Football 2025-26

[thetime]

2 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

 

Last night was both good and annoying from a Newcastle fan perspective, why can't they do that in the PL?

 

Not win away from home? I thought you did that. 😃

[kaosmark2]

14 minutes ago, thetime said:

Not win away from home? I thought you did that. 😃

Create chances away from home!

[pink_triangle]

I thought it was strange spurs finishing so high then looked at their fixture list. Seems to me if they are going to continue with this format they need to change the rule about teams not playing against teams from their own country in the group stage.

[kaosmark2]

19 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I thought it was strange spurs finishing so high then looked at their fixture list. Seems to me if they are going to continue with this format they need to change the rule about teams not playing against teams from their own country in the group stage.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy0520ey7jjo

There's a chart on fixture difficulty near the bottom of this. Spurs 4th easiest, us 5th hardest.

 

Also kinda liking how 3 of the teams that had harder fixtures than us played us. We were widely considered the toughest pot 4 team by a distance.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, thetime said:

 

I would hazard a wild guess, that the Azerbaijan premier league is not very good. 

Tbf Qarabag did get a point against Chelsea. But that might be more of a slight against Chelsea than anything else.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Create chances away from home!

Gordon made a comment in the pre-match presser that the team seems to feel more confident making attacking moves in Champions League games than they do in Premier League ones. Which kinda makes sense if you think about it, not least in his case given Gordon has been in brilliant form in the CL whereas in the PL he's been very much a prime candidate to be dropped.

 

I guess this weekend could be an avenue for Gordon to actually do a thing in a PL game tbf - for all I never really have confidence in winning at Anfield given it's usually a place where things go wrong for us, they have a real lack of right-back options right now with Frimpong going off injured last night. Long as he doesn't get sent off again. Although saying that, I thought that for the reverse fixture and the out-of-position Szoboszlai put in a brilliant performance to keep Barnes out of the game.

 

I don't think last night is what cost us a place direct in the last 16 tbf. Marseille or Leverkusen were the kickers. Last night at least demonstrated we have something to trouble the big fish like PSG, so that's nice to know. Even if PSG have spent much of the season looking like they're hungover from the CL final and the CWC.

 

How the sh*t is Thomas Frank is sussing out the CL anyway. I know Spurs had a lot softer fixture list than others, but it's like Spurs might as well just keep him for Europe and have someone else domestically. Which, tbf, isn't far off last season when Ange saved the good displays for Europe and their PL form collapsed.

[kaosmark2]

38 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I don't think last night is what cost us a place direct in the last 16 tbf. Marseille or Leverkusen were the kickers. Last night at least demonstrated we have something to trouble the big fish like PSG, so that's nice to know. Even if PSG have spent much of the season looking like they're hungover from the CL final and the CWC.

Fully agree with this. Pope's double brainfart right at the beginning of the 2nd half vs Marseille, and then carrying on our late goal conceding nonsense into the CL vs Leverkusen really hurt. That said, if PSG hadn't messed up vs Sporting last week.... maybe they'd have put less effort in yesterday and Sporting would have been on 3 fewer points.

[charlierc]

Decent 35ish minutes, took the lead, then that unravelled alright. Jesus wept.

 

Might as well enjoy the Champions League play-offs coming up given it's not looking good for us to qualify for it again next season.

[kaosmark2]

14 hours ago, charlierc said:

Decent 35ish minutes, took the lead, then that unravelled alright. Jesus wept.

 

Might as well enjoy the Champions League play-offs coming up given it's not looking good for us to qualify for it again next season.

Meh, we're always going to get smacked there. And Trippier showed how much his legs have gone.

 

Winning there without Bruno and Tino was never going to happen, however vulnerable they look, particularly after the exertions in Paris.

 

I don't think we're qualifying for the CL either, but lets just qualify for the Europa and win that next season.

[Skip997]

I’m amazed with that result. 

[thetime]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

I’m amazed with that result. 

 

Newcastle have 2 away league wins all season, don't think the result surprised anyone. Especially as there main 2 midfielders out. 

 

 

[thetime]

Nice gap starting to form with the top 6 and below now. 😀

[lost]

top 6 now as expected with the top 6 wage bills up there. Spurs really standing out as an under performer.

[steviewevie]

Spurs help Arsenal, like Utd helped City. 

Neighbourly love I guess.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Meh, we're always going to get smacked there. And Trippier showed how much his legs have gone.

 

Winning there without Bruno and Tino was never going to happen, however vulnerable they look, particularly after the exertions in Paris.

 

I don't think we're qualifying for the CL either, but lets just qualify for the Europa and win that next season.

Sure - no Bruno, Joelinton or Tino made it harder, and we have a squad that increasingly looks burned out. Miley and Botman being subs in name only as both were injured from Paris certainly thinned the options further.

 

Even then, we took the lead so would've been nice to win rather than add to the stupid amount of games where we've scored first and drawn or lost. 16 points lost from winning positions is hideous. Just 6 of those back and we'd be above Liverpool in 6th ffs. Being crap at recovering points from losing positions also isn't helping. I'm aware it would've been a lot to ask to achieve this away at Liverpool, which has never been a happy hunting ground for us and where they clearly aren't as sh*t as Skip makes out. Or at least weren't yesterday. Missing out on Ekiteke is going to be a regular irritant I daresay.

