Geordie Arabia vs Arsenal 04.11.2023 - KO 17:30

Another one I’m not looking forward to, especially with players dropping like flies again. Not that he’d be particularly pivotal in this game but Smith Rowe is out for a month (we really need to sell him ASAP)


Game that usually isn’t high scoring, I do worry about our ability to deal with them without Partey playing. Jorginho just can’t cope with pressing at all. Tomiyasu needs to play over Zinchenko, Ramsdale over Raya (although he was awful against the Ammers) and I think Havertz instead of Nketiah…it’s all very well being able to score a hat-trick against Sheffield United but then if in the next game you’ll disappear again it shows you’re just a player that can score lots against rubbish teams. Plus Havertz can hold up the ball well



My team for tomorrow


Ramsdale

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu

Jorginho, Rice

Odegaard

Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

i said in the summer we should have sold both ESR and Partey, both crocked and we could have got decent money for them - £70-£80m collectively

Playing Havertz is pointless against their defence he just won't get the ball

I'd play Trossard instead and tell him to interchange with Martinelli

but still 3-0 Wilson hatter

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Originally Posted by Mac76

i said in the summer we should have sold both ESR and Partey, both crocked and we could have got decent money for them - £70-£80m collectively

Playing Havertz is pointless against their defence he just won't get the ball

I'd play Trossard instead and tell him to interchange with Martinelli

but still 3-0 Wilson hatter

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I don’t think their defence is even that good. It’s ok but it’s also a defence that can be taken apart when exposed to pace. They won’t sit back against us and I think it’s a good idea that can hold up the ball and bring in Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard.

I think both Partey and Smith Rowe will go next summer, and whilst we need to replace one I don’t necessarily think we need to replace both.

Smith Rowe may go in January if we decide to bring someone else in as I don’t think we can afford to bring anyone else in without player sales

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I don’t think their defence is even that good. It’s ok but it’s also a defence that can be taken apart when exposed to pace. They won’t sit back against us and I think it’s a good idea that can hold up the ball and bring in Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard.

I think both Partey and Smith Rowe will go next summer, and whilst we need to replace one I don’t necessarily think we need to replace both.

Smith Rowe may go in January if we decide to bring someone else in as I don’t think we can afford to bring anyone else in without player sales

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The problem is we're bad enough at selling players who aren't constantly injured, which is why we needed to pre-empt the inevitable last summer, we'll get nothing for either of them now

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Originally Posted by Mac76

The problem is we're bad enough at selling players who aren't constantly injured, which is why we needed to pre-empt the inevitable last summer, we'll get nothing for either of them now

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As I’ve said I think keeping Partey made sense given the amount it would cost us to get a player of equivalent ability, even to the point where having a player of his ability that is going to be injured for half the season is better than being without him. We rejected tentative bids in and around the 30 million pound mark for Partey, that’s after a season where he was without doubt at his best…absolutely brilliant for most of the season. Now I suspect the reason it didn’t go any higher was probably because it’s already well known that he is a player that’s hard to keep fit.

If I thought for example we’d have got the money we needed to bring in someone like Tchoumeni or someone equivalent it would have been mystifying, but that simply wasn’t the case.

Let’s be fair, the biggest question mark of the summer was the amount we spent on Havertz which was a gamble at the very best. Ultimately the only club that had real success with selling off its players was Chelsea. Mahrez, City got 30 million got and Gundogan was a free transfer.

I don’t know how Chelsea achieve it, but I certainly don’t advise adopting their transfer strategy put it that way.


I think ultimately whilst I don’t think we do enough to get money back from our player sales, the wider context of this is that one outside of England most clubs are not especially affluent and second the real drain on clubs resources is less the transfer fees and more the wages.

There’s also the fact that a lot of clubs are under the same ffp constraints as us and that’s why you’ll find that a lot of our loan exits will have obligation to buy outright clauses next year - for players like Tavares etc

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

As I’ve said I think keeping Partey made sense given the amount it would cost us to get a player of equivalent ability, even to the point where having a player of his ability that is going to be injured for half the season is better than being without him.

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This is where i just don't agree, while no-one stays fit all the time if you can't sufficiently rely on having a player when you need them they're just taking up a space which somone fitter could be filling

£30m would be fine with me tbh to get someone in who would actually turn up when you need them

while i think you underestimate Rice's attacking qualities I do agree Partey's long range passes are missed but it's the way it is, you buy someone fitter who can do the same or you compensate in how you recruit elsewhere and set up the team - what you don't do is bet the farm on a lame horse like Partey

I think we might be taken apart in this, got a nasty feeling about it.

Then again it was only in May that we came here and delivered one of the most mature performances of the season. So who knows.

They're a funny side, Newcastle. They've had some fantastic results and some really poor ones. So it's entirely possible they could beat us, but just as possible we could do what we did last year and roll them over. Hard to call this one but I am worried about this one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mac76

This is where i just don't agree, while no-one stays fit all the time if you can't sufficiently rely on having a player when you need them they're just taking up a space which somone fitter could be filling

£30m would be fine with me tbh to get someone in who would actually turn up when you need them

while i think you underestimate Rice's attacking qualities I do agree Partey's long range passes are missed but it's the way it is, you buy someone fitter who can do the same or you compensate in how you recruit elsewhere and set up the team - what you don't do is bet the farm on a lame horse like Partey

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The problem is, it cost Chelsea for instance 60 million to sign Romeo Lavia…and even if he was considered good enough to get in their first team he’s been injured. We paid 20 million for Lokonga and I have to say that’s the kind of risk you take in this market. It’s the difference between wanting to buy someone and wanting to sell them.

To get someone in even half as good as Partey would have cost twice the money we’d have got for him.

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Originally Posted by Letters

They're a funny side, Newcastle. They've had some fantastic results and some really poor ones. So it's entirely possible they could beat us, but just as possible we could do what we did last year and roll them over. Hard to call this one but I am worried about this one.

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The only certainty with this fixture is that it probably won’t be a high scoring affair (even when they wiped the floor with us and ended our champions league qualifying hopes in 2022 it was only 2-0). They don’t score against us often, in fact they haven’t scored a goal at the Emirates since 2014 (I was at that game, that’s how long ago it was :lol:) and even at St James Park they’ve scored something like three goals in the last five games against us.

They will come at us, so it’s important to win the 50/50s take the early sting out of the game and try to score first. We could get blown away like mid week but if we score first…I think it sets us up nicely