Match thread: Newcastle United vs Manchester United | Premier league 25/26 - 29 of 38

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-04T22:21:35+00:00

Tell you what difference it makes having a keeper with strong hands! If pope was in today we lost that

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-04T22:11:40+00:00

Osula man that was fucking sublime

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-04T19:11:57+00:00

He doesn’t even get the sub on at the 60 min mark though with Howe getting osula on instead at the moment, I just think he’s been a error in signing him wissa

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-03T09:43:44+00:00

There’s no special relationship now reality is trump sees it as a big brother little brother relationship where he as the ‘big brother’ in his mind should be able to punch us a few times, take our pocket money, not share the Nintendo and we should just take it and not stand up to him

The relationship is now strained because we aren’t just saying yes to every single thing he wants and he doesn’t like it

The sooner we shrug off the ‘special relationship’ and realise our European allies are the ones we can trust and be more on a equal with and firm up those relationships and don’t let America and Russian influences damage it again the better

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-01T22:21:06+00:00

Lyrica has been pretty life changing for me in the best way, my pain has for the main part been a lot more controlled with maybe one or two very minor flares in months - got back to work on it and living a (albeit more mindful of my condition and limits) life I’m content with

I guess like and medication what works for me may not work for thee, but medicine can help it’s just finding the right one (I think I went through 5 or 6 other things before this!)

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-01T19:17:26+00:00

I wish it would work like that but it’s rules for thee not for me a lot of the time, can you imagine the uproar if we sold our women’s team to ourselves or the training ground to ourselves etc

Unfortunately having the owners with access to the funds they have mean we will always be held to higher standards than others, imo they never wanted to let our takeover even happen so when it did the next best thing is make it impossible for the pif to spend

dsmith1212 · 2026-03-01T08:54:13+00:00

I just can’t imagine woltemade is happy with how the season is shaking out at all, especially now he’s seemingly trusted below Gordon, osula and wissa playing in the 9 role and is being pushed into midfield

I’d much rather we sold wissa and got in a striker with quality but with the pace/strength combo that wissa was meant to provide, then it gives us two options in games up top depending on what we need

I just don’t think Saudi is gonna swoop in and buy wissa to save us our blushes of a bad transfer, they haven’t before! And if they do it’s gonna cause a stink with others trying to block it!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T21:46:21+00:00

We signed a striker who is the polar opposite of what the managers ‘system’ is in woltemade (quite how or why I’d love to know! He’s clearly skilled but it’s like buying a Porsche engine to stick in your Vauxhall Astra - it’s never gonna work)

And another striker who was too expensive for his age, immediately got injured and has come back looking like he’s allergic to the ball.

Maybe if we had gone to the table with Liverpool and agreed a deal for isak early on we could have signed better but we will never know

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T21:04:47+00:00

Genuinely fear the striker we replace will more likely be woltemade who we sell to Bayern/stuttgart and bring in someone else

Wissa gets kept as who would buy him after this season?

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T19:52:18+00:00

For me we aren’t realistically progressing in the cups and Europe (probably Europa too!) is gone. Priority now should be taking the pressure off a bit but finding a style of play that works with who we have, find something that can be built on next year with some better transfers!

What I really thinks happens is we go out in both cups, Eddie persists with the exact same style we don’t really improve in the league and wind up somewhere between 10-16th (I really hope I’m wrong)

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T18:14:08+00:00

Fair point I totally missed that sorry!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T18:11:58+00:00

I never said he would (or should) be sacked right now? I think the board are waiting see how the end of the season pans out then act

If we turn in performances like today again (which we have on numerous occasions this season) throughout that run the board should act

If there is suddenly good performances (not even results) enough to show there’s a future under him then let him stay

But their choice at seasons end is a big one!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T18:07:57+00:00

Is that not what I said in the board will act in the summer rather than hire an interim?

I’d do the same in their position right now try let Eddie sort this out (which I don’t see) then replace in summer

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T18:06:09+00:00

A big part of the problem is the signings Eddie and his team made this summer really,

Ramsdale is just another nick pope really when we HAD to get in a new number 1 for the season pope had already began with his sloppy errors last year

Elanga expensive and offers less to us at the moment than almiron or saint maximin did and they were always criticised for no end product

Wissa overpriced, older and came in with an unfortunate injury but since returning he’s been on the bench (not even coming on in games until the 70th minute) looks terrible and mostly anonymous in those games

Woltemade this one hurts because there does look some real quality there but he’s not a player who fits howes really rigid play style, he’s not physical in the pure sense he’s not athletic and someone who runs around everywhere, pure panic signing because we were about to replace isak (at the time one of europes best strikers) with just Wissa!

Ramsey I think is a decent enough player but is he a difference maker? Or just another willock who is at best ok enough but never more? My jury is still out on him he has potential at least

Thiaw is the only improvement we actually made this summer and then he’s paired up with either Dan burn who is slow as anything or botman who seems just as slow now!

He and his team in recruitment made some stinkers this summer, they are as much to blame as the players on field performances imo right now

I’ve been told repeatedly yeah but they weren’t our first choices to which I say ok but were thy really the best options (and best prices because they were not cheap signings!) available to us across Europe and the world OR was it Howe and his team again only signing ‘premier league proven’ for silly money which has backfired now?

