OzCanary: I have managed to find a broadcast on NUFC Radio website. You just need to register to listen in.
It's looking likely that we will go into the new season without Hanley and Zimmermann and Omobamidele will have to feature . No replacement for Tettey and Skipp but the good news is we are trying to buy more wingers to add to our collection. Not 100% convinced so far . A suspenjury to Pukki or Gibson and we are in trouble.
Freezer's latest view: "Gilmour has just been dispossessed by Murphy but otherwise he and PLM have looked comfortable."
I would be stunned if we aren't nailed to the foot of the table after Liverpool Leicester Man City and Arsenal. Still haven't learned our lesson recruiting a new centre back holding midfielder or adequate cover for Pukki. It's going to be a long hard season chaps
Yes, but I'm glad the start isn't against teams we can't really afford to lose against, especially after the Covid problems. At least our first four games are ones we would probably have lost anyway rather than the games (Watford, Brentford, Brighton, Burnley, etc) where we need wins. This result will make the fans edgier, though, and less likely to accept the loss of either Cantwell or Aarons.
The Newcastle commentators thought that we were well on top in the first half and their fans were restless. St Maximin changed everything when he came on and the first goal totally changed the momentum and Zimmerman began to struggle, particularly with St Maximin (but then he did cost them £18m plus add ons). We should be out of Covid isolation on Monday and a match fit Sargent should be on board next week as well. Onwards and upwards.
That's one way of looking at it but alternatively we fail to recruit in the right areas get thumped in those 4 games without scoring and the team loses any confidence or swagger that they brought from last season . If they perform anywhere near the standard after the restart losing every game and not scoring then it could be another confidence sapping doom fest . Zimmermann isn't good enough and we haven't replaced Skipp or Tettey . We have some promising new young midfielders but Buendia is an enormous gap to fill. I say the same every time we go up . BUY A ****ING DECENT CENTRAL DEFENDER.
Well, we have bought Gibson this window and he's already bedded in, but we do need another CB and DM. I'm not making too many judgements from one pre-season result, especially with 7 players missing and 4 others only just out of isolation. The rustiness showed after having cancelled two pre-season games.
Gibson was a terrific addition to the squad that was in the Premier League last time Rick agreed , but Zimmermann has never really been the same since getting butchered at West Ham and Omobamidele is still just a kid learning his craft . IF we could play Gibson and Hanley every game then that's just about adequate but that's not realistic and we don't appear to be looking to bring in a quality addition with only 7 days to go before we play Liverpool. Having to play Tettey and Amadou out of position for much of the season was really wreckless and we don't seem to be too interested in improving our defence which shipped an eye watering amount of goals last time . I'm not panicking yet but at this stage it looks like an unnecessary gamble. Apparently we bid £10m for Ajer which looked promising but other than Hanley who we bought in 2017 for £3.4m and Zimmermann who was a free agent we have been relying on academy players . We don't mind splashing out on midfielders but centre backs never seem to be a priority. I find it astonishing especially trying to survive in the Premier League. No matter how beautiful we play passing about we need to try and keep the goals out or it's pointless, literally.
We did pay £7.5m for Klose and he did make a difference in the PL until his injury. We need someone like him now and another DM. Omobamidele had a good game today and made an apparently fantastic tackle to take the ball off at Maximin and that speaks volumes. He's an experienced player now and, IMO, better than Godfrey was at that age. Giannoulis seemed to have a good game as well on both sides of the ball today. I also think that Lees-Melou will be a great player for us and we have yet to see what Sargent and Tzolis will add.
That was January 2016 Rick we have been up and down 3 times since. He nearly kept us up , who know if we signed him the previous window Agreed Rick another Klose type player would be fantastic. Especially as we made a lot of money from selling Godfrey .
I'd rather lose 3-0 than 2-1 believing we were unlucky: at least there's no temptation to kid ourselves. It's not been easy with Covid screwing up the market and also hitting our players hard, but we've got almost a month to sort it out. Over to you, Webber and Farke.
