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You can change the cover but the contents remains the same
at 14:36 14 Sep 2024

I probably won't have argued with the changes that RM made, except THB being dropped but what this game says to me is, it doesn't matter who we put out, we can't score and we can't keep a clean sheet and we haven't played the top sides yet. For the life of me I cannot see where a point is going to come from let alone 3. Next week has to be a win against Ipswich but I am not holding my breath.

I did not see all this game as I was working for most of it so missed the penalty (no idea even who took it) and missed JS red card.

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McCarthy
at 15:37 30 Aug 2024

Though I think McCarthy is a very average keeper he did help us get promotion and today must be a bitter pill for him to swallow. I know he will still get paid but it must hurt professionally.

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Corners
at 07:54 19 Aug 2024

Watching the game on Saturday, I lost count on how many corners we had, especially in the 2nd half and I don't recall one creating a goal threat. We rarely beat the first man and we never appeared to attack a corner. This was an issue last season in the championship so we cannot say it is a PL thing. There was a time when corners were seen as an advantage.

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My summary of yesterday's game
at 08:22 18 Aug 2024

The day after yesterday and my summary of the game is fairly straightforward.

A goalkeeper error cost us any points and a failure of any of our forwards to make any impact cost us the chance of at least clawing back a draw. Against 10 men and in that second half, for all our possession in and around the box and I don't recall forcing their keeper to have to make a meaningful save.

It was obvious that Howe would set up as 2 banks of 4 in the second half and just be happy to let us play around as much as we like knowing that they would limit our chances. Howe knows how to adopt the dark arts of football and he does it well - we may not like it, but it is effective. It is results that matter at the end of the day. You get nothing for tippy tappy football that has no impact.

It wasn't all bad though. The goal aside, the first half was a good watch and no one had a bad game until McCarthy inexplicably gifted them a goal. There is no excuses for that gross error. He was not under significant pressure, he had time to just get rid of it as we were merely closing in to the half time break. More importantly he is an experienced keeper who should not be making that sort of mistake. It is not one off with him, you know sooner or later he will do that. That goal aside I don't recall McCarthy being seriously tested. If that doesn't tell RM that we don't have a good enough keeper I don't know what does. The thing, is everyone has been saying it for ages. Why can everyone see it except the people that matter?

We showed good team spirit and grit and we were not a push over and those are good points as in the past we have been a soft touch at times. But, for all our hard work, our possession and forward play when we got near the box we offered no real threat. Even with the minutes being run down we did not make incisive runs into the box or create any real chances.

There were some good performances and none more so than KWP. He was priceless and we would be mad to lose him. We cannot let the best of what we have go when it is patently going to be a hard and difficult season. Sugawara was very good and I was surprised to see him hooked off. Our midfield worked well together.

Before the game I expected a defeat and a fairly hard defeat. The first half until the goal gave me unexpected hope. At the end I felt quite annoyed and frustrated because I felt we blew the game and handed Newcastle the win rather than lose by a better side. They were not better than us but they were professional and streetwise and whatever you may think of Howe he is tactically astute.

A final bit on our fans. Absolutely brilliant. We made an atmosphere, we were vocal and supportive throughout and the support was good.

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2 signings that I believe will be good for the clubs that have grabbed them
at 16:47 6 Aug 2024

I have got it wrong when judging the potential of players and this is as much about gut feeling as anything else, but my hunch (for what it is worth) is that the signing of Smith-Rowe and Fullkrug for Fulham and West Ham respectively will be good signings and will make a difference to them. I can see Fullkrug being a Ricky Lambert type of player. They are not cheap but this is probably the area of spend you need to get someone of a level that can compete in the PL.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and they could turn out pants - well, lets hope so when we play against them.

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