 

I think we're going to have to do a rebuild at the back in the summer - Pope and Ramsdale both feel less reliable than hoped for, Trippier looks shot, Livramento gets a lot of injuries and has Man City & Arsenal allegedly sniffing around him, Krafth is a discard waiting to happen, Lascelles might well be gone by this time tomorrow, Botman's availability has never been the same since his ACL injuries, Schar might have suffered a career-ruining injury and the back up to Hall is really scarce. Whether we do that is another question.

 

Given there's little chance an even fully fit side is going to get a 3-0 win at the Etihad on Wednesday in the Carabao 2nd leg, there's an argument of just playing the kids and sacking it off. Hell, qualifying for Europe via the league feels like a doable target (even if probably not UCL) but to get that, we're really going to have to win games like the one against Brentford next Saturday. Something which, judging by their win at Villa with 10 men (odd VAR call to disallow a Villa equaliser or not), isn't going to be easy.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, lost said:

top 6 now as expected with the top 6 wage bills up there. Spurs really standing out as an under performer.

Tbf I think Villa have the 7th highest wage bill in the PL so top 6 being 6 of the top 7 on that metric - quelle surprise.

 

Spurs are just a basket case. Although it's on brand for the way their season has gone to be in the bottom half yet taking 4 points off Man City. Hell, they actually were a few decent Donarumma saves from winning today.

[Ben7amin_]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

Tbf I think Villa have the 7th highest wage bill in the PL so top 6 being 6 of the top 7 on that metric - quelle surprise.

 

Spurs are just a basket case. Although it's on brand for the way their season has gone to be in the bottom half yet taking 4 points off Man City. Hell, they actually were a few decent Donarumma saves from winning today.

 

To be fair the normal routine for spurs is beating City home and away regardless of either clubs form its the only consistent thing we have.  We are both Man City & Guardiolas bogey team. 

Edited February 2 by Ben7amin_

[Ben7amin_]

Happy Transfer deadline all -   Spurs could do with 5 or 6 players rocking up today -   but i wont hold my breath 

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Happy Transfer deadline all -   Spurs could do with 5 or 6 players rocking up today -   but i wont hold my breath 

I'm not even sure there's been 5/6 deals for new signings by clubs in the PL combined today tbf. 

 

Much as I disliked being at the centre of the summer's biggest and most chaotic transfer deal, I admit that it did make for compelling viewing for outsiders. This window's been comparatively dour really. But heyho.

[thetime]

43 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I'm not even sure there's been 5/6 deals for new signings by clubs in the PL combined today tbf. 

 

Much as I disliked being at the centre of the summer's biggest and most chaotic transfer deal, I admit that it did make for compelling viewing for outsiders. This window's been comparatively dour really. But heyho.

 

With Palace signing a striker for 48m, with 1 goal from 23 league appearances. You can't blame clubs keeping there hands in there pockets.

 

Utd need mids desperately, but understandable not buying woth no permanent manager. 

[charlierc]

6 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

With Palace signing a striker for 48m, with 1 goal from 23 league appearances. You can't blame clubs keeping there hands in there pockets.

 

Utd need mids desperately, but understandable not buying woth no permanent manager. 

I think last summer was a higher spending window than many anticipated so maybe the budget just isn't there, or at least without the prospect of austerity next summer.

 

Tbf Strand Larsen was the subject of a £55mil bid from Newcastle late in August when we were trying to panic buy an Isak replacement that Wolves rejected as they were holding out for £65mil at the time. Wolves fans reckon that he's been disinterested ever since.

[thetime]

1 minute ago, charlierc said:

I think last summer was a higher spending window than many anticipated so maybe the budget just isn't there, or at least without the prospect of austerity next summer.

 

Tbf Strand Larsen was the subject of a £55mil bid from Newcastle late in August when we were trying to panic buy an Isak replacement that Wolves rejected as they were holding out for £65mil at the time. Wolves fans reckon that he's been disinterested ever since.

 

You certainly don't get much for 50 million nowadays. He is in his mid 20s and a record of around 1 goal every 4 games. 

[charlierc]

Came back home from the cinema to find we were 3-0 down at Man City and it not even half-time.

 

... think we won't need to book hotels at Wembley then. Jeezy Petes.

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Came back home from the cinema to find we were 3-0 down at Man City and it not even half-time.

 

... think we won't need to book hotels at Wembley then. Jeezy Petes.

I only watched the first half before my stream died, but honestly, we weren't actually that bad. 1st two goals were kinda weird deflections that City bundled into the net, while Trafford made two very good claims to stop us breaking through. Their 3rd was both a better goal and worse keeping, but until they scored the 2nd I thought we were playing quite decently. 

[thetime]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

I only watched the first half before my stream died, but honestly, we weren't actually that bad. 1st two goals were kinda weird deflections that City bundled into the net, while Trafford made two very good claims to stop us breaking through. Their 3rd was both a better goal and worse keeping, but until they scored the 2nd I thought we were playing quite decently. 

 

The 2nd goal at your place killed the tie realistically. Watched first hour or so, pretty even. Although Newcastle were so open, Certainly a better watch than the Arsenal v Chelsea game.