Our squad depth is woefully terrible. I almost want us to finish 5th over top 4 because I feel champions league would be too much of a step up. But if we did finish in a european position, especially the champions league, I think we'd need - (Taking into account both this Jan transfer window and summer) 1. Creative wingers - - The only player that can create anything from the wings is Trippier, the only one that can deliver a balls from set pieces is Trippier, the only decent direct freekick taker we have is Trippier. I'm putting emphasis on creative attackers because our most creative player is trippier, and if he gets injured we're going to struggle big time. Two more wingers at least. ASM crock, disinterested, doesn't work hard defensively, fraser gone, Murphy ****e. Almiron the only decent winger we have and he doesn't really create much, he simply has a decent goal threat when on a good run, but he does work hard. 2. A right central midfielder - Someone who again is hard working and creative. Our current options are longstaff, Shelvey and Willock. Longstaff and Willock don't create much, Willock is ok defensively, Shelvey gets caught on the ball too often and lacks pace and energy. Tielemans? 3. CDM, because without Bruno in that position, we look far more vulnerable. The thought go Shelvey or Longstaff in that position again is frightening in the championship. 4. Another back up CM because Bruno and Joelinton are instrumental to our midfield, if either get injured we need better than Shelvey and Longstaff. 5. Another CB. After Schar and Botman, we have Burn who we may need to cover LB. After that we have Lascelles and although he has improved, he'd be way out of his depth at the highest level. We could keep him as a 5th choice because he's apparently a good club captain and is not all that bad at premier league level against all but the toughest sides, but at european level he'd get obliterated. 6. Another LB? - Target becoming crock, is being dropped constantly for Burn who adds nothing to the attack except a back post knockdown. It's good to have Burn to play there if necessary but surely we need better. We could really use a LB that can deliver a cross rather than Burn's 2 mph runs and useless crosses. 7. Another striker. Isak I think will be ok, he was ****e against Shef Wed but the bits we've seen of him vs Liverpool and Bournemouth he was alright, but Wood is ****e and will be sold, and Wilson is crock. We need another striker for the inevitable Wilson injury and we need depth to cover the sheer amount of games. ----------- Summary, the main emphasis here is more creativity and attacking threat. 2 wingers, RCM, CM, CDM, LB, CB, a striker. So our team would look like this New LW------------Isak/Wilson-------------Almiron ---Joelinton--------Bruno--------New RCM----- New LB-----Botman----Schar---------Trippier -------------------------Pope-------------------- Subs - Dubs New RB New winger New CDM Burn Targett New CM New striker Wilson/Isak So 7-8 new players in total I think. At least 2-3 in jan, 5-6 in summer.
Champs league is more money and the schedule is less demanding than being in Europa. Also helps significantly when trying to sign players. Agree we would have to make quite a few changes though.
Slightly fewer games early on. But from 2024, UEFAs latest attempt to **** up football comes into effect with 12 midweeks instead of 6 in the CL. Wonder when CL games will demand to be on a weekend?
We won’t qualify for the CL. Three spots already gone and I think Spurs and Liverpool are going to finish strongly. I still think we’ll end up 7th, which is still massive progress and a place in Europe.
I thought Liverpool would finish strongly and have a good 2nd half after the WC but they look just as fundamentally flawed as before. Their defence is still awful, and I see no strong signs of improvement. I don't see Liverpool turning it around this season. Chelsea also look bang average to me. I'd say the main threats are Spurs and Man United. But Spurs have only grabbed one impressive result at Palace who are ****e. I think it really depends who we sign in the Jan transfer window. This window will determine how ambitious they really are. I think if we can sign two attacking options we're in with a great chance.
I see Newcastle not keeping up the pace over a full season and thh there's already been signs of a downturn . They look like they're feeling the pressure and drained
If we sign an impressive wide forward and a central midfielder then I think we have a chance. But reliance on Wood, Murphy and Longstaff will not get a CL spot.
Only thing working for us is all the fixture pile up at the rivals. Thanks to our dreadful squad we haven’t even got an Fa cup run. So we have at most 4 league cup games then the PL fixtures and the deeper the CL/EL clubs to, the more they’ll prioritise that competition. I didn’t get the feeling Eddie was very downbeat about the FA Cup defeat….those extra weekends of rest probably look quite nice today.
We've already had a bad run previously and got through it through scraping results. The cup game was a shambles but we had a full strength team playing we'd have cruised to a victory. We gifted them chances through our reserve players being ****e. I think we'll be fine, we cannot be expected to win every game. FFS we just drew at Arsenal! We're the only side not to lose at the emirates. One bad result in the PL, followed by a great result at Arsenal, and a **** result in the cup game because our squad depth let us down. Like I said before, the cup game was a good loss because it gave us a true idea as to how poor our squad depth is, and it was a necessary loss.
Fans are building up belief that nufc are guaranteed to finish ahead of Brighton Brentford and Fulham. The season is long !
That's unbeaten in 7 and a huge reason we're anywhere near the top4. You'll soon recognise a bad run involves losing games mate
Probably but they're not far behind ... there's a degree of arrogance in some fans creeping in and if a bad run comes which it will at some point they'll be the ones overreacting.
I'm sorry but even if you avoid defeat 1 win in 7 is a bad run for any side with real ambition. I know it could have been a lot worse, but if a bad run involves avoid defeat but simply failing to win, then that's sometimes a sign of a top team If you cannot win, then don't lose. Bad runs usually involve losing, but if you're good enough it may only involve failing to win. Any side with any ambition to reach the top 7 cannot consider winning 1 game in 7 as anything but a poor run of form, you'll not achieve anything significant with that sort of run. 1 win in 7 means you'd win about 7/8 games all season, lets say 8 to be generous. 8 wins x 3 = 24, meaning you'd have to draw 16 games on top of that just reach the 40 point mark. You could be the draw masters and do it sure, but you'd be expecting no more than a mediocre finish around lower mid table. If you want to finish strongly you need to be winning around 50% of your games at least, preferably more and avoiding defeat a lot.
Ambition has nothing to do with it...Newcastle have not had a bad run all season. Newcastle have over achieved if anything at all mate .
