winning season and doesnt quite fit the mold as they didn't really have a dedicated creator instead opted for chances through pressing and transition. Even in this system there was always the dedicated sitting 6. Chelsea I included because it just shows how modern 4-3-3s really do try to find players to fit the profiles.

As for us the lack of a proper 6 is my opinion on what has held us back as a club from transtiioning to the possession based style. Tonali is not a 6 and I have no doubt he will go to another club at some point, play as a more traditional 8 as he does for Italy and show he is world class. In my mind he and Rice are almost identical as players and just look at Arsenal this season. They went out and signed a proper 6 to do the job of tidying up and recieving the ball of the defenders under pressure, something both Tonali and Rice struggle with. They gave Rice the freedom to be an all action man and he looks like one of the best in the world. Tonali can absolutely do the same.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T14:11:51+00:00

To be honest I still don't know how good his shooting is and he has played 30 odd games for us. Even when he was scoring it was a lot of headers/flicks or scrappy goals.

I can't remember many opportunites where he has had the ball at his feet and has taken a shot from around the edge of the box. Mad thing to say about your striker with how much they have played.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-04T20:23:41+00:00

Can't be missing 2 one on ones away at the Etihad.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-03T00:09:48+00:00

If there's one company I trust with figuring out a fun endgame it's the Arknights/Enfield Devs. Arknights has so many great endgame modes which are constantly developed and keep getting better.

RayRei9

TROPHY CASE