English football 2024-25

[mikesiva]

Oi!

you'd better not be talking about the League Cup trophy

That 1-1 draw away to Manchester United has put further distance between Liverpool and Arsenal.

[sussexpob]

last night was just what the Geordie doctor ordered.... a gruelling, energy sapping encounter for Liverpool against a team that played them off the park, but which miraculously saw Liverpool scrape a win to keep all their energies concentrated on the return encounter. There will be no resting of players on Tuesday. PSG will have been wishing they had the ref and the VAR from 2 years ago when they scraped a draw against Newcastle, rather than the one which disallowed a goal by a heel and ignored the big fat penalty shout

lets hope PSG can work them hard again next week, with lots of extra time and penalties............ and maybe chop Salah's legs out from underneath him

Been nearly a week, and I still can't quite work out how the hell Liverpool won that game. On another day, they'd have gone home 6-0 down.... not 1-0 up

[sussexpob]

last night was just what the Geordie doctor ordered....

And last night as well, with Liverpool having to play an extra 30 minutes of extra time.

[sussexpob]

Was a thoroughly entertaining two legs of football between Liverpool and PSG. PSG look a tremendous side at points, but after 3 halfs of football having Liverpool where they wanted them without being able to score the goals necessary, it was Liverpool's turn to dominate the second half without being able to find the net themselves. They hit the inside of the post twice in a few minutes, with the ball rolling across the goal line on the rebound....

Over both ties, it felt like there was a force-field on the goals. French comms said about 75 minutes in that the XG for the two leg tie at that point had gone near 14 goals.... and yet we got 2. Can blame bad finishing, but was a rare occasion of balls scraping past posts, and two world class keepers having world class performances.... rarely do you see goalkeepers make so many top draw saves.

[Durhamfootman]

will Eddie Howe go with a change of formation for the final, I wonder

the formation with all players available would usually be 4-3-3, but he neutralised Arsenal very effectively in the semi final second leg with 5 at the back. Of course part of that reason was to get around the absence of Joelinton in that game. By not replacing him in midfield that freed up space for the extra defender. Part of me thinks he might push Big Joe out wide left to replace the suspended Gordon and leave Barnes on the bench. If he sticks with 4-3-3 then he literally has nothing on the bench that might improve things or change the game later on. 4-3-3 is do or die... any substitutions he makes only weakens the team. At least with 5-2-3 he can revert to 4-3-3 and bring Barnes on if we are chasing the game

I have everything crossed that he plays Dubravka in goal, because if he sticks with Pope's terrible feet, then we are probably screwed

[Durhamfootman]

I confess to not being even remotely sanguine about the result tomorrow and I haven't met anyone recently who is

we're all hoping, but that's about it. Nobody thinks we have much of a chance tomorrow

It would take one of those unstoppable momentum matches like the 6-1 Spurs result to bring the elusive domestic trophy home, I reckon, and against this Liverpool side that doesn't feel likely

In the last 50 years, Newcastle have played at Wembley 5 times. 2 FA cup finals, 1 FA cup SF and 2 League cup finals. They've scored 2 goals (1 each in 1975 and 2005) and shipped 12, losing the lot 2-1, 2-0, 2-0, 4-1, 2-0

We'll see

[Durhamfootman]

I suppose I could include the Charity Shield at Wembley in that list, but that just makes the 12-2 scoreline 16-2


pffffff

[sussexpob]

Enjoy it Footman!! What a performance from the Toon Army

[Durhamfootman]

Ole, ole, ole

I went for a walk along the old railway line for the match, bumping into captaincolly on the way. When I did get home I nervously checked the score, saw we were
2-0 up in the 6th minute of time added on and blow me if Liverpool didn't score within seconds of me having a look

I really am the biggest jinx for teams that I support

Anyway, I watched the celebrations and presentations live, looks as though Big Dan Burn got POTM, and I'm just settling down to watch the recording of the game, which I intend to enjoy immensely

Eddie Howe........ legend!

[captaincolly]

Ole, ole, ole

I went for a walk along the old railway line for the match, bumping into captaincolly on the way. When I did get home I nervously checked the score, saw we were
2-0 up in the 6th minute of time added on and blow me if Liverpool didn't score within seconds of me having a look

I really am the biggest jinx for teams that I support

Anyway, I watched the celebrations and presentations live, looks as though Big Dan Burn got POTM, and I'm just settling down to watch the recording of the game, which I intend to enjoy immensely

Eddie Howe........ legend!

When we were talking the notification came through on my phone of the first goal! Was slightly concerned with the late goal and added time....but no problems in the end!

[Durhamfootman]

good game, I enjoyed it. What particularly struck me was that Liverpool tried to play like Arsenal. I think Newcastle went after them so hard in the first half hour, that Liverpool spent all their time trying to take the sting out of the game. They had hardly any chances until the 180 mins of stoppage time.

I thought my boys were terrific today.... a far cry from 2 years ago

Big Dan Burn was brilliant, but I thought the 2 full backs Trippier and Livramento were the stars of the show today.

Despite Isak having very few touches, he could easily have had a hat trick. I guess that's why everybody wants him (even though they won't get him.... ha!)

[Durhamfootman]

There's a part of me that wonders if Isak was held back from the midweek game so as not to give Liverpool any practice at containing him

EH said, after the final today, that they changed everything around for the recent PL match so as not to give Liverpool any idea about his LC plans, so I reckon I was right about Isak

They kept Salah very quiet today. First time they've beaten Liverpool in 10 years, seemingly

[Gingerfinch]

Pleased for Eddie. Seems like a nice bloke.

Sounds like Newcastle were well deserved winners?

[Durhamfootman]

they played Liverpool off the park, ginger

[Gingerfinch]

Plus they had a goal disallowed. Correctly in my opinion.

Great finish from Isak btw. It was 'on the up' to term a Cricket phrase and he made it look easy.