TheFish

He is, still can't wrap my head around why you spent that much on Perez. He was decent for us as a number 10, but went missing in so many games and only really came alive in the final months of the season. Forgive me if I've got it wrong, but didn't you often play him on the flanks?

Barnes has scored more, he's a much better finisher than ASM. But ASM creates more than Barnes does. That's not a subjective opinion, it's based on the opta stats I posted.

I've posted his stats earlier. ASM is ridiculously good at beating men, providing a counter-attack outlet, and creating opportunities for shots from himself or others. Genuinely ridiculously good. His game time has been limited by injury and an evolution of how we play. Away from counterattack and more to a high-press. He lost his position due to injury then, because we were winning, couldn't get into the side ahead of players that were providing equal threat to the opponent and a defensive solidity that our game is based on. When we have the ball, Trippier bombs forward and Burn shifts over to forma back 3, when that happens we need the left sided midfield and forward to act as wingbacks and pressing forwards respectively. ASM doesn't do that to a sufficiently high standard. He doesn't press intelligently as part of the group. However, he's a very good player at causing havoc and creating chances; He's in the 96th percentile for assists per 90, 96 for xAG per 90, 91st for Shot creating Actions, 99th percentile for progressive carries and successful take-ons, 92nd for touches in the penalty box. By comparison Barnes is 3rd percentile for assists, 10 for xAG, 3rd for Shot creating actions, 58th for progressive carries, 15 for successful take ons, 62nd for touches in the penalty box. To be clear, higher percentile is better. Saying £15m is laughable, Chris Wood was sold for more than that for goodness sake.

Because they're different types of players. We need someone who's more willing to press, someone who plays line breaking passes, instead of someone who acts more of a counterattacking out ball. Plus ASM is injury prone as all hell.

I mean, it's not horrific now, is it?

If Barnes is worth £40m, ASM is surely worth the same. Saint-Maximin has 3 years left on a c£70k pw contract vs 2yrs left on c£35k pw. Transfermarkt has ASM's market value at €32.00m, Barnes €35.00m. ASM is ostensibly a Champions League player, Barnes a Championship player. We don't need to sell, you still need to raise funds. So if we buy Barnes for £35m-40m, I'd hope to get £30m-35m for ASM.

Newcastle don't do bidding wars. We've walked away from deals where the selling club is asking more than we're willing to pay, and from deals where bigger clubs wade in with a big early bid. See Maddison for example. We had the price we were willing to pay, it was less than you wanted and Spurs were willing to pay it, so we didn't put in a bid at all. Barnes is a quality player but it does mean we're really well stocked on the left; ASM, Gordon and Isak, Joelinton and Willock can all play wide left with varying degrees of efficacy. If we do sign Barnes, it probably spells the end for ASM. He's an unbelievably talented footballer, but he just doesn't fit into the way Howe has us playing and he's too good to be a bench warmer/impact sub. Hopefully get roughly what we spend on Barnes for Saint-Maximin.

Could Leicester afford it?

That's not the case. Bruno pushing up actually limits his effectiveness. When he can drive into the half space from deeper, the opposition have already taken up defensive positions to handle the 8s, the wingers and forwards. When Bruno plays as an 8, he's one of the players marshalled by the opponent and can't dictate the play. You just watch, Tonali will play more as an 8, Bruno will play deeper. They'll swap positions, as Bruno does with Longstaff, but more often than not it'll be Tonali driving with the ball and Bruno staying deeper. We're targeting Szoboszlai because he's an upgrade on Joelinton/Willock on that left side (and because he's an unbelievable talent). He can also play on the left instead of ASM.

He is, I'm genuinely shocked we've managed to get a player of his calibre to join us now. I think we're building a good spine to the team, but you only have to look to the flanks to see we're still a ways short of competing for the CL spots consistently. Isak, Bruno, Tonali, Botman, Pope are excellent and should provide the foundation for years to come. But Trippier is 31, Burn isn't really a left back and isn't a top 6 CB either, Joelinton and Willock have promise and are great for where we are now, but will surely get replaced in the coming seasons. ASM and Almiron both have great qualities, but neither are the fully rounded player. Honestly, I'm most excited about the European games, part of me hopes for the titans of the continent to come to St James', but another more hipster nerdy part wants to drop into the Europa League to face lesser known teams from Austria, Belgium, or Serbia, where we have at least a chance of winning the thing. It is a very exciting time, but also a very strange time.

