One of the great Northern cities, born from the industrial revolution, founded on the hard work of the working classes, with an identity and culture to be proud of. A city with a special character and dialect and of course a great football tradition plus every reason to be positive about the future. But enough about Leeds, because on Friday The Mighty Whites have to travel up to that cold, coal covered stinking poverty hole that calls itself “the Toon”.
Newcastle – the self-styled boozy weekend student capital, with its fog on the Tyne, Gazza obsession and bizarre rusty angel thing on the motorway – is home to one of the barest trophy cabinets in top flight football, but still 50,000 dedicated fans will pour into St James’ Park every weekend to watch a team that is claimed to be underfunded and definitely starved of success – personally I admire that – feels like us for the last 17 years if only ER had that kind of capacity.
This game could be a real sliding doors moment for our side. Right now, you could split our fanbase in half: 1/2 see the glass half empty and 1/2 see the glass totally empty. I'm not going to judge who's right and wrong, but rather accept either way because I understand those who see the glass as empty are looking at both our league position and our performances so far and in both cases we are far short of what we did last season.
Personally, I’m a glass half full guy because I can see that we’ve played two of the big four (the Champions league 4) where we would not have expected to get anything and I'm mindful that Bielsa himself has said our season will not be defined by those big matches. What we have done is played two teams outside of the big four and not been beaten by either of them. Indeed, Everton have beaten everybody they have played this season except us.
Whichever way you see our start to the season, we can all agree that the game on Friday night against Newcastle is one we cannot lose. If your glass is empty, you may already be getting very nervous. If, like me, your glass is half full then you will be full of hope that this is a game we will win, or at least won't lose.
So – the tale of the tape:
League Position last year
9th Leeds Pts 59 Gd 8
12th Newcastle Pts 45 Gd -16
League Position this year
17th Leeds Pts 2 Gd -7
19th Newcastle Pts 1 Gd -7
Squad valuation in the PL - Transfermarkt
12th Leeds £225.72M
14th Newcastle £217.26M
Wage Bill – according to Spotrac.com
12th Newcastle
19th Leeds
Not sure on the back of those stats why we’ve suddenly become European contenders, but it shows how much our manager and squad overachieved last year.
The Toon’s celebrity fans include:
Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne
Cheryl Cole
Ant and Dec
Mark Knopfler
Peter Beardsley
Tim Healy (the little fat fella out of Auf Wiedersehen Pet)
The rest of the cast of Auf Wiedersehen Pet
The Fog on the Tyne
Sickly Sausage Rolls
Douglas “wa’hay man” Bader
Mouseman – if you read this far many congratulations
Prediction for the weather: -2 degrees Celsius, biting frosty sleet and a strong 40mph wind (well, it is grim up there). Take your Arctic jacket and flask of cocoa if you’re heading into the frozen wilds.
Prediction for the match: Toon Army 1 – 3 The Mighty Whites (Raphinha, Bamford x 2)
Predicted Line-up:
Meslier
Shackleton, Ayling, Cooper, Firpo
Phillips
Rapha, Rodrigo, Dallas, Harrison
Bamford
Disclaimer: this is predicted, NOT what I’d like to see…… so over to you lot, the unwashed masses, to stick your twopence in.
Bad news if true and good luck Ayling.... please let's try Drameh in his natural position first before we put Dallas or Shacks there.
It'd be hard on Shacks whose waited patiently for a start but he's really a midfielder....
Drameh has been quality for the development squad so deserves a chance...
D
Looks like Ayling out for a while noel welan reckon cuciat?
Very disillusioned about football after friday nights unbelievable officiating performance. Stupidly i thought VAR great at least if the referee made an "error" or deliberately tried to shaft us an independent assessor removed from the atmosphere of a stadium would intervene and say
"sorry there old bean but you got that one wrong"
How wrong was i????
ffs the James penalty incident is a blatant foul and how in gods name did the ref not give in the first place is beyond me but HOW THE FORK DO THE VAR OFFICIALS AFTER REVIEWING THE REPLAY NOT SEE IT????
Like WTF were they looking at??? I mean when a staunch Manu fan concedes its a penalty then surely that says it all.
That penalty is given and its scored 2 nil up the barcode fans will now be up in arms on the backs of their players some of the fans will get up and leave in protest and ive no doubt in my mind the game is over and we pick up our first 3 points. So yes we were poor at the back for the equalizer as it was just was shambolic defending in my view, but i go back to the penalty incident thats given we score game done.
I take no consolation that not alone did i call the 1-1 scoreline but i also correctly predicated the two goal scorers,
Did i put my money on it????
