philipl

Watching it on TV, there were plenty of empty seats in the Walkersteel and Jack Walker stands.

The SPL is rubbish but so is much of the Championship. If Vale is turned into a goal scoring machine in Scotland's top league then it is not impossible he cannot bring that prowess south next season.

Newcastle have all the luck of the draw they deserved after last night.

I did put them in brackets but extrapolating current form they will finish on 52 points sandwiched between QPR and Wednesday.

We made him look ordinary. Ditto Guimares and Gordon for most of the 120 minutes.

After last night, he is serious competition with Dolan.

Have to say he was seriously good last night. His shot of course set up the goal but that dribble past at least 5 Newcastle players was one of my highlights of the night. Fingers crossed he takes this form forward now.

My worry is two of the 3 in the bottom grouping all season are on fire now. This could be a 50 points to avoid the drop season. Certainly Plymouth (and maybe Boro) downwards are in a dog eat dog scrap and we have four dogs in our next four games.

Szmodics in with a chance of being FA Cup leading scorer this season.. Then Haaland smacked 5 past TK

Played really well in the Gally role last night.

Good luck JDT So his CV reads Double Swedish Champions, Rovers, Sweden. Quite a smorgasbord with the relish in the middle. I wonder when Wahlstad wins his next cap? Unlike Norway and Denmark, the Swedes are lacking any truly outstanding players coming through at the moment unless I have missed something. A seriously tough assignment to get them to the competitive levels Sweden have been at in the past.

I wrote in the Newcastle thread that last night was Eustace's big chance to emerge from the very substantial JDT shadow. He did that and more despite the penalties outcome. Newcastle were second best for most of the 120 minutes and how the triple subs seemlessly fitted in was just stunning. Newcastle had just wound it up with Almiron, Barnes and Miley coming on and our response was Markanday, Ayala and Garrett. If anything we improved and mostly nullified their increased threat.

So many players produced performances I had no idea were in them but hats off particularly to Moran, Markanday, Pears and Sigurdsson. Now Eustace has the hardest job of all to distill last night and go again at Swansea.

We were superb tonight. Which Wharton is worth 22m?

I was feeling OK. Then I saw that midfield duo.

- Eustace chance to become a hero and step out of JDT considerable shadow - Newcastle frail and wobbly - Newcastle can thrash us so needs tightness at the back and taking our chances when they come. In short Gally and Dolan need to be sharp. - I hope we are practicing penalties like we did before West Ham

Four must not lose games. The problem is four draws could well see us closer to the bottom three!

He had a fierce drive just wide.

Sticking my neck out but if Kompany doesn't completely rebuild the squad again, that lot will struggle in the Championship. Any of the current 100m squad increased their valuations? Very much doubt it.

We know JDT would have given this everything. Over to JE to match his enthusiasm for Cup games. Have to take our chance when it comes along. Worry about Newcastle pace against McFadzean. Fear Bruno will give Bucko a footballing lesson and Dolan will be little boy lost.

That is a scary set of 6 wins by the 8 clubs beneath us.

Something many on here suspected is that he would look better in the Premier League than in the Championship and so it is being proved based on his three games so far.

Mad money in the lower leagues (as both Rochdale and Torquay face oblivion) New York Times looks into the 6th tier of English football- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/world/europe/england-soccer-wrexham-buying-teams.html?smid=url-share

Wide open- all 3 results equal probability in my book.