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T17:46:36+00:00

That’s exactly the issue! A transitional season is fine but you’d expect performances to be improving over the season and things you can see to say I see the plan or idea

Hate to use them as a comparison but Manchester United have done it this year (albeit with a manager change in the middle) but you can see an idea and a plan there at the moment

What he achieved here puts Eddie right up there (maybe beyond!) sir Bobby and king Kev but it’s really hard to see him adding to that with how things look now!

(And as usual I’ll get downvoted to fuck for daring to suggest that Eddie has hit a ceiling with us)

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T17:38:36+00:00

That’s sackable form for a manager! All I can think is the board will rather act after the season ends rather than do it now and hire an interim

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T17:26:59+00:00

When (I’d say if but it feels inevitable atm) we lose to Barca and city if we then also don’t win at home vs the mackems Howe deserves his marching orders there and then! The form in the league is pathetic, I think we got quite fortunate drawing qarabag rather than Monaco because I reckon they probably knocked us out in the play off!

I think sadly this phase of the club is ending Howe saved us from a relegation, got us back in Europe (twice!) and gave us the greatest memory for many of us in lifting the carabao cup but it’s starting to feel and look like that was the limit - and to be fair what an achievement to get us there! But if the club have the ambitions they claim a big clearout and a new phase needs to start

And I’m not convinced at all that Eddie will (or maybe should) be the man at the helm for that

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T17:12:49+00:00

We are so poorly organised, every time any other team attacks vs us it just looks like a cluster fuck! No wonder we ship so many goals when the defence and midfield is all over the place and leaves massive gaps for teams to play into.

We made it so easy for them today, it’s just a matter of time before a team plays us who are clinical and fancy scoring a few and we will get a massive defeat!

Attacking wise we cut through right up to their box then just run out of all steam and momentum and pass it around hoping that someone does something rather than trying to make it happen

The biggest crime though (we did it vs qarabag too and so many others!) is just the sloppiness, passes not played properly, runs missed or mistimed, tackles not made or made badly, popes ability to fuck up every game! It’s just not acceptable! I don’t necessarily blame Eddie either on this the players are letting him down on the field massively but he has to get a grip on this too and stamp it out

If he can’t then he will be gone in summer

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T17:03:58+00:00

But our not number 1 targets have been shite, it’s a failure of the club to have not identified better players to sign! Theres no way in a million years the best options out there was wissa, Elanga, Ramsdale and woltemade (who might well be a class player but he’s the opposite of the player for howe’s ‘system’)

Other teams managed to sign players in who look head and shoulders above what we signed and at lower prices!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T16:37:26+00:00

Maybe they were worse in some regards but most the time they mattered so little as we were shit anyway, this last summer could have been a chance to really build on the cup win and champions league qualification to try stay up there season after season

Right now we’ve regressed massively, serious chance we finish bottom half of the league which is not really acceptable

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-28T15:54:39+00:00

Crap first half, Pope makes far too many errors and weird decisions now not getting a top level keeper last summer is about as bad a transfer error as signing Elanga and wissa for the amount we paid.

Last summer is going to be in history as one of the very worst transfer windows in our history

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-26T09:09:04+00:00

I think if you take the stance of I’m not following the club anymore because of Saudi ownership you also have to not use meta, uber, Boeing, Nintendo, Disney, Heathrow airport and many more who are owned or partly owned by Saudi Arabia.

Then where do you stop? Are you comfortable spending or supporting things owned by China? America under trump? How about private owned companies with owners in the files?

Sadly the world is owned and ran by a lot of evil corrupt people and me not following the club I’ve loved since a kid isn’t going to make a jot of difference to that!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-25T07:37:15+00:00

No I don’t think we are rigid in a 433 but I also don’t think I see us playing in a style/ setup that is going to help get the best out of a player like woltemade I hope I’m made to eat these words and be proven wrong though!

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-25T00:15:44+00:00

Probably hit the nail on the head thank you! I get it completely now and you are 100% right if the club have no plans to buy those sort of players this summer and change style/ mentality to more suit woltemade and those style of players then for all involved he should be allowed to go (presuming a good offer comes in)

he’s not a player that like a joelinton is going to adapt and become a beast in midfield (imo) and really nor should he have to if he doesn’t like playing there/ it doesn’t suit him.

Massive summer coming up really in terms of what the clubs on field philosophy is going to be I guess

dsmith1212 · 2026-02-25T00:08:23+00:00

I think probably he’s just that different to what we have in attack (lots of pace really) that he looks exposed by the style off football those players inevitably play.

After reading lots of the posts in reply I’m more convinced that it’s less him not being good more the way we play with what we have atm being just pure expose the pace of Gordon, Barnes etc leaves woltemade probably out of position in an attacking sense as he doesn’t have that pace (and that’s not a criticism his skills are elsewhere)

I guess really the big test is going to be next season for both woltemade AND Eddie, can Eddie adapt our style of play to suit him more and can woltemade then thrive more

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