Did i fck
Watch him in the U23s and you will see.
First game, just let him gain experience then you will know.
I thought Shacks looks the part but not sure about Jimmy It was lovely to see him come on but I am missing what everyone else saw when he did. Perhaps I am expecting too much
Yes, Baby Shacks in his cameo was always looking for the ball and trying to make things happen. Personally, I prefer him as a No8 not a No.2.
Can't disagree Smurf
Thought Summerville didn't look out of p!ace, and Shackleton when he came was in the middle of everything - he really should be getting a starting slot now.
A very open game and in terms of performances something of a mix bag to me.
But Newcastle were they're for the taking, score a second goal and that would have been it.
Mind you how the penalty foul on James was not given, I simply don't know. Raises more questions about VAR. We was robbed!
FIrst time this season we created that many chances, but we were so wasteful. Most of our shots on target were underhit (warm-up balls for their keeper?), those shots who were hit with some power went wide or were blocked. We didn't help ourselves either by taking ages to line-up and finally take the shot.
The football going forward was often good and swift, even if we still misplaced several easy looking passes or we simply took the wrong of option (choosing between the simple pass or dribble and lose it).
The defence didn't look comfortable at all, we've got Meslier to thank for a number very good saves and we rode our luck a bit too. Felt Cooper did well, Ayling as a makeshift CB did ok and at least his passing was much better than against Liverpool. To me it seemed that Dallas had a very tuff much, whilst Firpo again was much better going forward than defending. Suppose he's still coming to terms with the intensity and challenges in English football.
Philips had another good game and more often than not remained in his nr 6 position. Klich was busy (pass & move) and stringed some nice balls around, sadly lacked power in every attempt on goal.
Raphina started brightly and seemed to become more & more ineffective, but still posed our biggest threat. He's was a doubt before the game, so I guess the injury eventually caught up with him.
James, not involved an awful lot, but forced a stonewall penalty.
Couldn't really show his pace, because he nearly always received the ball at walking pace. Newcastle didn't allow him the space to run into and or we just couldn't get the ball to him when running at speed.
Like the look of that new player, Rodrigo something.
Joking aside, in first half he was very good (best i've seem him), second half he faded somewhat.
Bamford missed a sitter (on his weaker foot) and once again, to put it midly he certainly was not at his best.
Subs: again, as per usual the saviour couldn't quite save us (let alone finding a teammate in white, eh purple something)
Summerville did pretty well and even went rather close with a late effort, pity we couldn't really launch him. Premiership obviously a big step-up.
A hard fought match and point which came at a cost.
Injuries to Raphina and Ayling and a couple of knocks on Bamford.
For the game at Fulham (another stroll in London), guess we'll have plenty of U-23's in the starting line-up.
Ummm what to say about our team and the 35 square foot hole in the centre of the park. For what ever reason we look like we did during Beilsa year one where the midfield was not understanding their role. Phillips does not hold anymore but plays more like a 8.
Thought Jimmy Summerville should have come on for Roberts!!
I'm sorry but ANYONE who still backs Roberts DOES NOT know about football!!
How many chances does the poor bloke need!?
He offers NOTHING and his passing is abysmal.... surely Greenwood or Geldhart are better than him!!
Two points thrown away by very poor finishing. How can it be so? They must practice and practice but are so inept. Lucky for us Toon were worse. However, overall it was a much improved performance after L'pool, but WH will be another stern test.
Summerville played well tonight when he came on and can actually get the ball past his man....Unlike James!
One hard-warned point. Very sloppy affair. So many mistakes. We probably tried to play faster than we actually are able to. Cooper did not fare too bad, after all, but we need a stable back four. Fingers crossed that Koch or Llorente is available soon. Hope Ayling’s injury is not serious. Raphinha again our dangerman; Phillips and Meslier our starmen. Good to see Summerville’s enthusiasm. Klich had 3 or 4 weak, powerless shots from the distance, and otherwise was not very visible. Dallas did okay, but not more than that; Firpo is still not there, and apparently Bielsa wants him and Rodrigo to play themselves into form, it seems. Will Roberts ever convince anyone?
like I said
Summerville!!!!!!
he's coming on!!
How was that assault on James not a pen?? Such incompetence, even after VAR reviewed it.
Complete joke. Makes you wonder whether there are some brown envelopes being handed out.
We should be 6-2 up, or something. Rarely have two defences in a PL game looked so shaky. Anyway, this is more than winable. Come on Leeds!
Holy crap. I need to consult my doctor before watching the second half.
Get innnnnn