I do think it is key that any new forward does fit into the current method of how we play, for example I wouldnt sign a big brute of a target man just to be a plan B as he would never be able to fit into our plan A. That being said, I think the definition of what a striker is nowadays is very flexible and subjective, do we really not play with strikers? Is Brereton not a striker? Yes he is quick and he moves into the channels but ultimately he is a goalscorer and whilst we can not expect another 20 goal striker to be easily signed, we could do with an actual forward who can play similar to how Brereton does on the other side and crucially also offers us another serious goal threat. I dont know the European market enough to be able to think of any obtainable targets, so can only name types of forward. An Adam Armstrong from last season, a Gabriel Jesus, a Mason Greenwood, (left footed could be great) a Son Heung Min, at our level a Karlan Grant. Someone who is an actual goal threat and more of a striker than a hybrid winger/number 10 type but equally one who would fit how we play easily. Burke for example may be quick and he also is a wide man who has played (terribly) as a striker in the past, therefore if you are pigeon holeing a player based on style, then maybe he fits positionally as someone who could play as the right sided forward in our current formation, but ultimately he is crap so that should be the end of it.

I didnt think it was a foul necessarily, but an offside player was clearly interfering with play in my opinion. The referee has the final say even with the use of VAR which if he uses it correctly as he did last night (maybe should do it quicker but thats splitting hairs) then it benefits him.

The one main focus of injustice is something that Shearer touched on. You cant have VAR at only some grounds within the same competition. You either have it if possible or if that isnt the case then you keep consistency and dont.

The problem is that even defining a clear and obvious error is subjective. If a ball flicks off a hand slightly in the build up, if a player was just a bit offside in the build up etc, we would with justification feel aggrieved if that went against us because it wouldnt be the correct call. Once you start analysing the goal, you are then judging it on 2 parameters, legal and illegal, and anything that makes it the latee becomes clear and obvious. It would be really difficult for a ref to look back and watch a goal and see a slight offside/slight handball and even having seen that the goal according to the rules is illegal, give it anyway on account that it isnt blatant. It is a difficult one, grey areas will always exist so the 2 options are no VAR, a more free flowing but ultimately inaccurate game or the opposite. I do appreciate your frustrations with the time taken but both with and VAR have frustrations and their own pros and cons.

I am torn on it. Ultimately there is no argument that VAR does anything but increases the amount of correct decisions made, it gives the referees extra help. The question is whether that extra help and the improved accuracy of decisions is more important than the disruption of re-watching incidents, I think you can argue the toss either way. Like anything, it relies upon the people using it and that will never be perfect. There are things like seeing players being ruled to be offside by a tiny margin, something that is difficult to avoid whilst keeping decisions as close to objective as possible. There is also linesmen keeping their flag down which again is unavoidable in trying to ensure that genuine goals arent ruled out by officiating mistakes. There is also the fact that much of football is subjective including the definition of a clear and obvious error. Others seem keep to question the referees integrity as if VAR favours teams, I think that is a load of nonsense.if anything, a referee without the ability to re watch an incident could claim not to have seen things to favour teams should he wish. I think it is part of the tribal nature of us football fans to love to blame a referee. The Villa player was offside and obstructed Cavani, therefore the decision was correct to disallow the goal in my view. It wasnt a foul in isolation but the Villa player did impede Cavani and therefore IMO was interfering with play. Referees make mistakes, in this instance he utilised the VAR and for me disallowed a goal that would have otherwise wrongly stood. Youve got a perfect example of my earlier comments on how I judge VAR. I feel like VAR has helped the referee make the correct and fair decision as it should. That being said, the time taken and also the definition of clear and obvious error provokes people, often those who never wanted VAR in the first place. I hated the idea at first but I can see both sides. True, and them having VAR would improve the accuracy of their decisions by giving them extra help. You seem to want to have your cake and eat it.

I thought the decision was correct. The timing isnt ideal but it depends what matters the most, time or accuracy? You slag off refs in the Championship weekly and perhaps fairly but would be totally against the most obvious solution.

I have always thought that he was over rated but Rashford looks so lethargic. Tonight perhaps shows that all of United's woes cant be pinned on Ronaldo.

Cant wait to see him return, what a boost that will be.

I still prefer without but it clearly makes more decisions. You are the first to slag off refs so surely accuracy is more important?

Pace is no use without an end product and nothing about Burke's career suggests that he does have end product. The main 3 priorities have to include a striker, not a winger/number 10 who we try as an experiment to convert into a striker. Someone who can score goals from the right. Im not sure we press particularly much anyway, we tend to sit back and counter a lot of the time, pace is only useful if you can do something at the end of it. We also need a central midfielder, go past the current 3 and the quality drops off a cliff with Davenport/Johnson and obviously this wing back. We could do with a sub keeper and to loan Pears out, and I think we could do with 1 or 2 extra beyond that to help a skeletal squad.

