Opinionated: Newcastle United

 12/26/23 This was humiliating. I said before they couldn’t keep putting Trippier out there. If his dip in form & mistakes were due to exhaustion they should have put him on the bench and gave Lewis Hall a try with Livramento on the right. But, I also have to point out that Burn’s absence affected Tripps bc Burn lets them play with a back 3 and Trippier becomes more like a second winger. Without Burn they did not have that natural formation switch and Tripps had to be a normal right back. Teams always think they can get behind Burn but he’s generally part of a back 3 when teams counter attack and Sven always covers him. However, today we were so poor defending their counter attack, it was inexplicable. I can’t believe how bad we are at the moment Miley does have great vision I just wish he was faster, if we could find a player like that with a lot more speed we might be on to something.

 December 23, 2023 Luton Town 1 Newcastle 0 It's truly not good enough, should've been down 3-0 at half time. The idea that it's down to our injuries and fixtures is not acceptable. There were opportunities to play other players, the youth players or Lewis Hall. Yet they were continuously left off. Now that refusal to use those players is haunting them. Sean Longstaff has developed a bad habit of flopping and diving. He needs to be staying on his feet. It's getting to annoying levels. I never really understood why they signed Nick Pope. True he's been great, but Dubravka is a good keeper and didn't need replaced, and Karl Darlow was always a good #2. So it never made sense to me, and it's nice to see Dubravka in the team. Almiron's limitations are now starting to hold the team back. He hustles and links well with Trippier but his final ball is always a let down. The first half of last season was the one and only time he was scoring a lot of goals and tru...

 Look I love Trippier. He's been central to the team's turnaround over the last 2 years, a massive leader.  But he's now become a detriment to the team with his glaring mistakes. You just can't keep putting him out there at this point. There comes a time when everyone loses a step and can't hack it anymore. His time may have come.  Aside from the glaring mistakes is that his set pieces really aren't that great either. The TV announcers always give him the big lead-in on every corner and free kick. Yet time and time again, his service is junk or he misses. Sure, he hit the post a couple games ago, big deal. Overall the chances from set pieces he makes is miniscule. A post script about the way Eddie Howe has been playing from 1-0 advantages lately. There's a reason you can't just hold onto that all the time. And if you can't hold on, you might as well play as you normally do, and bring out the youngsters if the regulars you have can't play due to e...