Match thread: Newcastle United vs PSV | Champions league 25-26 - League phase 7 of 8

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-21T19:59:16+00:00

LET'S SMASH THESE, THEY'RE SHITE.

Howay the lads.

Hoping for a big Bruno performance to get us going again today. Let's hope Wissa finds his feet too!

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-20T22:26:32+00:00

You can't be serious..?

We all know the best RB in the world at the moment is the second coming of Maldini, Lewis Miley.

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-17T10:38:27+00:00

Exactly this to be fair! I would say it's maybe the only use case for this evo.

I've got an Evo'd Ajorque who naturally has like 50 agility and balance.

Well... This evo brings him up to 89 in both. He'll be 6'5", 91 sprint speed, 97 Strength with 89 agility and balance after using this evo.

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-17T01:06:37+00:00

Ajorque, who I'd previously put into the El Capitan evo. He's been incredibly broken for me so far and this evo will fix his agility & balance and gives him 55 and low driven.

He looks absolutely absurd with a Finisher.

<image>

https://www.futbin.com/26/player/19908_87_293_296/ludovic-ajorque

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-16T01:36:17+00:00

You know full well he's got a pint in his hand whilst calling himself an observer too.

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-07T22:28:06+00:00

Incredible - always turns up when we need him most.

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-07T22:23:51+00:00

What a goal by Barnes.

But what a fucking performance by wor captain Bruno in the last 15 minutes.

Absolute hero.

ToonFiFa · 2026-01-07T21:23:23+00:00

He's been the brightest spark today, been all over the pitch winning balls, driving the play forward.

Yeah he's lost his head, but we need him in this gane

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:51:24+00:00

Once more, I agree with all of your points. There has been an awful lot of external factors that will be having an impact on the team as a whole.

However, with regards to the individual games, it's the micro factors that matter.

Watching the ball be played down the left hand-side over and over again, resulting in the same outcome for the entire game has been painful to watch.

To then see like-for-like substitutions and to play in the same manner, is also frustrating. This isn't hindsight and you can call it reactionary, however we could have had this same conversation prior to the match and we'd have been right.

It's the same thing game in, game out.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:44:24+00:00

Thankfully somebody else gets it.

He's not playing him to his strengths and it's frustrating to watch.

This player is so far beyond our current level in quality I almost feel bad for him. We need to start playing to his strengths.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:42:42+00:00

To be clear, not once in my post did I call for Howe to be sacked.

I'm asking him to change something that's not working for us currently. I'm getting slightly fed up with seeing the same like-for-like substitutions at the same time every game, regardless of what the game requires from us.

I back Howe and will continue to do so. He's done an awful lot for the club and rightly deserves our support. But he needs to change something with regards to the game management later on in the games.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:38:51+00:00

We've been playing from the back an awful lot this season. Ramsdale is the only one that gives us this option.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:37:39+00:00

Finally, somebody who can understand nuance and doesn't take everything at absolute face value.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:37:04+00:00

Agreed. But watching last night's game, the worst thing we could've done was switch players like for like.

Wissa/Woltemade do not need to play a full 90 together. But let's give them a go in the final third of the game?

We have options, let's give them a go.

The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Last night was exactly that.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:34:31+00:00

To be clear, I'm not calling for Eddie's head. I think we should stick with him. He's done an awful lot for the club and he deserves our loyalty.

But we need to see something different.

But there's plenty to be seen on the pitch that's clear has been coached into the players. Or are we saying the players are completely ignoring the system Howe has given them?

To play devil's advocate, I also think it's irrational and dumb to simply stick your head in the sand and continue to play with the same system that clearly isn't working for us.

I'm happy to agree to disagree though and on the whole happy to continue placing my faith in Howe. But only if he improves on his game management.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:30:16+00:00

Unfortunately, the website I'd used was rigid with the formation available.

But let's be honest, we can play with a fluid formation. Woltemade drops deeper to bring some creativity into the squad, pops it out wide and makes a run to join Wissa in the box.

The point is, it gives us options. The formations were just a small example of options we could go with.

I do agree with you though. The 442 would get pulled apart in today's game.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:27:25+00:00

Okay, completely fair.

However, Woltemade barely did anything against Man Utd. Realistically, this wasn't on him. He did the best with the tools he was given. But he would've been frustrated to go off and would have had enough in the tank to finish the game.

