Football 2024/25

[kaosmark2]

4 minutes ago, thetime said:

Depends if you can cope with european competition this time + premier league. 

 

Added to being able to keep your main players.

Any Geordie will tell you we have a major depth problem. The players who were staples of the team from before are now mostly  perma-crocked and aging out. Callum Wilson is the stand out example but we're very clearly vulnerable to injuries until/unless we make some signings. I'm just hoping that the FFP/PSR rules let us actually have a net spend for a change.

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Depends if you can cope with european competition this time + premier league. 

 

Added to being able to keep your main players. 

 

 

 

Yeah we all saw how that went two seasons ago. In retrospect finishing 7th actually wasn't too bad giving adding Europe to Spurs' schedule totally exposed their lack of squad depth.

6 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Hopefully utd do the right thing, rest all the players for Newcastle. Utd need to put all there eggs in the Europa basket. 

Yeah if I was Ruben, I'd do this too. Lyon will be a tricky test but that competition in now the only way to redeem the turkey of a season that the Red Devils have had.

[charlierc]

20 hours ago, narwhal said:

You could mount those two free kicks in the Louvre. 

Ah they were outstanding. Who knew Rice had that in his locker? Merino's goal was also pretty special for a player that's not a striker playing as a striker.

 

Of course it's naive to think it's over - Barcelona's comeback from a 4-0 first leg defeat against PSG and Real Madrid's history are certainly hints they can come back - but much as Arteta makes it easy to find them annoying, Arsenal's first leg win yesterday was probably his masterpiece.

[thetime]

27 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 

Yeah if I was Ruben, I'd do this too. Lyon will be a tricky test but that competition in now the only way to redeem the turkey of a season that the Red Devils have had.

 

Win-draw-win-draw-win

 

Then utd are back in the Champions League, simple really. 

[thetime]

PSG by far the best team I've seen all season. 

 

They will probably lose the semi to Madrid. 

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, thetime said:

PSG by far the best team I've seen all season. 

 

They will probably lose the semi to Madrid. 

What are your thoughts on Rashford doing things again while on loan at Villa?

[thetime]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

What are your thoughts on Rashford doing things again while on loan at Villa?

 

He went stale at utd, best for both parties. No animosity at all.

 

I can't see him signing for villa, certainly not at 40m transfer fee and then 16m a year in wages.

 

Perhaps a lower base contract, with big incentives with goals. Although I doubt rashford going for that, he has only hit over 11 league goals twice in his career and never over 17. 

 

I'd also imagine him going to a champions league team. As we discussed, it's tight for 3rd-5th places. 

[thetime]

Matic is the truth. 😄

[charlierc]

11 hours ago, thetime said:

Matic is the truth. 😄

This like that meme of going "The haters didn't believe in me and the haters were right, respect to the haters" huh

[Skip997]

In with a shout again 

[Skip997]

Absolutely determined to throw it away. Even to the extent of scoring for the opposition. As I’ve previously said, their heads have gone 

Edited April 13, 2025 by Skip997

[Skip997]

Oh wait a minute…

[Crazyfool01]

11 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Absolutely determined to throw it away. Even to the extent of scoring for the opposition. As I’ve previously said, their heads have gone 

yer head has gone ... they are gonna win it 

[thetime]

3 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

yer head has gone ... they are gonna win it 

 

Liverpool could lose every game and still win it. 

[charlierc]

Can't help but be content with that. I thought Man United had moments where they didn't look that bad in the first half but their defending in the second - woof.

 

I had wondered if this might not be a straight-forward day with yesterday's news that Howe had been taken to hospital and the unknown of Man Utd dropping Onana for his latest fumbles against Lyon the other night. But 3 points achieved superbly, with the scope to jump Forest and take third if we win a game in hand on Wednesday night against Crystal Palace. In short, not bad.

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Absolutely determined to throw it away. Even to the extent of scoring for the opposition. As I’ve previously said, their heads have gone 

I know you wrote this before Liverpool made it 2-1 but really? Arsenal are clearly now more focused on trying to win the Champions League given Liverpool are pretty much uncatchable at this point.

[thetime]

6 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I know you wrote this before Liverpool made it 2-1 but really? Arsenal are clearly now more focused on trying to win the Champions League given Liverpool are pretty much uncatchable at this point.

 

They will win the title closer to 20 points, rather than single digits. 

[Gnomicide]

"Liverpool heads gone"

 

[balti-pie]

22 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Absolutely determined to throw it away. Even to the extent of scoring for the opposition. As I’ve previously said, their heads have gone 

 

 

😄 imagine what you'd be like if you supported an actually dreadful FC, you'd never be able to handle it! 

[kaosmark2]

I know it's silly with how tight things are in the European spots, and with Villa away next weekend, but I'm currently looking up the table rather than down. It's a nice feeling!

[charlierc]

21 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

"Liverpool heads gone"

 

They could win the title next weekend if results go their way and Skip will still be convinced they're gonna f**k it up.

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I know it's silly with how tight things are in the European spots, and with Villa away next weekend, but I'm currently looking up the table rather than down. It's a nice feeling!

Not that it's all been sunshine and rainbows given this: Eddie Howe: Newcastle boss recovering from pneumonia in hospital - BBC Sport

 

My dad had a similarly nasty chest infection that we thought could be borderline pneumonia a few weeks ago so I can imagine this was a very unpleasant thing for Howe to go through. Does say it means he'll miss the Palace and Villa games but hopefully he'll be well enough to come back by the end of the season.

 

But yes, I think to a degree we're still adjusting our expectations. It's a strange one to boot given we're no longer the team that was happy to draw 0-0 at West Brom in a relegation six pointer, as we were in the dismal lockdown season, but it's a nice feeling to think that as it stands, we've got an opportunity to really take charge of the Champions League chase this week.

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

Not that it's all been sunshine and rainbows given this: Eddie Howe: Newcastle boss recovering from pneumonia in hospital - BBC Sport

 

My dad had a similarly nasty chest infection that we thought could be borderline pneumonia a few weeks ago so I can imagine this was a very unpleasant thing for Howe to go through. Does say it means he'll miss the Palace and Villa games but hopefully he'll be well enough to come back by the end of the season.

 

But yes, I think to a degree we're still adjusting our expectations. It's a strange one to boot given we're no longer the team that was happy to draw 0-0 at West Brom in a relegation six pointer, as we were in the dismal lockdown season, but it's a nice feeling to think that as it stands, we've got an opportunity to really take charge of the Champions League chase this week.

Yeah, I imagine he's gonna have a miserable few weeks - possibly a couple of months - but I assume he'll recover eventually, might be most of the season before he's back to full strength though. I'm just relieved it's pneumonia not something notably worse.

[charlierc]

22 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Yeah, I imagine he's gonna have a miserable few weeks - possibly a couple of months - but I assume he'll recover eventually, might be most of the season before he's back to full strength though. I'm just relieved it's pneumonia not something notably worse.

Its very possible that I think Eddie might have to sit out for the rest of the season - it's the kind of condition that you can't really rush a recovery from, not least as football manager is a pretty intense profession to try to rush back into.

 

If nothing else I'm hopeful Jason and Graeme have been well versed enough from their time working with Eddie that they would be able to deliver a framework to get the points we need in these final 7 games.

[Neil]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Its very possible that I think Eddie might have to sit out for the rest of the season - it's the kind of condition that you can't really rush a recovery fromraeme have been well versed enough from their time working with Eddie that they would be able to deliver a framework to get the points we need in these final 7 games.

pneumonia is just a chest infection really, i was diagnosed with pneumonia in hospital, and it wasn't a big deal(anti biotics and oxygen was the treatment).