8 games in and we've played 5/7 currently above us. We're doing okay, especially with the extra fixtures this season. Shame to throw 2 points down the drain so late on and I think Howe should have made some subs earlier tbh. Hall or Target for Anderson after 70/75 would have made sense, Anderson and Longstaff looked absolutely spent by the time they scored their goal but kind of understand we don't really have any depth with the injuries atm. Not a bad result all in all and looking forwards to seeing players like Wilson, Joelinton, Willock, Botman back after the break and Barnes later!
Have to say Newcastle are probably where you'd expect them to be... last year they over achieved but were always going to settle into a more accurate league position this season. They're doing very well.
Think we can easily be higher in the league tbh. But would settle for a Europa Conference place this season
Lol, we're on fire right now! We started slowly but now we're flying. Liverpool being much better than last year, but top 4 is easily up for grabs with Man U and Chelsea being dogshit, and Brighton and Villa being erratic and up and down. Can see Spurs falling away a bit too. We looked a bit knackered yesterday, which is understandable, but at least they have a break now.
After 8 games last season we were on 11 points, 4th place was on 17 points same as it is now, so we have 2 more points and are 4 points off 4th instead of 6 at the same stage last season, and we've had tougher games. Not that i'm EXPECTING us to finish top 4, but it's all good.
This. Top 8 and a decent cup run in any of the cups would be a successful season imho. Win a trophy and it'll be a great season where ever we end up.
A slight complaint would be that we need to be a bit smarter at seeing games out, we should have been shutting up shop when it got to about 5-10 minutes left, **** looking for the third goal, but we pushed too many forward and got caught out. Felt the same against Liverpool at home, even though we had a man extra, just go defensive and see the 1-0 out. This is where we are still a bit naive at times.
Think that's a Howism Thing is, when we play well under Howe and it all clicks, we look absolutely unbelievable. It's sometimes shocking how well we play. When we are stopped and can't break a team down, we look ****ing crap. There's never an inbetween it feels like
Yea, i know it's easier said than done changing from an attacking mindset to a defensive one just like that mid match, but i think we need to try and learn to do it for situations like yesterday, because these dropped points add up and can be costly at the end of the season. We just need to be a bit smarter sometimes.
Love the potential with Anderson but that was 90% him causing that goal, to eager to press the CB's (WHY!?) in the 85th min or what ever it was, left his FB wide open and couldn't make it back to get the cover, Bruno get's sucked out to the LW position, Longstaff too tired to get back in at LCM and we left a ****ing chasm of space for Kudus with no pressure applied. Good finish to be fair but I'm sure Howe will be fuming inside but have a quiet word with Anderson about being a bit more savvy. If he'd left the CB and just cut out the pass to the FB they'd have thumped it long and Dan Burn would have won the header.
We had a mini slide with the city, pool, Brighton run - which the players and manager have turned around brilliantly. You say falling away though, as though it's a state that has and is continuing. Last four games though, yielded 10 points for nufc. None of the teams you have said will be finishing ahead of us have got more. None of the teams you've said will be competing with us for 5th -7th have got more. How is it that we are continuing to fall away? Arsenal last four = 10 points Spurs= 10 Villa = 10 Liverpool = 7 Brighton = 7 Chelsea = 7 Man City = 6 Man Utd = 6 West Ham = 4
There's a lot of mental gymnastics being used to try and force what I see as a delusional opinion on me. Let's just wait and see.
