Newcastle United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2022/2023

harr

I think once we have a permanent director of football in place and a good solid back room team it will make a huge difference in the summer window. New owners still finding there feet. But now is the time to start the process of who we want in the summer.

I do think the team we have is enough to keep us up and hopefully if we do manage to stay up it will open up more opportunities for some top names to join come the next transfer window.

IAmTitleist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118560810#Comment_118560810

I doubt very much you've seen Weghorst play more than 5 mins of football.

Only time will tell if he's better than Wood.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118564042#Comment_118564042

😂You have zero idea of what ive seen & havent seen, & I have actually seen him a number of times and although similar in ways to Wood, overall he's much better imo.

Weghorst is a smart piece of business, 12m for a striker who's scored 25 goals in the bundesliga & cups last season. C.Wood scored 12 in all competitions.

1 year younger & bought for half the price we paid for Wood also. No point in paying over the odds when you dont have to. Wood was the lazy easy option but certainly not the better one. To top it off we have been extremely tough in negotiations with some quality players but then end up paying 25m for Wood. It doesnt say alot about our scouting & recruitment policy, negotiation strategy. They & Howe had nearly two months to prepare for this window.

Its absolutely fine for some supporters to be critical of some of the transfer business we have conducted so far. Otherwise you end up like Everton after spending a shedload of cash. Howes record in the transfer market when at Bournemouth wasnt particularly good so its right to have concerns.

Hopefully the signings we have made will be enough for survival, Guimaraes & Trippier being the pick of the buys we made.

Fattybojangles

I personally think we are one attacking player short of where we need to be but I also think with the additions we've made we should stay up Burnley have signed one player albeit a decent one Watford have signed a few nobodies for a pittance Norwich haven't signed anyone Brentford have taken a punt on Erikson and Everton have made 2 good signings on paper but ones who've not done much on the pitch in a long time. Leeds also haven't signed anyone and Bamford is out for another while.

Our next 6 games are Everton, Villa, West Ham, Brentford,Brighton and Chelsea. IMO there's points to be had in 5 of those games although I'm going to the Brighton games so we'll probably be beaten😖.

IAmTitleist

You're right i have zero idea. But still, i don't believe you.

From your previous posts on this thread criticising the new owners, Howe, why we didn't spend 200million it seems a little more than convenient that you know all about this striker that Burnley have signed. I suspect you're just looking another stick with which to beat the new regime.

As i said Weghorst MIGHT be a better option at half the price. Or he might be a chump. You don't know, nor do i.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118566340#Comment_118566340

To be honest with you, I dont care if you believe me or not. And im allowed to criticize the new owners & Howe because (A) we're not living in Russia, (b) the results have been very poor since they took over & (C) some of the signings/offers they've made have been questionable & poor business.

If you dont like that, jog on & put me on ignore.

fitzparker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118566332#Comment_118566332

I agree with this, buying Guimaraes was a great bit of business, but he will just be another Hayden if he has nobody to play in.

Strengthening defense was key, we dropped 21 points from winning positions.

everyone around us didn't sign or if they did it wasn't noticeable, next 5 are big, big games. If we can stay in the mix with Wilson coming back its good going

hopefully we can get a decent run... 17 games left 6 wins isnt that difficult, its 1 in 3.

if the likes of Brentford,Brighton, wolves could get them in the first half of the season no reason we can't

Fattybojangles

It seems the hateful Steve Bruce is going to get the WBA job this despite all his whinging that the Newcastle experience had broken him etc etc

jimwallace197

25 man squad named for the rest of the season, no Ciaran Clarke or Jamal Lewis. Happy to see Clarke gone but feel Lewis has been dealth with harshly. Must be other things going on behind the scenes with him. Everyone else is as expected.

1 Martin Dúbravka 3 Paul Dummett 5 Fabian Schär 6 Jamaal Lascelles 7 Joelinton 8 Jonjo Shelvey 9 Callum Wilson 10 Allan Saint-Maximin 11 Matt Ritchie 13 Matt Targett 15 Kieran Trippier 17 Emil Krafth 18 Federico Fernández 19 Javier Manquillo 20 Chris Wood 21 Ryan Fraser 23 Jacob Murphy 24 Miguel Almirón 26 Karl Darlow 28 Joe Willock 29 Mark Gillespie 33 Dan Burn 34 Dwight Gayle 36 Sean Longstaff 39 Bruno Guimaraes.

