Recent content by The Fish

Yeah I'm not saying injuries were rare before, or that the demands on players weren't high before. Just that this season has been ridiculous for injuries across the league. Several teams have been without half their squad for big portions of the season because of it. It's unusual and because...

Never known a season like it. Not just for us, but all teams seem to be experiencing record high numbers of injuries. Not all soft tissue either. I do have a pet theory with absolutely no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience; VAR has increased the number of long(er) stoppages...

Oh god, those trips, slips and missteps. Cost us a League Cup final, and possibly points against Everton, Spurs and Forest. Usually he's one of the best right backs in the league. He just needs a rest, but for whatever reason Howe didn't want to take a 'risk' on Livramento.

Well, good to know what my nightmares are going to be about tonight, I guess.

At the time he was bought to be an upgrade on Lascelles and to fill in a LB when Targett was unavailable. Howe realised that with Trippier bombing on we could shift to 3 at the back, Joelinton shuffling over to add a bit of protection on our left flank, leaving ASM more license to attack. Then...

Willock is class, but can't stay fit, I'd 100% have Neto ahead of Almiron. Have to admit my ignorance of Ait-Nouri's actual quality but he must be better than Dan Burn at left back. Poor 9 fingered giant gets a lot of stick but we forget he's a centreback by trade and he's played there so he can...

I think that's certainly true at times, but honestly the players we've had missing has forced us to play a core of about 6 for 90 minutes every bloody game. Howe is stubborn with some selections (Burn playing so much when the left side was clearly being targeted e.g. ) but much of what might...

Not sure if I agree with this mind. Don't mean for this to come off as arrogant or deluded or anything, but if we had our full strength side available for more of this season I don't think we'd be out of the CL, and we'd be higher up the league too. We've been without so many players and so...

Geordie back and not on the wind up or owt. Thought we played ok, very obviously switched from trying to play on the front foot to a more counter attack style which worked well. We kept you at arms length for the majority of the game. When chances did come your way you didn't have a fit...

The lads might, but the girls will most definitely not be. Saw someone say the Strawberry is a home pub, and it is, but away fans are fine as long as they don't act up. Only saw bother with a group of Arsenal fans who'd clearly been dabbling with Colombia's finest. Anyone staying over who...

Geordie in peace here, For the first time in a long time I couldn't easily predict who'll be the starting 11 for us. We've finally got something approaching depth. I'd expect Isak, Gordon to start again, maybe Almiron instead of Murphy? Midfield will be Bruno and Willock, probably Longstaff as...

Newcastle fan here and not on the wind up or owt. First things first, that was as soft a penalty as I've seen in ages. Was fully expecting the VAR to reverse the on field decision, but apparently it falls into not being a "Clear and obvious error". If it wasn't given by the referee, it...

From my point of view it looked like you changed things to try and manage fitness and maybe counter the changes we were making? Wilson and Almiron pose different challenges than Isak and ASM. I dunno though. Not having a go, but I wanted to target Kilman more as he seemed a bit shaky whenever...

Geordie here, still in peace and not on the wind up or owt. Pope is incredibly lucky not to see red and give up a penalty. No excuses, no explanations, just terrible refereeing. Thought we played well, and performance alone think we deserved the win. But the shadow of the Pope brainfart...

Got to say I'm surprised you wouldn't want Joelinton. The lad has gone from universally derided £40m flop, a punchline, to one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the league. He's so strong on the ball, carries it well, breaks up play, always looking for the ball and just a huge physical...