match day thread - NUFC v Brentford

[Slim999]

no doubt this season is going to be tough for us to stay up - esp with Villa and Watford seemingly on the up

still, if we start to get a run going anything is possible. I've a feeling this season will require clise to 40 pts . 34 more from 26 games-

so we will probably need to win as many as we lose and draw the remsinder. 8 wins , 8 losses and 10 draws would just about do it- so we need the first win soon and need the belief to win any game .

still think Brentford , Palace, Villa , Brighton & Southampton could be drawn into the scrap with us, Burnley, Leeds , Watford & Norwich .

If we do go down Eddie is a good choice to bounce us back up .... but obviously hope it doesn't get to that

[bodacious benny]

What’s better:

Relegation with PIF and likely an immediate return and good long term prospects

10 years of drudge in the PL under Ashley with the club being stripped bare and no aim of ever achieving anything.

…I’ll take option 1.

[Slim999]

What’s better:

Relegation with PIF and likely an immediate return and good long term prospects

10 years of drudge in the PL under Ashley with the club being stripped bare and no aim of ever achieving anything.

…I’ll take option 1.

Any day

[TJR]

Overall that was much better. Good to see us trying to get on the front foot for once. First time we've actually pressed the ball since the Pardew days.

Probably the best game Shelvey has ever played for us, certainly the best in a long time. J7 also had his best game in a Newcastle shirt (despite falling over when he should have slotted in the winner). Fraser was brilliant when he came on, his best game for us as well.

The defence is awful though, Championship standard at best. Schar and Lascelles were atrocious. Fernandez has to come in for one of them. For all this talk of attacking players in January, the priority has to be a least 2 capable centre halves. Our attacking players are good enough to keep us up, the defenders aren't.

Darlow was awful again as well. Dubravka has to come back in. We probably would have won yesterday if we started Dubravka and Fernadez over Darlow and Lascelles/Schar.

[Don Sholeone]

I'm glad my defence of Joelinton has paid off he put together all the good things about him yesterday, he's a grafter and think he was shattered by the end which contributed to that slip in the box, still needs that confidence in front of goal though, probably could have shot first time towards the end, feels like he's one of those who just needs to put his laces through it in the general direction of the goal as I don't think he will ever be a composed finisher.

[Colly]

I think with confidence he hits that, at the moment he's still trying to get it on his favoured left first. Great performance though, from that very first cross to Wilson which he should have buried. I'm not saying I called it, but I did bring him into my draft fantasy team this weekend...

Shelvey much improved, but only to the extent of going back to his previous "good hour, then blowing out of his arse", definitely need an upgrade there.

In terms of the defense I think it gets complicated. I absolutely agree we need a centre half (or two), but we also need to decide whether we're a back 4 or 5, as the goals we concede are still coming from the fullbacks. Neither of them can play as defensive wing backs, and without a solid central midfield we suffer. Will be interesting to see if we can fix that in January.

[Sanchino]

Entertaining stuff but we needed the win.

Bottom of the league and possibly 7 points from safety tomorrow evening - that Joelinton fluff may prove costly.

This is the only downfall from yesterday. Signs of HoweBall look promising though, entertaining and attacking football which is what we want right? I think if Dubra in goal could have won this.. just need to turn these draws into wins and we should be fine. Need a quality midfielder or two, a new LB/LWB, a partner/competition for Wilson & a central defender (ideally in Jan) and we could be going places. It's like we have a top 10 Premier League attack but a Championship level defence which is looking like our downfall. 23 shots / 9 shots on target seems like a vast improvement. The team looked like they had fun at times (especially Joelinton who was quality in the first half) & are buying into Howe's philosophy. As I've said many times prefer us going for it.. drawing/losing 3-4/3-3 than sitting back & losing 0-1 by playing defensive or cautious. We may not have a good enough team now to be outscoring teams but it's a fun watch.. even if the worst happens and we do go down Howe should be in charge of our rebuild as I see very good potential once this team gels.

