But it does depend on how they play against us. Its noticeable that we are doing better against the teams that come out and play against us and struggling to breakdown the more defensive sides. It may also be due to our better attacking players (St Maximin and Wilson) being absent recently as well. Think Fulham will come out and attack which could help us.
That's true , but the assumption is that Fulham will, but they'll also know they can sit back and counter if required. The injury excuse isn't a temporary inconvenience because injuries will continue throughout the season and players take a good 5 games to get back to their best after a hammy . The old 'it'll be OK when we've got Wilson and max back ' just doesn't wash with me because they're always injured and others will be injured when or when they're not. This squad just doesn't have the depth in any area other than cb and maybe cf , but next season they'll have 3 or 4 more good players that will begin to resolve that issue. It'll be depth that gets Newcastle moving up the league standings.. a good 11 won't over 38 games, taking both cups serious, more internationals in the side traveling and fixture congestion post world cup . The fantasy 11 people keep pumping out just won't happen enough..
Botman > Schar > Burn IMO... Aerial duals, I'm fairly sure Botman has immense stats. Love Big Dan, but for me, Botman should be in front of him. BDB needed to step up / hold the same line as Schar vs Bournemouth and that's no goal. Billing would have been off. He was caught in 2 minds and got sucked towards the ball. He's even appealing for the offside, and it was him that played him on.
I agree with that sentiment of the first part here and no denying we aren't doing enough in front of goal BUT I think Isak plays wide right once Wilson is fit meaning Howe has addressed the wings as an area of concern until the next window at least. A potential fully fit 25 man squad of: Starting XI: Pope, Trippier+, Schar+, Botman, Targett, Bruno, Shelvey+, Joelinton, Isak, Wilson+, ASM Bench: Karius, Krafth, Burn+, Manquillo**, Willock, Anderson, Almiron, Fraser*, Wood* Reserves: Darlow, Lewis**, Lascelles**, Longstaff**, Murphy* - No space for Dummy or Ritchie imo. We are missing several players atm in Wilson, Shelvey, ASM and until recently Bruno (nearly half the outfield players) even Krafth could be seen as a miss at present as an option off the bench. *Wood Fraser and Murphy replaced in the next window for actual quality and our squad is shaping up very nicely! **Lacselles, Manquillo, Lewis, Longstaff as well over the next few windows while Trips, Shelvey and Wilson possibly a few others like Schar and Burn will likely need replacing by the end of next season or the season after as they are over 30(+). So yes we need replacements and probably something like 10-12 replacements in the next 4 windows should be doable but before then, people need to take a long term view. We have been told it's not an overnight success story, its laying the foundations and putting the building blocks in place for a monumental future and we are 11 months in to a reign that could be unlike any other before it (e.g. City and Chelsea) but it may take longer to get there because of restrictions in place since those two did what we are trying to do...
Isak wide right is a waste. Reminds me of Ba/Cisse. I doubt he'd play right anyway - Howe has been incredibly rigid this season, shown by the problems with inverted wingers vs B'mth. But I don't think he'll believe he's wrong - he'll sell himself the idea that B'mth parked the bus and his tactics were fine. Isak MIGHT play wide left if ASM is unfit and Wilson is starting. Again, I doubt it - I think instead Isak will drop to the bench and Wilson will start with Fraser and Almiron. It's the same with Bruno - Howe will persevere with him at CDM regardless of how many times it isn't quite right. I hope I'm wrong and we line up with a few tweaks to show we can be flexible and learn from mistakes, but I'd be surprised if we did.