In other news, Bruce named as West Brom manager, they have a decent chance of getting promoted. If we end up getting relegated & them promoted, I wont know whether to laugh or cry.

fitzparker

It was a tough one with Lewis, but he can only play in one position and I think that was Eddies thinking.

Kraft,Ritchie,Burn,Manquillo,Dummett can all play in 2 or more position

Hayden left out aswell, I get he is injured but should be back similar time to Wilson. We dont need 3 keepers unless we are really unlucky, the smart thing to do would have been dropped Gillespie and brought Hayden in (then we can take the U21 keeper anytime if really needed). If not I'd have dropped Gayle, I doubt he will get more than 20 minutes in the next 17 games

Weepsie

I presume you have to have 3 keeprs in the squad like in WC and other tournaments

IAmTitleist

I'm a Northern Ireland fan and quite honestly Jamal Lewis is not a Premier League standard player. Targett, Dummett, Manquillo and even Ritchie i'd have in at left back ahead of him.

Regarding Gayle, he had to be included because if Wood gets injured we are again back to zero strikers.

Similarly with Gillespie. Our first two choice goalkeepers spend their fair share of time on the treatment table as far as goalkeepers are concerned.

Fattybojangles

I don't get the fuss over Lewis to be honest it's a marginal call and probably the right one the real worry for me is that I genuinely don't think Wilson will play again this season I heard him on his podcast saying he has no return date and he trusts Wood for rest of season before correcting himself and saying I trust myself as well seems to me like he doesn't think he'll play again this season. Wilson also says another striker should have been signed and I agree.

Fattybojangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118580626#Comment_118580626

Unfortunately it seems I was right about this Howe admitted at presser today that they hope to have Wilson back for last few games of the season and that there is no return date shocking that another striker wasn't signed given they knew this?

On a more positive note Dan Ashworth has resigned form Brighton to take up a similar role at another PL club which you'd imagine is us considering he had spoken to us before hopefully this is a sign people are being brought in to run the show to avoid mistakes similar to the above.

Overall of course things are very positive we are through the hateful Ashley era we have owners who are ambitious and are trying to make us better they just need to get the right people in to run the show in terms of transfers contracts etc and hopefully we stay up this season we can start making giant step forwards next season and really start rubbing it into some fcukers faces.

fitzparker

I saw he was already making excuses for bruno, just incase he turns out shite

"period of adjustment" for players

"deciding how quickly to transition him into the team"

Balls to that, he is a professional footballer on over 100K a week. he goes straight into that starting line up tomorrow!

Fattybojangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118595160#Comment_118595160

Yeah you'd hope that's just him trying to play down expectations a bit.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118594036#Comment_118594036

I agree, if they knew Wilson would be out for the remainder of the season, signing a new striker should have been a priority instead of throwing around offers on deadline day. Wood although effective in some ways is bread & butter for good defences. Hes not going to beat you with pace anyways. Maybe Howe is intent on playing St Maxim in a more advanced role & off Wood. Who knows? Hopefully there is a plan at foot as the no.1 thing that will get you relegated in the PL is a lack of goals.

I think any new owners would have looked good coming in following Ashley in truth, he was such a miserable git that the only way was up after him. They have ambition no doubt but they played it a bit too safe in the transfer market during the January transfer window for my liking. I would have liked us to get a proper striker with pace & an eye for goal. Surely we could have found at least one. Doesnt matter now anyways, at least we should be shipping far fewer goals than we used to.

Fattybojangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118595550#Comment_118595550

Yeah I agree with all of this a striker was a must but at least with Ashworth coming in there's a proper professional running the show now and mistakes like that will be a thing of the past what he has helped to achieve at Brighton with a fraction of the resources is brilliant.

Yeah we should be a lot tighter at the back and hopefully we can grind out the wins we need like against Leeds and Burnley ASM is wasted on the wing to easy to double mark and negate his influence I'd have him off Wood as well that way he'd be picking the ball up closer to goal as well.

Fattybojangles

https://twitter.com/NUFC360/status/1490709126636347398?t=3pU-PWazEe-Nz_VpcVCCiw&s=19

it'smad seeing this kind of thing.

TherapyBoy

“..and really start rubbing it into some fcukers faces.”

Is this really that important?

