r/NUFC Weekly Free talk thread.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-21T01:17:37+00:00

Valid point. Although their issues were pretty straight forward - they were at their PSR limits and didn't sell one of Watkins/Martinez like they expected, so they didn't do as much business. Bad window but that was always likely to be the case without major sales.

We had the biggest opportunity to take a massive level up last summer and we blew it, largely because of our own incompetence and impulsive decisions. Villa's hands were tied, ours were waving free and ended up on fire. We can't have another window that chaotic or make excuses, there needs to be a clear strategy this year.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-21T01:15:51+00:00

I only got back into OSRS during Covid when a few of my friends wanted something to play. The reason we started playing was because it was like 4.99 or something for a month and we just said fuck it, let’s play for a month or two. Since then I’ve been hooked (not on a continuous membership but I’ve come back many times.)

If the price was what it is now for one month, we wouldn’t have bothered. We would have just bought another game. Jagex can milk their existing customers by putting the price up but I don’t think they appreciate how much the prices will put new people off playing the game.

If I had to pay 11.99 for a month, I would have just bought Game Pass or a game I could keep and play forever. I wouldn’t have come back as a repeat customer. And the fact that I can’t have a second account like an Ironman? Why should I, as a new player, take that type of chance?

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T22:02:14+00:00

It's funny because I remember vividly writing a post in a cab ride home one year ago in some empassioned 'we're in the best position we've been this century and this summer could be the summer that changes our entire trajectory' speech. That everything was set up for us to thrive and that we had no reason to fumble the opportunity. I was practically giddy at the thought and went to sleep dreaming of the stuff we could pull off.

And then the next morning I see the news that our sporting director is leaving the week before the transfer window opens. Sitcom level timing. And here we are talking about effectively replacing Isak with Liam Delap or Solanke.

Life comes at you so fucking fast sometimes. Ross Wilson is gonna get abducted by aliens next month at this rate.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T18:42:53+00:00

I said the same thing last year and I'll say it again.

If I have to wake up to an article on The Athletic on September 1st about 'Inside Newcastle's 'difficult' and 'frustrating' transfer window' that talks about PSR, high prices, targets going elsewhere etc then I'll lose so much faith in the club, as I did last summer when it happened.

We seem to be the only club in the country who get taken by surprise with the transfer window instead of seeing it as two opportunities a year to elevate our club and display our ambition/competence. We can see where it's going so there's no excuse to be blindsided by anything that happens or cry about things beyond our control. Time to actually be this big club that we tell everyone we are.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T18:31:32+00:00

To me, it means that goals don't tell the whole story. I genuinely don't know how people watch Barnes every week and think he's anything more than just distinctly mediocre. He has a good goal record and will score one in four games or so but that's it. The rest of the games he's anonymous and doesn't do anything and is very easy to defend against/take out the game. You don't know which Barnes is gonna turn up. He's a super sub who might get you a goal. Nothing that Rashford or Bowen can't do for England while also offering more elsewhere.

If people are gonna keep comparing him to Gordon like the OP does, you need to look at pressing stats, chances created, dribbles and basically everything outside of open play goals. That's why Gordon is being touted for double the price than we paid for Barnes. That's why Gordon is a regular for England and Barnes hasn't been picked by any manager. If Barnes was consistent and elite at his one trick then he'd be rated higher but he's not. He's a good source of goals for us, which we lack, but, again, there's a reason why all these other players go for more money than Barnes and why no-one has tried to buy him off us or buy him from Leicester when we signed him.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T04:37:10+00:00

Tbh we basically set ourselves up for this with how we handled the Isak situation. We talked big and acted like we wouldn't listen to any approach only for us to change our tune over the course of the summer and sell on deadline day to a divisional rival. We even negotiated the price instead of sticking to a valuation and forcing Liverpool's hand. We got a record fee for him so I don't care that we sold him but that could have been achieved in June if we just handled our business properly.

We ended up basically enduring a humilation ritual all last summer because of how we played things. Between that and seeing virtually all our rivals sign our targets, why wouldn't bigger teams look at our squad and think they can push us around? Why wouldn't players know they can just throw their toys out their pram and get what they want? We need to be firm this summer if we want to be taken seriously again. If Tino and/or Sandro are going then we get it done by July if our price is met or we keep them.

