Newcastle (A) | Post-Match Thread

What a wonderful game of football, credit to the Elephant man for setting his side up so well and working the counters, maybe he had spoke to the swamp child manger.

In what was a meaningless game we played with as much freedom as i have seen for a while, our centre halves were regularly joining in the attack. Which of course gave them the space to counter. It did lead to an entertaining game though that i really enjoyed watching although maybe it was helped by the fact it is the first game for months where there has been no pressure.

It was a nice touch giving Carson a game, also quite clever, because if one of Eddy or Zack picks up an injury he could well be needed in the CL Final and having a game under his belt will do him no harm at all and as he is the only member of our squad to actually have a CL winners medal his experience could be vital.

We didn't play with the same intensity we have of late, which is understandable with the title in the bag, but that unfortunately shines a light on the back four and for the first time in a long time we didn't look as solid as we have done and made some basic errors. I am loath to criticise anyone for last night, but I did feel a little sorry for Ake, i personally rate him as a defender, he is a proper centre half and has been unlucky this season with injuries, so i am not going to go overboard on him at all, he will be disappointed, but move on and next season he can play apart I am certain, he is too good a player not too. I can see why Pep rates Garcia, he is a lovely footballer who uses the ball so well but he is moving on and he should really, we have 4 better centre halves than him, although I do believe he will develop into a top class centre half in time.

Our ball retention was superb and we passed it very well, we always do when Gundogan is pulling the strings, he makes the game look so simple and he kept us ticking over, whilst Rodri recycled the ball and kept us going forward.

Raheem and Jesus both worked very hard as always, both know they need to step up and impress to get a CL Final start and neither did their chances any harm because I am sure Pep is looking at players attitudes and willingness to keep going in these games when it could be easy to relax and take your foot off the pedal so to speak.

Young Torres was exceptional, all three of his goals were finishes of the highest class with his first being a goal of the season contender, it was quite magnificent. It does make me smile when i see things written like "he was bought AS A WINGER" by now we should know that traditional positions are meaningless to Pep. He looks an absolute steal at the moment and there is far more to come, his finishing is instinct, not many forwards have that natural ability and he has it in spades. The Sergio replacement possibly? I wouldn't bet against it on last nights showing.

Another record broken as well, this is an incredible era to be a Blue, we are truly blessed, not even the great sides in history are achieving the sort of things we are and the scary thing is, I think we are getting to get better and better,
"traditional positions are meaningless", the crux of "Pep philosophy" , rooted in Cruyff's "total football". Good one Rasc......
 
Totally agree. He's a top player.
Been saying that for years on here while some peanut brains were slagging him off. Ilkay is the perfect Pep player - can tackle, go past players, score, pass and probably most importantly, control the tempo of our play - allows Kevin to do his stuff. Neither Kevin nor Ilkay are flashy players - no stepovers etc - the curling passes are done with a purpose. We're so lucky to have those two in their prime at the same time.
 
Woud have been nice imo to bring Delap, Doyle, Palmer and 1-2 of best youth guys just as a gift for the season they had in youngster league.

See no point to give game time to the likes of Garcia, he turned his back on us, he is dead to me basically. (if he had signed up an extension we might not even sign Ake who to me a very expensive CB who is not better than Otamendi is in his later years and certainly not as good when Otamendi was at his best).

Delap is no less of a goal threat than Jesus these days, and I am sure Palmer keeps the ball better than Sterling.

Will be interesting to see Pep's plan for Jesus+Sterling as when we really needed he could not count on them this season. And when given chances they do not deliver enough.

As results do not matter much, want to see some youth in the team for Brighton and maybe Everton. But knowing Pep he wont even make 3 subs. Madness he was very vocal about 5 subs earlier. :)

Great game for Torres though, he needs to be focused, as he has great instinct, for us he plays just much better in the box than when out wide.
 
Buzzing with a crazy win. That's how to rotate a team with the bigger picture in sight, even the Chelsea game was fine, saved the panenka and the Var cunts.
Great character and performance from the lads, All of them, but I'm

Sick of the whinging cunts bashing Aké, García and Raz. Bore off you soiled arsewipes and bedwetters; insecure bastards who can't stop slagging off our lads, win, draw or lose. Do one.

Pep sees things we'll never see.

Bunch of fucking sad dickheads, it’s normally comes from the same bunch of posters.
 
A grand design then? 5 min from Waverley?

A grand design then? 5 min from Waverley?


That's the second Zoopla property to be shown on here this morning. Are you guys estate agents?

Anyway, I appreciate the humour and feel suitably fun-poked. :)
 
if torres can get a good run of games next season then maybe he will be a superstar
sterling and jesus sorry and hate saying it coasting again ? both are truly not in any of peps plans next season
the time is right to sell both and get new blood knowning the false 9 works if need be

haaland must be watching and thinking i would walk to manchester and sign for city right now
the summer clean out will be ruthless by pep ? players out of contrack and players just need to move on. so a couple more can step up from the youth system and 2 or 3 new signings and manchester city will be ready to go again
We've won the League and one cup so far, with these players.
Cut them some slack.
 
The objective for these last three PL games is to arrive at the CL final with all first choices and key subs fit and firing. With the title in the bag, Pep can forget the results and select and rotate with the CL in mind.
So great fun in this game, no complaints.

I thought the objective of the last three games was to slag Sterling off.
 
Buzzing with a crazy win. That's how to rotate a team with the bigger picture in sight, even the Chelsea game was fine, saved the panenka and the Var cunts.
Great character and performance from the lads, All of them, but I'm

Sick of the whinging cunts bashing Aké, García and Raz. Bore off you soiled arsewipes and bedwetters; insecure bastards who can't stop slagging off our lads, win, draw or lose. Do one.

Pep sees things we'll never see.
Generally the whinging comes from people whose understanding of football is on par with that of a house brick. They are the sort of people who would look at the Mona Lisa and complain about the frame.

Ake has struggled with injury and it takes time to adjust to a new team, some of the criticism I have read levelled at him is the sort of stuff dads shout at kids from the touchlines of junior football games. He was superb for Bournemouth week in week out, he is a good footballer and he defends properly. He was unlucky with the penalty because I didn't think it was a penalty and without VAR the flag would have gone up and the challenge never made anyway. He will be disappointed with his first season, but there is much more to come from him and we need 4 top quality centres, two right sided, two left sided and now we have them.

As for Raheem, his form has dipped, it happens, but he doesn't hide, he doesn't whinge, he works really hard and is always a threat even if at the moment his end product is not quite up to the standard he has set. He will come again, he is too good not too. The talk of selling him is ridiculous, every player in the world has dips in form, because they are human beings not robots.
 

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