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118595940#Comment_118595940

Thats exactly the type of player we need at the club, ambitious & real quality. If we stay up, hopefully in the summer we can bring in more players of his calibre. Out of any of them, I have the highest hopes for him. Id include Trippier but he's getting on a bit

Fattybojangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118596175#Comment_118596175

It's an added bonus at the very least

fitzparker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118595940#Comment_118595940

The interview was a breath of fresh air

All other signings spoke about the priority of keeping Newcastle up, this lad wants to win the league/Champions league

Different mindset

Fattybojangles

Christ I'm nervous about tonight it's the biggest game we've had in a long time.

fitzparker

It's a shite game to get these, New manager, decent win after being crap for most months, but we should have nothing to fear

St James will be hopping, hopefully we go at them from the get go

jimwallace197

Will be very interested to see their line up. I think most of us have a good idea who will play & how Newcastle will line up tonight. Should be full of entertainment anyways as Frank likes to have a go & Eddie ain't too big on defence either. Draw probably most likely but would be fantastic to see us get the win & make it two on the trot

Fattybojangles

Mod Edit

Warning issued.

jimwallace197

Great result & second half performance. Trippier & Saint Maxim were immense, Shar did his job well & Targett looks very comfortable already. On the other hand, Shelvey needs to cop on, easily could have been sent off again for no reason at all, Guimares needs to start ahead of him in the next game, hes too reckless & these games are too important, Wood was very poor & low on confidence, missed an absolute sitter which should be bread & butter for him. If only we'd gone for Weghorst, gets a quality assist & man of the match against united on his debut.

Roll on Villa at the weekend, great to hear the fans in full voice & in a bouyant mood. I think Villa will be weary about coming here now even after their acquisitions, if manage to beat them, we look good to stay up.

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118603136#Comment_118603136

Would agree with most of what you are saying there but it looked to me like Wood was doing a lot of work in keeping the Everton defense unsettled which helped Saint-Maximin, Fraser and others have space to run into and helped prevent them having comfortable possession. Did not see the Weghorst performance but I think the work rate from Wood could be an important factor for Newcastle having a chance to stay up.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118603326#Comment_118603326

Wood's always gonna be a handful with his strength and physicality, but as a striker he really looks to have dropped a level this year. Looks to have lost a step in those key moments which I think has played a part in his confidence clearly being shot. That's alright as long as plenty of goals come from elsewhere, but I wouldn't want to be relying on his own scoring.

Fattybojangles

Ah the morning after the night before still on a high after that the effort from 1 to 11 was fantastic the togetherness of the squad was there the difference in organisation, tactics and intent now than under Bruce is startling.

ASM was absolutely unplayable and seems to be getting better and better which is scary Kieran Trippier is an elite footballer in every sense of the word. Matt Targett was solid as a rock delighted for Lascelles as well his best performance in ages Schar looked every inch the seasoned international Willock was awesome second half and also delighted for Fraser his hard work finally paying off.

We are staying up!!!

fitzparker

Super win, defensively rock solid, although we only have one tactic (give the ball to ASM) to works as the chap is unplayable.Still lacked the cutting edge, with a few sitters being missed but we will break teams down with our work rate, energy and the loudest support in the league.

Willock only comes alive when we are winning, hopefully we go one up early the weekend!

Shelvey tackle was a yellow nothing more, in fairness to him he did it early against watford aswell and kept the head, so maybe he is turning a corner.

Joelinton has saved his career at CM, he is a unit in there but in no way that chap was ever a striker, he shites himself in the box

Trippier, what a gem, everything about his game is top class, if you get over there just watch him, masterclass in his position. that corner for the first goal is a centre halfs dream, Lascelles with a bullet.

Even Bruno's cameo was brilliant.

For Villa, id like to see us play a bit quicker, take Shelvey out put bruno in, and if we need the hollywood pass to ASM then Trippier or Schar can do it

IAmTitleist

Saint Max is a king.

If he gets injured we are snookered because nobody else is capable of creating anything of note. As hard as Fraser works he has very little end product, apart from scoring last night i don't recall him creating an opening or whipping in any decent cross.

Thought Targett was rock solid too which hopefully will free ASM up a bit from defensive duties.

Willock after a shaky opening 20/30 mins was absolutely superb from that point on.

Trippier is a class above anything we have with the exception of ASM.

jimwallace197

Next three fixtures, Villa (H), West Ham (A), Brentford (A). Being optimistic, id say we can get 7 points from those fixtures, being realistic, probably 4 or 5.

Absolutely no reason why we cant get a win or draw against Villa at the weekend, the stadium is bouncing now, the players are starting to show confidence & we're getting the rub of the green. Its a great time to be playing them, they are a very good side under Gerrard but far from the finished article.

