Chelsea make us look good and that is saying something
Atb
Kk
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Newcastle took their full 1,100 away allocation at LuTon yesterday. No seat was unsold. As has been the case at every away game this season. 
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Yep, an interesting reality Mike.
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City going to win it again watching this weekends fixtures/results Iād guess. Poch doesnāt have the players at Chelsea - Gallagher as captain speaks volumes. They have to stick with him. Ten H unlikely to survive. Howe under pressure Iād suggest. For now itās competitive which is good for neutrals.
Although the mess at OT is not so much the fault of ETH, heās really got to go.
It would be a relief for him I feel.
The same may be said of Poch.
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Merry Christmas everybody. Even Bobā¦ 
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I donāt think City are as good as they have been but yes they are still the team to beat. Liverpool though a bit better than last year are still not back to their best Mane, Firmino, Rabinho and even Henderson left big gaps and Gakpo, Nunez, Diaz and Szoboszlai just arenāt as good.
I woke up this morning really disappointed Arsenal didnāt beat Liverpool last night because we are a better team this year, not as fluid and easy on the eye but we are stronger and much harder to beat but our front three especially Gabby Martinelli have lost a bit of form, his decision making in the end is a bit off at the moment. Do the correct business in January though and weāre in with a shout again this season.
I think Arsenal did well against Liverpool, Bob, and it was a good game to watch. They need to get Zinchenko out of the team though; heās clearly not good enoughā¦
But Andy, his purchase was an Arteta masterstrokeā¦apparently.
Anyway, back to the party.
A decent player just not a left back.
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From my neutral(ish) perspective, Liverpool could and should have won the game. They stutter from time to time, but when it all clicks, they are still the stronger team. I disagree about the midfield rebuild; Gakpo, Gravenberch, McAllister and Szoboszlai have yet to jell fully, but are potentially a major upgrade.
Declan Rice has been the difference maker for Arsenal, although Saliba and Gabriel are also tremendous. Thereās some great movement going on in the middle and on the wings, but the cutting edge isnāt there ā and Jesus will never supply it. And they could yet rue Artetaās bizarre destruction of Ramsdale for the sake of sticking with a goalkeeper who is, at best, average.
And persisting with Zinchenko to the point where Kieran Tierney had to leave was a textbook case of āpoint gun at foot; fire.ā
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Everythingās wrong at OT for sure. People forget the Mancs have only had 2 decent managers in 50/60 years - Busby/Fergie. Somehow thatās turned into āentitlementā. Poch needs time for me. Gallagher is mid table EPL at best. That heās captain sums up their recruitment imo. Youāll all be chasing City by February I expect.
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After pretty much dominating us for 4 years Liverpool have failed to beat us in our last three Premier League matches and havenāt beaten us at Anfield the last three times we have played there. Itās easy to say they could and should have beaten us yesterday but the simple answer is they didnāt and havenāt been able to since September 2022. Iāll have to disagree that Liverpool have potentially upgraded since losing Mane and Co only time will tell on that though.
Since Kieron Tierney left on loan to Real Sociedad last August he has spent 3 months injured playing only 8 La Liga matches which has been the story of his time at Arsenal unfortunately a lot of the time during the big games and at the crunch times he was injured and canāt be relied upon to stay fit.
On the subject of Zinchenko he is our now our third choice left back having first lost his place to Jurien Timber who got an ACL injury back in August and then to Tomiyasu who would have 100% played yesterday had he not also been injured.
Aaron Ramsdale came to us after being relegated twice with his previous two teams to the dismay of most Arsenal fans and the head scratching of many pundits, he took the place of Bernd Leno a German international who was unceremoniously dropped after the first few games (sound familiar)? Aaron had a great couple of seasons with us and went from being a twice relegated keeper to now being linked with Man U, Chelsea and several big European sides so hardly the victim of a destruction.
David Raya like Arteta and Kai Havertz are the go to subjects of lazy journalists the truth is though that after a slow start Reya is now along with Allison the top in form keeper in the division letting in only 12 goals so far, keeping 5 clean sheets and in 6 Champions League matches kept 3 clean sheets and let in just four goals.
Talk about blinkered.
Thereās no hope.
No, I donāt think Liverpool have upgraded on Mane. That would be well-nigh impossible, although he left when he was already past his peak.
Anyway, all the best mate, and enjoy the holidays.
You too. Weāre in Sunny Spain having a break from the wet, grey U.K. weather.
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Former player Chris Woods embarrasses Newcastle at St Jamesā to send Eddie Howe closer to the Job Centre!!
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Howeās done better than I expected but for me heās not an elite manager & was always likely to hit the āwith the size of our investment we expect to compete with Cityā demand at some point. That point may well be approaching. Elite managers attract elite players. Essential to succeed at the highest level. Saudi will expect, I expect !
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I donāt know if the financial regulations are causing restraint but Iām surprised how little has been invested by Newcastle having qualified for Europe.
At the moment the team looks knackered.
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Newcastle have a net spend of around Ā£410 million since the 2021/2022 season so not an a small amount if you consider Arsenal have a net of about Ā£480.
But 100% their spending has been hampered by FFP which to the clubās credit they havenāt tried to circumvent.
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