Enda

Making my point here is going to take a bit of explaining. But when there's 100 things going on in a match (starting eleven, formation, subs, if the ref suddenly gives the opposition a harsh penalty, etc etc) you just can't use the result to get the whole picture. You can win the game even if you make bad subs. You can lose the game because of a bad VAR decision. So you need to keep them all in perspective. I don't agree we were cruising around 70 mins. When Gayle came on, and Andy Carroll had that chance, McGinn was bit off the pace, and Hourihane was becoming quieter. At that time the game was in the balance then. Obviously it ended up not mattering (thankfully) but we could all have seen that match going another way. A bit like taking off Wesley and bringing a centre-half with 5 mins to go against Liverpool could have won us 3 points. It might not have worked but it sort of makes sense when you're playing the percentages. Not freshening up that midfield in the second-half wasn't playing the percentages today. We were lucky Newcastle were so crap that it didn't matter in the end.

Right, right. Here's some quotes from the match thread: @sne"Boggles the mind why we are always so late with the subs." @bojong "Nakamba for Hourihane for last 10" @PieFacE "Unpopular opinion. I'd bring McGinn off. Doesn't look himself." @AVTuco "Maybe Elmo on for Guilbert? Need some strength." @Dr_Pangloss "Midfield gone to shit now, needs a change." @osmark86 "I would sub mcginn for nakamba. He's been ok but we should really just bring the brick wall back to these suckers. Would devastate them." @KHV "Changes please Dean" @deeps "McGinn needs a rest badly." @Dave-R "Can see gayle changing it for them, i agree with other we need to chsnge things up abit." But maybe we were all imagining things?

Talk about dramatic After the match I said he was magnificent. I agree with you if that's as negative as possible I should get another job. Sure we'll just keep you happy and say 100% of his shots tonight were simply awe-inspiring. Good stuff.

He was magnificent tonight. Best player on the pitch. And was weak with his shots. Why is everything black and white with you?

I'm abroad so only early afternoon here. Obviously it wasn't consequential tonight, but three points against an awful Newcastle side don't cover up Smith's unwillingness to make changes at 70 minutes.

We did win, but we didn't help ourselves. Play that match again and we'd throw it away. It's nearly December, not preseason. "Get used to putting in a 90 minute shift" is not an excuse to have kept John McGinn on that pitch.

Tactically speaking, fantastic starting eleven tonight. Dropping Nakamba (controversial) meant we were on the front foot all day. Well done. Unforgivable to not make any changes after 70 minutes. Very bad sign.

Controversial opinion: he's crap at shooting.

Get Nakamba on for McGinn.

Only the one goal and a single assist in the first 45 minutes here against Newcastle. Lazy player, no end product.

Unsworth will leave without actually playing a game.

Absolutely. He's at another level. Our second best player, imho.

I said during the week Trez could turn out a better signing than El Ghazi and was called mental.

To be fair even the commentator on my stream suggested bringing on a fifth defender, after about 60-70 mins.

Yeah, maybe his best performance for the club. There's something missing to his game... maybe it's muscle, maybe it's confidence, but it's definitely not work-rate and I don't think it's ability. Think he'll come good and be a very good squad player for us.

Not really. Was just an excellent header from a corner.

Fresh legs. Would have personally brought off Trez for Hourihane as he was clearly exhausted, but fresh legs made sense.

Heart-breaking. But a valiant effort. Marvellous was immense. Engels immense. This team will do great things.

Definitely need two defensive midfielders to counteract Liverpool’s high pressing. Jack could be a crucial anchor. I’ll get eaten alive, but I’d drop AEG and Trez. Put Jack and Conor in midfield (switching sides) with SJM in between them. We need Jack for obvious reasons, and I think Conor is more likely to provide us a goal threat than either AEG or Trez at the moment. Wesley up front, absolutely hounding them. We’ll lose 3-1.

Nah, not a troll. I'll be honest with ya that I had the match on in work so only got to look when it sounded like something was happening and, based on that, Luiz kept coming up in bad news. I would have missed the cleaning up jobs though.

Worked hard but little to show today. Bad enough showing, looked tired.

If that's the case....

Agreed, but did you not see their goal? No pressure in midfield, and just bossed off it. You might say it was one mistake but... it wasn't.

Did you not see their goal? Wasn't the only time he was pushed off the ball. Was clear the ref wasn't calling 50-50s and Luiz was the only man in the stadium to not notice.