West Ham (A), less confident about this one, if we manage to get a draw now, I'd be bite your hand off for it, good side challenging for top 4, showing form & very strong at home, hopefully we'll play a more defensive formation, 5-3-2 & try and hit them on the counter. Who knows

Brentford (A), no reason why we cant go all out for a win in this game, they've started to slip & could get sucked into a relegation battle, the one thing we have to be worried about is Eriksen & the potential impact he might have.

If we get 7 points from these next three games, we are definitely staying up

Home to Brighton & Crystal palace in 2 of our next 3 games after that, wins to be expected in both. Easy street then & hopefully we can start planning for summers business.

BArra

seems Trippier may be out for the villa game as he limped off with a calf issue right at the end of yesterdays game

IAmTitleist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118604839#Comment_118604839

😂

So are Howe and the owners still doing an awful job?

Scoundrel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118605364#Comment_118605364

Hopefully he will be ok as we'll be missing Targett as well Manquillo will have to play left and right back lol.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118606559#Comment_118606559

Always said they could & should have been doing better given the resources & size of the club, never said they were awful. Also, long way to go yet, I'm more optimistic than I was but still, if we lose our next two games, we're right back in the relegation zone.

Should we have a better manager than Howe? Absolutely, Favre, Fonseca & now Benitez would be better in the role in my opinion. Not to mention, we may have got Gerrard if we made a beeline for him before Villa amongst potentially many other candidates.

Should the club have someone in charge who knows what they are doing instead of Stavely & co leading the way? Yes, alot of their work has been pretty amateurish so far, plenty of good options in that department too. Not much progress has been made with the organisation of the club behind the scenes apart from signing Eddie Howes Nephew as part of the recruitment department.

Two wins against Leeds & Everton are great but its important to not get carried away. Both those sides are on shocking runs of form.

Are you still implying Wood is a better striker than Weghorst? Hope you had a chance to watch him against United yesterday & see what 12m can get you in the transfer market instead of 25m when you actually know what you're doing. Wood in contrast looks like an aging Tony Cascarino.

This is Newcastle, being happy that we're not likely to get relegated is not good enough & never was. I dont know about you but I have & always had big hopes for this club whether we have the Saudi owners or not. Each to their own though. Just because Ashley was a prick of the highest order doesnt mean we should be happy surviving relegation season after season & give the new owners a pass on every f**k up they make

fitzparker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118606990#Comment_118606990

I agree with some of this.

The board have been amateurs and the preparation for when the club was bought should all have been done before hand

No director of football and taking weeks to get a manager all this should have been arranged beforehand IMO.

What I dont understand is the hindsight.

Regarding the manager... We aren't sacking Howe so Benitez is out of the question, and never was in it when Bruce got sacked.

Gerrard again Hindsight, would never have been my choice, but seems to be doing a ok job now, seems the honeymoon period is over. Although I would give him credit for pulling power in the transfer market.

Favre, you said previously you knew little of yet you know all about waghurst... both were in the German league at the same time (Favre would have been in the limelight more since he managed dortmund.

Regarding Wood, yeah it was 100% a panic buy. I get why we did it, needed someone in for Leeds and only had 48 hours left, if we stay up he will get the same amount of time as Andy Carroll did last season

again hindsight, Waghurst wasn't mentioned at all during the transfer window, would I NOW have taken him for 12m over 25m Wood, of course, but 3 weeks ago I never heard of the chap.

IAmTitleist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118606990#Comment_118606990

You mention how its important not to get carried away and i absolutely agree.

But you also said "Home to Brighton & Crystal palace in 2 of our next 3 games after that, wins to be expected in both. Easy street then & hopefully we can start planning for summers business." in a recent post.

You seem to be the one jumping from hysterically bad to hysterically good.

The takeover was waived through in a matter of days when at no stage did it look like it was going to happen, this has to be taken into consideration for our new owners preparations. In the space of 3 months they've came in, got rid of Bruce, got rid of Sports Direct, spent 100 million and are now about to appoint one of the most highly respected DOF's in the English game. Not bad if you ask me. If we get relegated it won't be on them.

It was said that Newcastle fans didn't demand success, they just demanded a team and club who were trying to improve. We've got that now.

IAmTitleist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118609782#Comment_118609782

On Weghorst you can absolutely guarantee that the price for us would not have been 12 million.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118609782#Comment_118609782

Never claimed to know all about Weghorst, said ive seen him a few times, thought he was quite good & his stats back that up. He was excellent in his debut against United also.