That would be a very illogical window too, if we signed 3 wingers considering that we dont really play with wingers! Your logic is warped. I am judging a player based on his pitiful goal record and having seen him play, do we purposely buy non scoring strikers because I didnt predict the rise of Brereton? Would Burke be a player that in your opinion we should buy? Or are you just mirroring and putting a slant on the signings we are rumoured to sign? You are being pedantic about numbers, 3 v 4/5, will that one or two extra players totally destroy the morale? We havent had an outbreak of covid yet, we may do with such high levels of infection. We have been fairly lucky with injuries, we might not always be, when we have had one or two too many we lost 2 away games before an international break allowed us to patch people back up. We need to be prepared, best to be over prepared rather than under prepared. The owners should give us a decent budget considering our league position. I doubt they will.

I definitely think that highlight reels can easily give an unfair representation on a player, 100%. I am wary of reading too much into raw data especially on its own as there are so many limitations to it, not least the way that these things are measured, how positioning may lead to less "tackles" having to be made etc. And also as you mentioned, you are comparing different leagues, playing in different teams with different styles, its a minefield and the key is never the data/footage but the opinions of the judge. But I would certainly agree regarding the limitations of highlight reels and much of what you say ties into that and proves how of limited use that highlight reel is.

There is something we can do and make provisions by ensuring that we have a deep squad just in case. 6 was at most, maybe 4 or 5 which is not much different to 3. We lack numbers and we also could do with different options, its not like say last season when blooding untested kids had less risk considering that we were in mid table. You keep saying about excuses because you are again not reading and are just replying to your own arguments. Its not about making excuses, it is about having enough quality in depth to cover and challenge for a promotion push. Also your comments on Burke, do I know for sure that if he joined, that he would be shit here? Of course not. But I would not personally recommend signing a player that has been a massive failure and has looked poor whenever I have seen him in the last few years. Not only that, but his only flickers of career promise were as a winger, not as a forward. His goal record is woeful too. Regarding the budget, we have a major sale in this years accounts. To invest a chunk of that considering our position seems a reasonable expectation of the owners.

I just desperately hope that those inside the club dont share such a flippant attitude towards the risk of being left short for such a critical half season at the top end.

Burke may "have played up front" but that doesnt that it was successful, it was anything but! That would be like teams having bought Chris Samba as he "had played as a striker" in the past. As others have pointed out, you speak as if your future covid judgements are factual but what is a fact is that so many players are being made unavailable due to covid across the league/country. Coupled with the risk of injury to a small squad and it is my opinion that we ensure that our squad going into a promotion push is deep enough to cover for both of those eventualities. You keep commenting as if it is about "excuses" but my point is more that a few absentees and the quality of our team could massively decrease. There have been times this season when we have looked really short, whether it be when Magloire had to play in the first team, when our bench had no attacking options etc and it has cost us points which we can not afford to spurn, our rivals have deeper squads so that wont be as much of an issue. Throw in a potetial covid outbreak and we could be in a similar situation. Putting faith in a covid scenario of limited damage is a risk we can ill afford to take.

It has nothing to do with excuses, point being that we need to go into the remainder of our promotion push with confidence that our squad has enough quality in depth to cope with potential absentees. A promotion push is not the time to be blooding untested players or making do. The new infectious strain of covid is making its way North and there is already covid within the camp so I would agree with Mowbray that it feels inevitable. You mention the symptoms but it is infectious so even if a player is asymptomatic, it is irrelevant, they cant play. We definitely need at least one striker, we need another central midfielder, we need a right wing back and seemingly have a target for that position, and also a senior sub keeper. I would loan Pears out. A 5th senior centre back would be ideal, that would cover 3 positions although the difficulty is getting someone who could compete, although may not always play. With Lenihan and Wharton potentially out though he may come straight in. Another attacking player might be ideal, but with Dack, Buckley, Brereton, a new striker, Khadra, Dolan and the injury prone Gallagher, we may have enough although you can never have enough firepower. Carter and Butterworth are unproven and could do with loan spells but we may be wise being more prudent and keeping them. I have seen little of Hedges so couldnt make a judgement on him as a player. I dont see why we are chasing a winger though. Burke is also a winger but I have seen enough of him to hope that Nixon is talking shite, he couldnt hit a barn door.

Newcastle are in a situation whereby the only reason that players will want to join is money, but any permanent additions will be wary of a likely relegation wage cut. Trippier will have (no matter how much he claims otherwise!) joined for the money, going from a Champions League team to a terrible Newcastle team, from Suarez and Griezmann to Jacob Murphy and Jonjo Shelvey. Ramsey is on a reported 400k a week at Juventus, the only way surely that Newcastle could get a deal to work without Ramsey having to have his wages reduced is a loan, considering that he would need a cut if they went down. Aubameyang has been linked, maybe money again will be the deciding factor.

I thought that Mowbray had rubbished the Burke links? I really do hope we go nowhere near him. Unsure where a player of Hedges' position fits in our current formation which is working. Plan B talk aside, we need all signings to be able to slot straight into our current formation. It's not about "getting on with it." My point is that we need a squad with a depth of quality capable of sustaining a promotion push amidst the likely scenario of injuries throughout the main 12/13 players aswell as a potential covid outbreak. We don't ever want to play players that significantly reduce the quality of the team and cost us points. Although to be honest, you seem to be arguing but have similar suggestions regarding numbers. Get a right wing back in and we seem fine there on both sides, although Edun doesn't overly convince me. We have 4 centre backs that we can trust for 3 places, so we are 2 injures/covid absentees away from having to draft in someone unproven like Carter or someone from another position like Johnson, is that enough? Not sure. If Kaminski is out, can we trust Pears? Not sure. We also desperately need a genuine alternative goal threat, if Brereton got injured then we are screwed and Gallagher is always injured.