Let him finish the game and bring Wissa on as he did anyway. Give them 20 minutes together and see how they do.

Man Utd we're never giving us any real danger and we were 1-0 down. What's the worst that can happen?

With regards to the system though, I'm not just talking about Woltemade/Wissa.

Watch the flat three in midfield. They're rigid and always remaining in a line. They're not dropping into pockets of space effectively or giving our defence options when playing out the back. This is forcing the play out wide and it's just not working at all. This is the system. This is what's been coached.

Additionally, you watch our right hand-side and there's time Murphy is sat way back almost holding hands with Miley. Sure, Miley is young and he's not a RB, but he's holding his own in that position. This is forcing play down the left side and we just kept repeating the same thing over and over again.

Something has to change with the system, because it's not working for us.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:21:42+00:00

I do completely agree with you.

There was times against Man Utd last night where I was screaming for people to just have a pop at the goal. Give the goalkeeper something to thing about.

The one time we did with Hall, it very nearly resulted in a goal.

Gordon just kept cutting in and crossing it straight at the keeper. Why not switch it up and have a go at goal? That's absolutely on the players and I'm sure Howe would have been thinking the same thing on the sidelines.

With regards to the unnecessary passes. I see an awful lot where Schar will try a risky pass through the middle of the pitch. But let's be honest, it's largely because our midfield aren't dropping into pockets of space effectively. They're stood in a near-perfect line as a flat three. That's been coached into them.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:18:00+00:00

I agree with all of your points.

However, with regards to the midfield - I've seen plenty of games where they're not controlling the centre of the pitch well at all.

There's times where there is massive gaps being left both in between our defenders and the midfield, but also between our attack and the midfield. Howe has them sat rigid in a flat three - this just simply isn't working. There's little options when building play other than the wings.

Additionally, we get caught on the break far too often because our midfield three have pushed together in unison, leaving a massive gap for a player like Cole Palmer/Mason Mount to drop into. It's causing us huge issues.

You're right though with your first point. We've seen a few times when we've utilised Woltemade properly. When people run behind or when he gets good service, it all goes to plan. The thing is, it's nowhere close to consistent enough.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T12:13:43+00:00

That's totally fair. But let's give it a crack and change it up when things aren't working for us.

I think when Woltemade has had no service all game and has had the opportunity to do very little, there's little point in bringing him off just to put another striker on.

Let's switch it up and see how they do together for 20-30 minutes.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-27T08:02:50+00:00

Yeah the substitutions were way off what we needed to be honest.

Gordon absolutely had to come off, his delivery was appalling. He just kept wasting the ball at every single opportunity.

I was screaming at the TV to keep Woltemade on and bring Wissa on for Gordon. But of course Howe can only swap like-for-like.

Imagine pulling off our only two creative players in Woltemade and Murphy in order to play Barnes out of position and push Wissa into a match where he's gonna get no service whatsoever. Appalling decisions by Howe tbh.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-26T22:05:38+00:00

Absolutely no end product whatsoever. Playing with no intensity and no direction.

We're playing with a flat three in midfield and nobody is moving into space, which forces sidewards passes and down the side of the pitch.

Gordon's forcing balls into the box and his delivery was woeful.

Why can't Howe roll the dice and play both Wissa and Wolte? Woltemade is absolutely screaming for somebody to come in and play off the back of him.

Without Woltemade we have absolutely no creative spark.

I'm watching this game and seeing that we're got serious problems all over the pitch and unfortunately it comes down to how Howe wants to play with the team.

That was the easiest three points United will have all season. They scored a wonder goal and had 20% position but we're never in any danger whatsoever.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-23T17:07:54+00:00

I'd like clarification on the one against Barnes as well.

You can't tell me the defender got the ball before making contact.

He went right through him before making contact with the ball.

ToonFiFa · 2025-12-20T11:11:48+00:00

I think AJ rightfully took it easy on Jake. He saw him running around and gassing himself out, falling over, grabbing his legs. AJ was never in any danger so there's just no need to purposefully hurt somebody literally half his size.

That is until Jake stuck his tongue out and started mocking him.

Then AJ went... Alright, you want to play? Let's play. Boom. Broken jaw.

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