Not expecting much from the Arsenal game but stranger things have happened so even a point would be a great bonus. Norwich & Burnley must wins.. if we even draw one of them I think more than likely we will get relegated as after we have a tough Christmas run in and the points gap will be too big too catch up. I think we'll spring a surprise or two to one of the ''bigger fish'' but we need to beat teams around us & need investment fast. Jan can't come any sooner.

Team for Arsenal

Dubra
Fernandez Lascelles Schar
Murphy Willock Shelvey Lewis
Joelinton Wilson ASM

OR 4-2-3-1

Dubra
Manquillo Lascelles Schar Lewis
Willock Shelvey
Joelinton Miggy ASM
Wilson

Could either see us nicking a draw (1-1/2-2) or losing 4-1/4-2... at leas it'll be fun to watch.

[Donkey Toon]

Yeah improving the defence in January has to be the priority. We've only failed to score in 2 of the 12 league games so far and have netted 2 or more goals on 4 occasions and have yet to win a game. We can't expect to survive unless we sort out the defence.

Which is why i'm still a bit pessimistic about Howe. I fully appreciate what he will bring to our attacking play but am not convinced he is the person to sort out our defensive issues. Hope to be proven wrong but I have strong doubts. Not going to judge him on one game but it was clear from yesterday that there has been no improvement yet and he has his work cut out.

[Oval85]

I'm glad my defence of Joelinton has paid off he put together all the good things about him yesterday, he's a grafter and think he was shattered by the end which contributed to that slip in the box, still needs that confidence in front of goal though, probably could have shot first time towards the end, feels like he's one of those who just needs to put his laces through it in the general direction of the goal as I don't think he will ever be a composed finisher.

Jekyl and Hyde first and second half I would say. Our best player the first half, but as I have said before, his decisions at times are horrendous and it showed in the second half. Unfortunately, decisions is not something you can coach or get much better at. But sure, he has improved alot. But he was so bad in the beginning that he is still very average and easy to replace.

[Sanchino]

I'm glad my defence of Joelinton has paid off he put together all the good things about him yesterday, he's a grafter and think he was shattered by the end which contributed to that slip in the box, still needs that confidence in front of goal though, probably could have shot first time towards the end, feels like he's one of those who just needs to put his laces through it in the general direction of the goal as I don't think he will ever be a composed finisher.

Jekyl and Hyde first and second half I would say. Our best player the first half, but as I have said before, his decisions at times are horrendous and it showed in the second half. Unfortunately, decisions is not something you can coach or get much better at. But sure, he has improved alot. But he was so bad in the beginning that he is still very average and easy to replace.

This. I'm still not convinced by him and in our strongest XI I can't find a place for him but if he continues the form he showed in the first half yesterday then it can be a different story, he's coming into his peak years & this is a big season for him to prove he still has a future here. I like the lad and you can see his working hard to improve his game.. unfortunately he's never looked like a 40mil player (don't think he's even worth half that).. we'll be lucky to get 10-15 mil for him now. But yeah I want to see him do well just needs consistency & improvements to his footballing IQ (positional wise, decision making, composure, etc).. I know there's a player in there for sure. Still ideally we need a partner/competition for Wilson.. after the defence / midfield get sorted out first.

[Colly]

He'll never look like a £40m player, but there's absolutely a place for him in the side currently and if he keeps performing like yesterday for at least a couple of years until we end up with 11 clones of Messi on the pitch. His second half wasn't bad at all bar the slip, and certainly better than 70 minutes of ASM's game. Granted it's one game, but undoubtedly man of the match.

[UlversToon]

Leeds winning

[Oval85]

Leeds winning

Indeed. destroys my gamble Great odds on Spurs today and thought maybe Conte would make a change, but same old 2021 Spurs it seems. Feather in the cap for Howe's training though, I can live with loosing a few quid if so
Edit: Post and bar hit from spurs after 6min in the second half. I think its going to be a fun second half..

[Donkey Toon]

Spuds leading now. Can't believe i'm saying this but hope they hang on for the win.

[UlversToon]

Phew!

[bodacious benny]

Spuds leading now. Can't believe i'm saying this but hope they hang on for the win.

Yep! Thankfully they turned it round.