Looking at our squad, we have one goalkeeper at the needed standard that we can count on in Kaminski, 4 centre backs in Lenihan, Ayala, Van Hecke and Wharton, 2 wing backs in Nyambe and Pickering, 3 midfielders in Travis, Rothwell and Buckley, one attacking player in Khadra and then only one consistent goalscorer in Brereton. Throw in top of that the imminently returning Dack, fitness permitting, then we have Edun who still hasn't convinced and perhaps suffers from his own versatility, Dolan carries a threat but struggles for regular end product, Gallagher is far too injury prone to be counted on, Rankin Costello even moreso, Johnson looks over the hill. Our direct rivals have so many options and we need more. A wave of covid seems inevitable and injuries will be picked up between now and May, I feel like the quality in the first 11 is good, but beyond that curtain we look very thin, and part of the problem is that the balance of the side suffers because there are only 3 or 4 that are trusted beyond that so they end up being shunted out of position. Would I be confident if any of Carter, Butterworth, Davenport etc were needed for an extended period in a promotion push? No.

If we managed to somehow get promoted, that would suggest that the correct players were playing in the correct positions.

At least 3 or 4, we need numbers. Lets see if the money is forthcoming.

Is this directly from Waggott? The idea that academy graduates tend to end up on lower deals makes sense to an extent (as long as eventually those players can get to the higher end of the pay structure) in that one of the main driving forces is surely a players previous contract, wages won't be totally proportionate anywhere purely to ability and performance. For example, when a former graduate goes to negotiate a new deal, his negotiation power is naturally weaker with his previous wage being very small. Compare that to say a Gallagher, Armstrong or even a more experienced player like Ayala/Johnson whereby their previous contract is probably in excess of our top earner, so they have to take a wage reduction even to join. There is absolutely no evidence that Dack was being sold, West Brom made a bid that was rejected according to Graeme Jones who was at West Brom, as reported by the LT. Armstrong wasn't replaced because in spite of a significant sale, none of the money was reinvested by the owners to sign a replacement. Your last sentence is agenda driven, especially about the manager. Performances (well results) are the barometer of how successful a manager is, and the way that we all agreed that Mowbray should have been sacked last season. Yet when they become positive, its merely "hiding what a shambolic job" that is being done? Laughable, you have to be neutral in your judgements. Ultimately, if we are contributing anything towards his wages, for us to send him back, that would put that liability back on to Leeds. I am guessing that there is no clause to release him from our end because otherwise it wouldn't make sense for Leeds to take him back, pay his full wage yet not be able to use him.

Really poor performance and in no way is losing any game "a positive," I went to Wigan thinking there was less pressure but it really rankled seeing us lose. It just highlights especially in a time where a batch of Covid absentees are around the corner that we need more quality players, we have the main 11 but they will get injured, beyond that we have Ayala, Dack to come back and little else. When we miss a player or 2 out, what tends to happen is due to a very small squad, one of 3 or 4 players can come in and the time has to be re-arranged from there. The squad is starting to creak, Pickering injured, Gallagher injured, Nyambe injured, Lenihan injured, Van Hecke picked up a knock and I am unsure where Wharton was. The time comes for Venkys to invest a chunk of the Armstrong money to get more quality in. Do they really care though? We need a striker, we need another attacking player, we need a central midfielder, (had to play the usual 3 again) we need a right wing back, possibly a centre back and definitely a keeper. Performance wise, Pears was embarrassing, Gallagher is so injury prone and his contract renewal was a waste of time, Dolan was out of position but very poor, Edun is miles off Pickering standard and the defensive injuries are a huge worry.

My comments were predominantly about judging players based on highlight reels, not the player himself. Obviously I would judge a player on his performances in a Rovers shirt. You seem to have either misunderstood my point or purposely ignored it so leave that one there.

My comment was more about the use of highlights to form conclusions about players that no one on this site had heard of 12 hours ago rather than the player himself. All of his defensive work which is critical for a wing back/full back in that video is last ditch sliding tackles and/or aggresive tackles, some of which led to fouls. Even the odd showing of aggression in totally unconstructive ways. That being said, I take that with a pinch of salt as if you was rating a full/wing back, even take our 2 both of whom have had good seasons, highlight reels would be unlikely to show a full back jockeying a wide man away from danger, anticipating trouble before it happened to ensure that he doesnt need to resort to a risky last ditch clearance, forcing a player onto his weak foot etc, all evident in a good full/wing back but not exciting all the same. If we was to made a video of Nyambe, it would probably include the burst and cross v Birmingham or his crosses to set up goals against Barnsley last season, against Bournemouth last season, against Swansea the season before etc as they are the most eye catching when in fact his best play is usually one on one defending.