Newcastle away Wednesday 4th Dec at 730 pm

[Harv]

Again, as usual, I take you disagreeing with me as confirmation that I’m more than likely correct.

[DerKrampus]

I hope we sign someone like Marmoush

[Sus]

I’m really annoyed by this draw last night even though, overall, it’s a fair result.

Maybe I’m not as confident as I thought this season! Arsenal starting to look a little ominous, with their endless set piece goals.

Feels a while since we’ve scored from a set piece

I think I just need someone to tell me it will all be ok

[SB]

I’m really annoyed by this draw last night even though, overall, it’s a fair result.

Maybe I’m not as confident as I thought this season! Arsenal starting to look a little ominous, with their endless set piece goals.

Feels a while since we’ve scored from a set piece

I think I just need someone to tell me it will all be ok

It will be OK. Virg should have scored two on the weekend as they were really good chances but yes I do agree we should score more. Robbo hitting the first man regularly isn’t going to help. Macca has been better at corners but he’s missing this weekend unfortunately.

[kingfunk]

Newcastle looked like they could score from every attack last night, first time I’ve seen that this season. I don’t think it is a quality/form/injury problem. I feel this team has always had a problem paying due respect to the quality of some of the ‘lesser’ teams in the league. Another 5 mins we probably could have won that game, but it was too late when they decided to turn it on. Kellehers mistake could happen to any keeper, given our chances we should have been out of sight for it not to matter.

[ric.williams]

difficult to win when if you go near an opposition player you get booked and your goalie does that

[SB]

difficult to win when if you go near an opposition player you get booked and your goalie does that

True. One of the worst refereeing performances this season. Not a mate of Cootes is he?

[Exiled_red]

Big question is whether that was a one off below par performance or as a result of players starting to tire, the latter would be a big concern as we have limited options for rotation and in the middle of a busy period we either need to trust some of the squad players or accept we are inevitably going to drop points.

Last night wasn't just about dropped points and individual mistakes but for a large part the performance was poor and things just didn't look right.

Long term I think there are some questions about the squad and how we want to play, for me we need another DM or to play Endo more, as Gravenberch has been great but he has played alot of football and looked knackered. We also need to figure out what we want from a centre forward, Nunez and Jota are very different players in terms of what they contribute in terms of goals and all round play that has an impact on how we play. To be honest I don't know that we can rely on either long term for different reasons. But before we can decide on who we might want to buy we need to have the contract situations of VVD, Salah and TAA known one way or the other so we know what is a good way to split resources

[Sus]

It will be OK. Virg should have scored two on the weekend as they were really good chances but yes I do agree we should score more. Robbo hitting the first man regularly isn’t going to help. Macca has been better at corners but he’s missing this weekend unfortunately.

Thanks SB

I think I'm also concerned, as Exiled Red said as well, whether this is just a one-off or part of a more sustained downturn due to tiredness, emotional come downs from last week etc

We were better than them in the second half by some distance, so I took a bit of comfort from that, but if we don't give Endo and Morton minutes we are surely going to run out of juice in the midfield sooner rather than later

Endo surely plays this Saturday, along with Szob and Diaz

[Cerbie]

Big question is whether that was a one off below par performance or as a result of players starting to tire, the latter would be a big concern as we have limited options for rotation and in the middle of a busy period we either need to trust some of the squad players or accept we are inevitably going to drop points.

Last night wasn't just about dropped points and individual mistakes but for a large part the performance was poor and things just didn't look right.

Long term I think there are some questions about the squad and how we want to play, for me we need another DM or to play Endo more, as Gravenberch has been great but he has played alot of football and looked knackered. We also need to figure out what we want from a centre forward, Nunez and Jota are very different players in terms of what they contribute in terms of goals and all round play that has an impact on how we play. To be honest I don't know that we can rely on either long term for different reasons. But before we can decide on who we might want to buy we need to have the contract situations of VVD, Salah and TAA known one way or the other so we know what is a good way to split resources

Credit to Newcastle for the first half press, I think Grav had an off day too which gave the make shift back four more to do.

Gordon was given carte Blanche to dive all game and the ref seemed to have a target in terms of the number of cards he was aiming to dish out - Trent’s one was ridiculous as Gordon dived.

Despite all that, if it hadn’t been for Kweev’s brain-fart and schar’s luck, we would have come away with all 3 points.

The Sky’s not falling in just yet.

On the plus side, Quansah looked better than Joe at CB when Trent came in. Trent made a real difference as did Dom when he came on.

I think we will beat the Toffee’s.

[Kenneth]

I thought the pattern of the game was pretty familiar tbh, we've seen us play very much like that quite often this season, but we've made the second half resurgence stick. With our first choice back line we don't look so likely to concede and that was the difference between winning and drawing last night. We have to manage the time of Trent because Bradley is injured and there are consequences to playing your third choice right back (a centre back) and third choice CB at CB. We're not the only team making these decisions at this stage of the season. Our points tally has been built on close wins and is slightly flattering, we're bound to have some games that don't quite come off.

[danperkins]

I thought the pattern of the game was pretty familiar tbh, we've seen us play very much like that quite often this season, but we've made the second half resurgence stick. With our first choice back line we don't look so likely to concede and that was the difference between winning and drawing last night. We have to manage the time of Trent because Bradley is injured and there are consequences to playing your third choice right back (a centre back) and third choice CB at CB. We're not the only team making these decisions at this stage of the season. Our points tally has been built on close wins and is slightly flattering, we're bound to have some games that don't quite come off.

[ronanm]

Arsenal lost there.

[danperkins]

Arsenal lost there.

Yup and they took points off City too, it's tough fixture.

[SB]

If Slot won’t play Endo or Moreton then we need to push the boat out for Zubimendi now & get it done as soon as the window opens.