Jan fixtures - Villa (A) Fulham (A) FA CUP Our fixtures in feb - Luton (H) Forest (A) Bournemouth (H) IMO this should be min of 6pts, preferably 7-9. Forest away will be difficult, I could accept drawing or losing that if we win our home games. Anything less than 6 when we have no fixture congestion to use an excuse, is a real worry. If there's no sign of improvement by end of feb, then it's time to start considering sacking Eddie I'd say.
Think that’s fair. I’d be seriously considering it if we exit the cup. But exit the cup and pick up 1-4 points he can **** off. With the spending record as well I’d be terrified seeing him with £150m in his pocket. Solanke, Mings, Philips? No thanks.
Honestly, if we have our players back and we have less games, I'd expect us to win all three of them If we somehow lose the majority? Yeah, he's in big trouble. Aka, he should be sacked.
I would wait and judge him at the end of the season. It’s clear to me that what is holding us back is FFP - put all efforts into sorting out our revenue so sort out the commercial side and the academy as top priorities. Changing the manager isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. Our squad as it stands, isn’t likely to win anything.
The same guys who signed Isak, Botman, Bruno, Gordon? Yeah Why not? It's not FFP or anything like that. We WILL get our 2nd wind this season. Our fixture congestion ended right on January where we have had to face Liverpool, City and now Villa in consecutive games. Give it time. We're only 3 pts away from a ****ing euro position.
No. This season has been a disaster and circumstances far beyond his control, we simply don't have the squad to cover or change tactics.
I'm more patient than a lot on manager sackings I think. I want Eddie to grow with Newcastle into a world class manager, the same way Fergusson did at Man Utd. There are inevitably going to be crests and valleys in that journey. What we have seen is that Eddie is able to adapt and learn. His time out studying tactics of others after leaving Bournemouth proves this. Even if we had a horrific 2nd half of the season, I think I would still like him to get the chance to adapt to these demands and become a better coach
Part of me agree, although I still think this squad is good enough to do better. But it's difficult to know where we are at. But by the end of feb there'll be no excuses anymore. If we don't finish top 6-7 then it's bye bye bruno and isak definitely.
No reason not to but to be honest I don't think we have much to spend in January anyway. Comfortable with the spending to date. To me it was done with the long term in mind, which was exactly right. 1) Somewhat aging back line (Trippier, Burn, Schar) - bring in two young wing backs (Livramiento and Hall) to develop into long term replacements 2) Gordon - excellent player after a slow start 3) Guimares - brings a bit of much needed flair to an otherwise workmanlike midfield 4) Isak - very clever striker. Not a target man but I don't want to see us hitting long balls to a big centre forward so suits how I want us to play 5) Barnes - one I am not sure about as I haven't really seen enough of him. Very pacey. If he does start to play regularly would be very comfortable with him on left and move Gordon on the right. Seem to remember him playing a lot more than just left wing at Everton. 6) Tonali - see exactly why we bought him. Pity about the suspension, as it was clear we wanted a quality PL-ready holding midfielder, which I think he is, and we will benefit from him next year. 6) Minteh and Kuol - young players for future.
Yes, wasn't a loaded question. My argument has always been the direction of the transfers, but we can go round in circles about FFP, etc., so maybe judgement is end of season on Howe and then September for purchases. I hope with slighlty less restrictions and come glaring issues with the likes of Almiron, Burn and Longstaff, proper players are brought in. If we start 24/25 with those three in the starting XI, then I'll be perplexed. If we finish where we are with no literally no additional fixtures, I'll be miffed.
Newcastle will review their January transfer plans at a special meeting this week following the injury to 27-year-old Brazil midfielder Joelinton. (Guardian) Just hope they don't panic and sell some one to enable them to spend,the cup game 27th so hopefully a few bodies will be back and then make a decision.
How is it a disaster? A top 4 finish this season would have been a much harder task this year with the extra fixtures and a squad not prepared for that amount of games. Top 7 would always have been an acceptable finish and we're literally 3pts away from a Euroepan spot. Far too early to panic.
IF we are still losing games to lesser opposition because then it would change the view of the season. If we get 9pts in feb, we'll liekly be back in a european spot.
I completely agree with the players you've highlighted there as needing upgrading. I think for me though, I would prefer money to be spent on another decent striker option before replacing longstaff. Hopefully with Tonali and Willock available next season (and as long as we keep Bruno and Joelinton too), longstaff should have a downward trajectory in the selection order anyway. RW, CB, LB, striker. Money probably won't stretch further (or even that far if we spend £28million on Hall).
