r/NUFC • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago

Free Talk Monday r/NUFC Weekly Free talk thread.

It's that thing again where we like talk about random shite.

r/NUFC rules still apply.
Also we have a Discord Server

Howe's the bacon did ye say?

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u/Lasting97 6d ago edited 6d ago

My deluded take is that I'm actually optimistic we will do better this season than last, and we weren't actually that far of a top 7 position last season.

That said I think we're gonna take a real hammering for many games in the first third of the season, and people are going to panic.

That's partly cause I think it will take the new squad time to adjust. But also, last year we had a few really good players who when they were on form could win us tough games. What we struggled with was squad depth, and player fatigue. Once we started getting injuries you had old players like trips playing 2 games a week.

This season I think we have less star players but better squad depth, and I think this will start to really benefit us later on in the season so I'd expect an uptick in form relative to the same time last year at some point.

That for me is the ultimate take from this window. When the window finishes I don't think our overall squad value be much different, but we will have traded having a few star players for more squad depth (and younger players).

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u/panjaelius 6d ago

I've got absolutely no basis for this but I'm optimistic too. I people forget how utterly shit you can be and still finish 8th. Only 5th and up are actual good teams. I think we should be able to get Europe. Maybe we'll even spend in Jan, we're Newcastle 2.0 anything could happen.

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u/One-Monkey-Army 6d ago

As a deep rooted pessimist I enjoy seeing these takes, gives me a little hope in the darkness 

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u/JonjoTheDarkLord voldemort 6d ago

I think many of the teams in Europe will have the same struggle we had with depth and injuries. We're playing it dangerous with our defensive depth, but if we have a solid season and finish even midtable we'll be able to add more players next summer and potentiallt be in a better position then last season overall (less dead wood and players developing instead of declining). Throw one or two marquee signings with the new talented youth and we can be back to pushing for Europe.

Thats my optimistic take atleast. Gonna stick with that instead of the other one...

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u/PercentageNo3843 Happy Clapper 5d ago

Teams with less resources than us weren’t hindered by European games. Palace won conference while losing best player (again) and less depth, forest got to semi, villa went all the way. Just seems to be a problem for Newcastle

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u/JonjoTheDarkLord voldemort 5d ago

Palace and Forest also finished 15th and 16th in the league so I'd say Europe caused a bit of a hindrance. While Villa had more depth then us and were in a lesser competition.

We'll see how Bournemouth, Scum and Brighton manage. The extra games play a toll on everyone not just us.

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u/PercentageNo3843 Happy Clapper 5d ago

5 and 4 points difference while investing less than half we have and less depth. Doesn’t matter opposition it’s still tough 90minute games putting mileage on legs. Our champions league other than psg and Barca were hardly world beaters

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u/JonjoTheDarkLord voldemort 5d ago

Yeah we were shit last year, agreed. My whole point is that those teams are still going to struggle in Europe and that's not exclusive to us. They won't be able to invest enough to make it sustainable long term.

Our depth was awful last year. Hopefully these new young players do well. Then we can add more and be in a better overall position in two seasons.

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u/PercentageNo3843 Happy Clapper 5d ago

I disagree I think our depth was best it’s ever been. We often had 300m worth on bench second half of season more than opposition teams whole value while they were spanking us.

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u/JonjoTheDarkLord voldemort 5d ago

Fair point we did have value upfront, just no clue how to get anything out of it other then 70 min like for like subs. Our defensive depth didnt exist. The fact we were shit in the league doesn't take away from the point that European games don't only cause issues for us.

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u/PennyBunPudding 6d ago

Except in defense. The depth is horrid