You may have misunderstood, I said a right attacking midfield, not 'wide'. I mean an attacking threat who operates on the righthand side of the midfield 3. Maddison is a great player but he wouldn't have played as a 10 with us, because we don't play with a 10. Would he have played ahead of Tonali? Not likely. Tonali's versatility allows Bruno to push forward on occasion, Maddison would have restricted Bruno to his number 6 position. Tonali is an upgrade on Longstaff's contributions. ST is defensively minded, hard pressing, plays through pressure, great vision, boundless energy and with deliveries from wide and set pieces as an added bonus. I'm coping fine mate, Maddison is great and Spurs have got a very good player and you've got a phat pay day. We weren't willing to get involved in a bidding war and we weren't willing to pay what you were asking for (we've previously walked away from other players when the fee demanded grew larger than we were happy with). Instead we've got Tonali and are exploring deals for players in other positions, lending further credence to my opinion that his wasn't a priority position/style.

I like Maddison and would have enjoyed watching him in a Black and White shirt because he's a classy intelligent footballer. But, after Almiron had that purple patch, Murphy became a reliable (if uninspiring) pressing wide player, and we secured CL football our priorities shifted away from right attacking midfield. Which is where would have played Maddison. We shifted to a pressing number 8, an upgrade on Longstaff, hence the Tonali purchase. The way we play puts a huge amount of pressure on our midfield, we need bodies in the engine room way more than what Maddison would have brought. I also think we didn't want to go above our valuation of Maddison and refused to get involved in a bidding war with Spurs. £50m plus Maddison's wages would have screwed our FFP wriggle room. Tonali for the same fee and far lower wages just makes sense for us right now.

I think Messi going to Miami is a good move, personally. The American league is definitely a lower standard, but it isn't a façade. It's trying to improve, become more respected and the best way for them to accelerate that at this stage is getting people to come and watch. Who better to get bums on seats than arguably the greatest player? It's certainly more competitive, more legitimate than the Saudi league. At least with the MLS there some history of 'soccer', there's some pre-existing fanbases in the sport. There is competition. In this Saudi league you've no history of soccer, no real fanbase, and now you have, what, 4 clubs owned by the state? I think Ronaldo and Messi's respective moves tells you all you need to know about the two men. One is a vainglorious prima donna motivated by his brand, his earnings. The other is a more humble man, sure still earning as much as he can, but at least willing to tolerate some level of opposition.

Nah, they live in Hexham, Ponteland, Morpeth, or the city centre depending on age and family. Durham is too close to Sunderland. Ponteland has a bunch of McMansions that footballers seem to gravitate towards.

Less than we've been quoted for Szoboslai and it's likely he'll be on less wages than Maddison as well. But Maddison has more experience in the PL, is English (to help with qualifying quotas for Europe), and is proven quality. I dunno, I'd be tempted to swerve Maddison because I'm a sucker for the unknown.

If she's twisting about being an hour away from London, he's probably better off getting rid. Get himself a nice Geordie lass. In all seriousness we heard the same about Hayden, Willock, Howe. They won't want to join/stay at Newcastle because it's too far away from London. They all ended up happy enough. Dunno if you've been, but it's not the parochial dystopia some would have you believe, struggling in a post heavy-industrial age. It's pretty ****ing lovely. City centre is not like Burnley or Middlesbrough, Grey Street is repeatedly voted as one of the most beautiful streets in the UK, no it's not got as many haute couture boutiques as Bond Street, but we do have some. Anyway, with two young kids she'd probably be more interested in Jojo Maman Bebe in Morpeth. I'd love to see Maddison in a black and white shirt, he's top class, an intelligent player and (from the outside) seemed to have plenty of heart during your relegation scrap despite the constant and noisy links elsewhere. Sounds like it's an either/or situation between him and Szoboslai from RB Leipzig. Different players in different roles, but both outstanding. Do you know if the asking price will likely drop or would it still be the £60m we were quoted in last season's windows? Hope you smash the Championship and when you have to travel up North for away days at Sunderland or Boro I hope you'll travel an extra 10-30 minutes up the road and stay somewhere with more warm welcomes and fewer dogs in prams.

It did though, you were one top class save away from all 3pts. Had you been torn open then you'd have every justification for saying going all out couldn't have been worse, but as it was you got an unlikely point away at a team going hell for leather, in front of a vociferous crowd, on their final home game of the season, with Champions League qualification on the line. If Smith had turned up at St James' in those circumstances and played a more attacking style of football, we'd have likely done the same to you as we've done against Brighton, Southampton, Tottenham, Man Utd, Wolves, Villa and Brentford. It was the teams who camped in against us that got the most joy (bar Liverpool and Arsenal). And although your first shot on target didn't come until the 90th minute, once you introduced Maddison, Barnes and Daka and you were much more of a threat, that's also when we started to get more joy getting in behind you. Personally think we should have started ASM and Isak who're better at unpicking a low-block, then brought on Wilson with 30 minutes to go. But what the **** do I know? If you'd lost on Monday you'd have needed to beat West Ham and both Leeds and Everton to fail to win on the final day. As it stands you just need Everton to slip up.