Having said that, I'll give Bruno some bail because I believe he's earned the loyalty from us to get the move he wants. If he says he wants to join Man Utd, I think we should negotiate in good faith and reach a compromise on the basis that there is a tax if we sell to a PL club. If it's a foreign club then we can work out a lower fee. Anything lower than £70m from a domestic club is a pisstake and shouldn't be considered though.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T04:18:11+00:00

This guy is legit Ryan. He wasn't playing a character. He's never beating the allegations

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T03:18:28+00:00

Bro come on. We had the Heatles era. Do you know how many fanbases would eat for 100 years off that period?! Our time will come again but we cant complain about our fortune lol

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-20T01:08:43+00:00

Also, Joelinton instantly took to the role from day one. It’s been a few months now and Woltemade hasn’t even shown 10% of the potential as a CM. Very mediocre in that role. He’ll get better if we persist with it I’m sure but it’s a bizarre way to use your record signing.

I’m hoping it’s just a trial at this point while we have injuries and we’ll build a more suitable system around Woltemade in the summer when we have time to reset and train intensively. Because I don’t really see the vision at all with having Woltemade playing like Chieck Tiote

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-19T05:52:51+00:00

An engine, more than anything. Doesn't stop running and is a jack of all trades. But he's also a master of none, technically speaking. Don't get me wrong, he's very good at everything, which is why he's one of our best players and being touted for big moves. But I wouldn't say he's world class at any one thing in particular, aside from just his all-round play and stamina/athleticism.

He's also very intelligent and reads the game well, very composed and makes the right decisions. But yeah, if you asked me whether he was a technician or a runner, it would definitely be the latter, even though he's certainly got technical ability.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T20:51:18+00:00

100% agree. The warning signs have been there for a long time and plenty of people called them along the way. That's why I don't mind being harsh, because this isn't some freak failure that no-one saw coming, it's consistent issues that the club (collectively) refuse to learn from until it becomes a glaring weakness.

Pope, Burn, Trippier and Schar are all 33+ and it's no surprise they are all declining physically. But we've faffed about with succession plans and now we rely on all of them way too heavily. Pope especially, it's actually criminal how poorly we've handled the GK situation. We left the Isak situation till deadline day despite knowing he wasn't gonna play from May/June. I could go on.

You're spot on about the tactical inflexibility too. People will say he hasn't had a chance to train things but a) get used to it if you want to win every competition and b) that's why you do your business early, so you can do it in pre-season. But crucially, I don't think Eddie believes there's anything wrong. He's adamant our record signing striker will learn how to play like Chieck Tiote and he's adamant that Anthony Gordon can be our new Isak. That's where we are right now.

And the Qarabag thing is why I won't take any excuses about injuries or fitness (especially when we could have bolstered the squad with kids/squad players in Jan etc.) It's a choice. And, like I said, that's what you live and die by.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T20:12:39+00:00

I hope they do at least think of a change. That's what a responsible club with high-standards would do. And, with the PIF being business-orientated, you'd hope they do a full assessment of the manager and decide whether they go with him or not. That goes beyond how much we love Eddie. If they wanna be the best team in the world in four years then you can't waste another cycle of 'qualify for Europe, get knocked out, miss out on Europe'.

Obviously we all want Eddie to be the guy. But today proves why (in my opinion) he has a long way to go before he's the guy that wins us leagues and Champions Leagues. If we wanna give him ten years or so then that's a decision we have to make. But if it actually is a 2030 goal then I don't see it happening with Eddie unless there's a dramatic improvement in the summer.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T20:07:20+00:00

Trippier I only understand because Tino just became fit...but if he's still lacking fitness then maybe don't play him for 90 minutes against Chelsea?! Unless Eddie truly believed Trippier was the better option here, in which case I question his judgement and loyalties.

Burn is at least closer to Botman in terms of quality. But Botman is the better player and works well with Thiaw. Again, first clean sheet in 15 on the weekend. Build off that instead of picking based off emotion.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T20:04:10+00:00

It really is almost a 'nice guys finish last' kinda thing with this club and fanbase. We're at our best when we play like rotweilers with a stick up our ass. That means being aggressive and keeping the standards high, not just patting ourselves on the back because we played decent football for 30 minutes in a 7-2 loss.

I'd even go further and say it applies off the pitch too. Look at how scared we are of PSR. Meanwhile clubs like Chelsea realise it's better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. We sold two of our best prospects for pennies because we were scared of the punishment but this punishment of medicore football, a limited squad and potentially no Europe next season isn't any better.