With Favre, yes, I dont claim to know a huge amount about him but Im impressed by what he did in Germany especially with Borussia Mönchengladbach who were in a very similar situation to us when he took over (staring down the barrel of relegation & he saved them, Howe on the other hand relegated Bournemouth). He seems a shrewd operator, experienced tactician & commands a very good reputation in the game. Would I have preferred us to go with him instead of Howe, yes, but it wasnt my decision obviously.

With the Wood & Weghorst debate, we have scouts, a recruitment department & a manager that are meant to know what they are doing. I'm not being paid to make sure we get these decisions right, they are. And they've got this one obviously wrong already where we've overspent by 10m on what looks like a lesser player. They had two months before the transfer window & then the transfer window itself to prepare, what were they doing, they should have a database of the majority of available players across Europe built up. And it wasnt as if Weghorst wasnt keen on coming to the PL, he's always wanted to. Because of FFP we have to make sure they are getting these decisions right otherwise we'll find ourselves in a similar position to Everton, piles of money but cant spend it now. So forgive me for being critical of some of the transfer business, its mainly because its never been more important that we get it right.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118609871#Comment_118609871

I dont think expecting us to beat Palace & Brighton at home is getting carried away, I would have expected us to beat them at home under Ashley & Bruces tenure.

How on earth is that jumping from hysterically good to bad.

Getting rid of Bruce & Sports direct signage from around the stadium, seriously, you're given them credit for that, any owner with half a braincell would have done the same & as for spending 90m, well, we are meant to be by far the richest club in the world, our neck is on the line, so its to be expected whoever came in would have spent money. I'm pretty sure even Ashley would have spent money in January to keep us in the pl. The way you go on, you'd swear they spent over 200m & got the likes of Haaland & Mbappe.

"one of the most highly respected DOF's in the English game", a bit of a stretch, time will tell, Brighton dont seem to be too up in arms about him leaving & we need to be thinking a bit bigger than England when it comes to who we are recruiting for these positions if we want to sit at the top table, plenty of top talent out there on the continent aswell usually for less.

IAmTitleist

"Wins to be expected in both"

"Easy street"

Your words not mine.

I think you're a bit of a looney bin to be honest.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118610960#Comment_118610960

Wins at home against Brighton & palace, if any club in the pl doesnt expect those, they might as well prepare for relegation.

Easy street if we win those games & get 7 points from our next three which will take us to 31 points with over ten games still to go.

Yah they're my words but it must be difficult for a clown like you to understand what I mean. You're the poster that was making out Wood is a much better signing than Weghorst. Told you before to jog on if you dont like my posts, picking little parts of my posts out to try & come across clever, jesus wept, get a life.

IAmTitleist

So just the 4 wins and a draw from our next 6 then. Not likely with our recruitment being so poor and a chump of a manager in Howe isn't that right? Easy street as you say. 🤣

As i said NUMEROUS times it'll only be time that tells if Weghorst is a better signing than Wood.

You are the one who is adamant he's a better player after only watching him for 5 mins at the Euros.

IAmTitleist

But lets agree to disagree because we're only going in circles.

If results go our way this weekend things could be looking very pretty. Up the Mags!

Fattybojangles

If Trippier is out which is looking likely I'd take a draw this weekend and hope other results go our way which they certainly did this week as we were the only team in bottom 8 to win.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118614892#Comment_118614892

I said being optimistic IF we win get 7 points from our next 3, where did I say I expect us to win those three games or get 7 points. Recruitment could have been better in my opinion but wasnt terrible, you must have missed the part where I said Trippier & Guimaraes were good signings.

Said Howe wasnt my choice & still isnt my choice, I still believe there are & was much better managers out there, I hope he proves me wrong though because I'd rather see Newcastle be successful that engage in stupid point scoring with you.

Yah, we'll have to agree to disagree because in your mind, you're either 100% against the club or 100% for it, & anything said against your precious Howe, Wood or the new owners is sacrilege.

But onwards & upwards, the last time Im going to engage with you on this BS.

fitzparker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615544#Comment_118615544

Looks like he will be out, it will be a late fitness test, but still no reason why we can't go for the win, especially at home

they have Konza suspended and Coutinho and Buendia went off injured (hopefully out aswell)

I think he might put burn into a back 3 with 2 of Murphy/Frazer/Manquillo wingbacks.

or do Burn left back and Manquillo right back.