Aren't there different ways to win? I know under Benitez we would start quick, then camp in after 5 minutes until the final 5-10 minutes. It was pragmatic, boring, but effective. Looks to me like Smith wanted to ride out the pressure, then take advantage of our tired legs by bringing on your more attacking, more high quality players. And it nearly worked. If he had rocked up and tried to play an expansive attacking game, I'm sure we would have welcomed that with open arms. As it stands we don't have enough players with enough quality to reliably break through a low block, we definitely have the players to press high, force errors and take advantage in transition.

Geordie back and in peace. Not the result that I expected (or most of you to be fair), but your boys defended like lions last night. No, you didn't pose many problems up our end until the final 5-10 minutes, but had you tried to play out from the first minute I think we would have taken advantage of that. The way Smith set you up got you one point closer to safety and one top class save away from all 3pts. Oh, and if Bruno had seen red for that tackle, I don't think anyone could complain too loudly. I know you're now reliant on beating Everton's result, but had you come and lost you would have needed to beat both of the other teams' results, right? For what it's worth I think you'll beat West Ham. You surely won't play like you did last night and with the home fans behind the team that'll be enough to get past a West Ham team who'll likely have made a load of changes and have both eyes on their European Final. Genuinely hope you stay up.

Stranger things have happened. Our already relegated side faced Spurs who were gunning for Champions League spots, we pumped them 5-1. Arsenal needed to win to get Champions League spots and we beat them 2-0.

Barnes and Maddison not putting in a shift? I know when we went down there were too many passengers. Not enough heart. It was only Lascelles that gave a shit. Same happened when we went down under Shearer; Duff, Geremi, Xisco (ffs), but chief among the villains was Michael ****ing Owen. Never known a player with such a high stock, and yet so universally hated by his ex-clubs. Incredibly selfish, on and off the pitch, ego bigger than his talent, and possibly the most boring man on the planet.

Geordie in peace here. If we beat Brighton on Thursday, it could be a bit of a carnival atmosphere for our final home game of the season. Hoping that Sean Longstaff will be fit to help us defeat Europe-chasing Brighton to ensure Champions League for next season. 18 months ago, if you told me I'd earnestly type that out I'd have laughed in your face. After the season you've had, I wouldn't blame anyone who decided against travelling 3 1/2hrs on a Monday. If anyone is travelling up and want some pub advice or suggestions for somewhere to grab a bite to eat, let me know. No such thing as an away pub in Newcastle, you'll all be welcome anywhere as long as you don't act daft. Even the Strawberry (The Home pub) will be welcoming if you're canny. Genuinely hope you stay up (despite a relegation improving our chances of getting Maddison or Barnes), would much rather relegation taking out Everton and Fat Sam.

I think maybe I'm a little too protective of the Lion of Gosforth. Saw Steve Howey talking about him on the Under The Cosh podcast, the way he speaks of him... it's almost reverential. Apparently Shearer's nickname was Shocks, because the conversation would go Who scored? Shearer. Shocker

Shearer gets underrated because of his poor trophy haul. He was genuinely one of the best strikers on the planet in his pomp. 3 major career threatening injuries, played for the majority of his career in pretty poor teams. He moved to us when we were legitimate title challengers, but poor direction from the boardroom and a slew of poor managers in the chair meant his best years weren't as productive as they could have been. I think while Harry Kane suffers from being interminably dull off the pitch, nothing on the pitch is particularly exciting either. Even his 30 yarders don't, I dunno, feel(?) thrilling. There's something almost pedestrian in their excellence? He's so professional, so practised that it's not impressive. He never beats a player with something unpredictable like Henry did, he's not got tonnes of pace, he's just a little sharper, a little stronger or a little smarter in the moment. Just like Shearer was.

That's as much looking at the shoddy teams below and around you, as much as your own strengths/weaknesses. Bournemouth are down, probably Southampton too. But then there's Nottingham, for example, they're terrible and are in my opinion way more likely to go down than you are. You have experienced top flight players, some real quality throughout the team too. You're as likely to go down as Everton, Wolves or Leeds. 13% is about right, for me.