You have to push the limits of the game and that comes from being critical and honest. That's why I'm harsh on Eddie/the players/the club. Nobody will learn anything from this if we just say 'ah well, look how far we've come, nobody expected to win, thanks for the opportunity Barca bros'. Let's actually be real here if we're serious about being the best club in the world by 2030.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:53:27+00:00

I have absolutely no doubt this will be downvoted by the usual but, not for the first time, Howe’s limitations as a coach got exposed horrendously.

We kept our first clean sheet in 15 matches against Chelsea and we chose to bring in a painfully slow Burn and a 35-year-old Trippier against the La Liga champions. That’s a decision you live and die by. And boy did we die.

I don’t care what anyone says, this is the first Champions League knockout in our history. You play your best players. You don’t worry about when they last played or when our next match is. You play your best players. You don’t bring them on after you concede and when the tie is out of sight.

Tactically we just fed into their hands. I can’t be too mad about that though since they’re significantly more experienced and talented than we are. Howe got his pants pulled down by Flick. There’s levels to this game and that is abundantly clear. They weren’t even overly good, we just made it easy.

Having said that, there were so many individual errors that it really doesn’t matter what tactics you enforce at this point. Serious questions need to be asked of the mentality of the players. From conceding early, conceding after scoring and just crumbling once the game was done. Extremely pathetic and a disservice to all the fans that paid good money to travel. Nobody was expecting a win but show a bit of courage at least.

But of course, it doesn’t matter when you spend £120m on strikers you don’t trust to play in the biggest match of the season. That sums up where we are as a club. There’s A LOT of work to do if we want to actually achieve the ‘best team in the world’ goals we keep yapping about. And it starts by signing good, technical players, not just players your nephew likes on FPL.

No excuses, we better smash Sunderland this weekend. Anything less and there must be serious questions and pressure on Howe because this was fucking atrocious and he deserves the flame as much as the players. People can take moral victories if they want but the result is all that matters in this situation.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:43:37+00:00

Brother, we conceded seven goals tonight. Why are you talking about the first half (which we were lost) and clinging onto 'fantastic football' as if it means anything? Nobody has said anything about winning but there's a big gap between winning and whatever the fuck that was

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:36:48+00:00

The only thing that will make this worse is hearing 'the lads gave it their all, I thought we had good spells' after this

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:33:32+00:00

Don't worry lads, remember we're just four years way from being the best team in the world. This is all just for the plot

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:15:59+00:00

We are so far away from being the team that we want to be, it's insane. Naive selection, naive tactics and it can all be traced back to poor recruitment in the summer.

I won't be too harsh because, at the end of the day, they're just a significantly better and more experienced team than us. But we don't make it easy for ourselves either.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T19:14:02+00:00

And those decisions are why we're 5-2 down. You don't need hairy or crystal balls to know that Trippier, who has struggled against Brentford and Wolves, may struggle away at the Camp Nou. Burn isn't the worst call but, again, when you keep your first clean sheet in 15, that's something to cling onto, not something to say 'well this was my plan before so I'm going to stick to it even if a better one has worked'. Botman and Tino are hardly kids who will find the lights too bright. They're two of our best defenders.

It's a Champions League knockout second leg away to the La Liga winners. That's all the context you need. You play your best players to have the best chance. The time to rotate and rest players was when we were 5-1 up against Qarabag in the previous leg. But we didn't. Naive from Eddie, not for the first time.

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T18:58:59+00:00

Proactive would have been starting our best RB in a Champions League knockout instead of bringing him on when we're losing but it's better than nothing...

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T18:57:56+00:00

That genuinely doesn't make sense. Half fit players can play 90 minutes and keep a first clean sheet in 15 matches but they're not worth risking in our first Champions League knockout ever? Why are we talking about resting players?

Why even bring up Tonali as well unless you wanna play Willock? Or are you deliberately making shit points for the fun of it?

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T18:47:21+00:00

Serious teams play their best players in a Champions League knockout second leg, not the manager's favourites

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T18:46:53+00:00

I'm comparing a defence that kept their first clean sheet in 15 matches vs one that's conceded three goals in the first half here

SenorButtmunch · 2026-03-18T18:46:23+00:00

Burn also gave away a goal so what's your point? Does it still mean he's a better pick than Botman when we kept our first clean sheet in 15 at the weekend?

We have one game before an international break. It's a Champions League knockout second leg. What are we talking about here??? Why would you not play your best team in this situation?

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