I’ll be very surprised if our players leave St James Park injury free, after this game. They’ll get no protection from the officials, who will ignore the thug tactics of the home side and shit their pants every time a Newcastle player ‘falls’ to the ground.
I’m fully expecting a penalty to be awarded to Newcastle within the first half hour. The decision influenced by thousands of drunken, fat, shirtless Geordies, baying for blood because Liverpool dared to make an offer for one of their players. People might accuse me of exaggerating but we’ll see what happens on Monday. I might not even watch this game.
Is Gravenberch back for this?
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Yes he will play. Arne Slot mentioned it in his press conference.
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You’ll regret missing it when Arne and the boys calmly dispose of them 0-3
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Yeah, pretty much how I see it.
Aside from the last Goodison derby I’m struggling to remember going into a game with so much bullshit surrounding it and the feeling we’re going to be on the end of a massive stitch-up.
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I agree…
But remain cautiously optimistic that we get a result.
Apparently Gomez didn’t train with the team until Tue this week as a precaution. The game coming on Monday rather than weekend does a lot of good for his prospects of being able to start, but even if he does, if this is where he still is in his conditioning, I wouldnt expect us to get more than an hour out of him.
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Said it wasn’t a setback which suggested to me it was none injury related. That or something unconnected like a virus.
If the our newly signed giant is not given the nod, Sloz and Jones will cover the RB position for the 90mins
We have had games like this a fair bit, and we have felt this way before and got through it without issue.
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Yeah not an injury recurrence, but more managing recovery for someone fresh back from injury and pushed into action without much mileage in his legs. It’s not a terrible situation, but it does indicate that if he’s still at this stage of his return to fitness, and this is required after having played only 20 minutes, then he’s still going to be limited in the minutes he can put in likely until after the international break.
That suggests to me we’ll need to find solutions for at least some part of this game and the Arsenal game.
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If Bradley was in training yesterday, he’s got a real chance to start on Monday. If both Bradley and Gomez aren’t available, I’d prefer Jones there over Endo or Szobo. I seem to remember Jones starting at right-back at least twice last season; one excellent game and one below-average performance from my memory (which could be way off!). He’s also played some right-back at youth international level.
It’s definitely not ideal having Jones up against Barnes or Gordon for pace, but at least he’d give us another press-resistant option (alongside Gravenberch) to help build from the back. You just know Newcastle are going to press like crazy in this one.
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Didn’t Arne rule him out….I would expect he has a chance for Arsenal mind.
The way to stop these groks from getting ahead of steam is to score, when their own fans turn and the atmosphere turns against them, they will fold like cards
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The most important match of the season. A must win!
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Is this another NZ resident? good to have you, too many Aussies 
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he said hes a Kiwi, every chance he resides here anyways
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I don’t get the negativity about Dom at RB. He’s quick, he can tackle and he’s good on the ball. Of course, we’d rather see him in midfield, but this is a crisis.
Who would you rather see in a footrace with Gordon? Endo, Jones or Szoboslai?
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I agree, people have there haters and Szob for many is an easy target!
Eddie Howe shows what an uninspiring lump he is when asked about their forward line:
" We certainly can’t go through the season with no recognised striker at the football club – and that’s no disrespect to Will Osula."
(It literally is disrespecting the 22 y/o you bought 12 months ago; not to mention the other guy).
asked how challenging it is for Gordon to play as a No 9, something he did to great effect in England’s 2023 European Under-21 Championship-winning team, Howe said: “He’s an attacker and he’s a very good attacker. The beauty of Anthony when we signed him was he can play right, left and potentially down the middle, something that he has done before.
But the pièce de résistance is this:
If he’d scored against Aston Villa, you’d go, ‘that’s the perfect No 9 performance’. I think he had seven shots in the game, he looked a threat, he got a man sent off.
The mask slips and Eddie reveals what a dirty little grub he is.
From: