WallisFrizz

From the telegraph:

Newcastle United have been forced to close their training ground until Wednesday following a Covid outbreak at the club, placing a huge question mark over Friday night’s Premier League fixture against Aston Villa.

The entire Newcastle first team and staff have been ordered to isolate at home after a significant number of individuals were infected.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport on Sunday, four players and a staff member tested positive for the virus last week and it is understood more returned positive tests when the latest round of results were received by the club yesterday afternoon.

Although the precise number of cases is not known, it is understood the training ground will not be open again until Wednesday at the earliest, although  some sources suggest there is no guarantee it will open again fully before the game against Villa.

It is also understood that there are huge concerns within Newcastle that player welfare is being put at risk if they cannot prepare properly for the trip to Villa Park. They also think they are being put at an unfair disadvantage, as manager Steve Bruce may not be able to work on anything specific in terms of tactics and team shape ahead of the clash with his former employers.

I wish that was what he did say.

I translated the caption but he chats Villa then Man City and Pep in the video. Wondered what he said but given that he was sat there on Villa premises he was probably very diplomatic.

3 hours ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

 

Anyone know what he actually says about Manchester City here. Whatever it is he’s happy about it cos he retweeted it.

8 minutes ago, TRO said:

Brexit was won, but it didn't stop there either.

when is any book closed, these days?

Well exactly. This is clearly going to follow him round like a bad smell. I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for him but that’s why I’m  interested about how our players feel about it as their opinion is more important than mine, they work with him every day. 

The club commented at the time of the lockdown incident and fined him. I don’t think they need to comment further or for him to step down as captain. He just needs a driving ban! 

Sorry, it was 2011 not 2012.

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

What did he do exactly?

Not sure if you’re asking this genuinely but in 2012,  he was caught using a racial slur against Ferdinand. It went to court and his defence, I think, was that he was repeating something back that Ferdinand had accused him of saying. The court said it raised sufficient  doubt and he was cleared of criminal wrong doing. The FA gave him a fine, a short ban and he lost the England Captaincy.
 

He’s already released a statement in the last few days saying that he was cleared by a court but the scandal appears to have raised its head again with the tv doc about racism and football. 
 

I’ve just read an article about the tv doc. Apparently Ferdinand said he didn’t want the doc to centre around him vs Terry but given JTs profile in the game I think it is inevitable.

I wonder how the black Villa players feel about it, particularly Mings who has been (quite rightly) very vocal about racism issues and went on the BLM March. 

If Derby were looking at hiring him, would it put them off? It’s also not great for us given the announcement yesterday that we top the table for reports of fan abuse, albeit 13 incidents. 

It maybe an uncomfortable few days at BMH. Or may be not, maybe he’ll just ride out the storm and move on again. Who knows?
 

Just now, tinker said:

Why is it, because you don't live there and the police don't patrol there , oh know you would rather rant about a speeding fine... .. Anyway dropping out of this discussion as it seem to have attracted some self righteous hill Billy's .

You have no idea where I live but cheerio.

1 hour ago, tinker said:

It's a normal trip on any UK motorway and yes 90% of drivers are at it. In fact driving in France was a delight compared to the UK roads. Just a shame that the best player we have ever had is being judged by people who don't know the facts and read to much from rumours. I don't know the background of any posters on here but from where I'm coming from, East Birmingham, this type of offence is not what people are judged on. I could tell you 1000'S of terrible things people do to others that far outweigh what Jack's done and they don't even get a mention in the press or even a visit from our police force, who seem intent on focusing on high profile cases while Rome burns in the background, pathetic Internet driven drivel. 

This is a complete load of rubbish. 90% of drivers are not doing what he did at all.  Crime in East Birmingham is a totally irrelevant argument in deciding whether the reckless driving of a PL and England player is a newsworthy story. 
I get that people have their opinions on the police but they weren’t stalking him outside his house waiting for him to do 35 mph in a 30. They saw him tailgating people on the motorway at 98mph. Of course they pursued a prosecution. I’d be far more critical if they sent him in his way with a cheery “up the Villa”. 

As a footballer, he great and I hope he stays but he deserves a driving ban and I hope it acts as a wake up call. I actually can’t believe he didn’t learn his lesson from his lockdown antics.

Antonio is due to feature against us, even if only in the bench.

It was a pen all day long but it felt from when they scored it wasn’t going to be our day. 
 

Our internationals were all a bit off it. Jack was nowhere near his usual self (and who back heels in their own penalty area?!). Mings was a liability. Traore looked good when he first came on but then seemed knackered quite quickly. The late subs looked lively when they came on but Brighton had parked the bus by that point.
 

A day to write off, not to get too down about. They can rest and reset.

Two Villa players starting tonight. I will be spending the whole match thinking “do us proud, don’t get injured” on repeat.

3 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Mmmm. But we're not playing until 10 days anyway? 

Yes and hopefully he will get tested at least a couple of times between now and then. 

Yep

If Scotland qualify for the Euros tonight, it would surely benefit them if they then limited his game time after that as he is such an important player for club and country that they don’t want him getting fatigued by the time the Euros come round. I’d really like to think that Villa were able to have that conversation with Scotland where they ask for him not to play every minute or every game like last time. Obviously he will play tonight. 

12 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

You don't think Man City are going to look at a 22 yo Brazilian international CDM for 25m, you're off your rocker 

Isn’t it up to 35 mil now as they didn’t buy him in the summer?

35 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Disagree with you saying you don't think City will come for him and with you saying he has a long way to go before City pay for £25m for him.

But, when has he said he has no relationship with City?

Quite recently, last few weeks I think, he was asked about City and he commented that he doesn’t hear from them. I wouldn’t read anything into it either way. He wasn’t pledging undying allegiance to Villa or fluttering his eyelashes at City, he sounded like he was simply stating a fact.

I think the one thing that might help in keeping Luiz is the Covid market. PL players seem to be holding their value but I think they could get a cheaper equivalent from abroad.

9 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I thought it was a poor decision to not make a couple more changes last night, to get minutes for Conor and Davis at the very least. These are players we could well find ourselves relying on in the near future, and more than for match fitness I think it is important to show some level of faith in them to perform when called upon ahead of time. What better moment than when you are 3-0 up? 

Conor will be getting plenty of minutes over the International break.  Also we weren’t 3-0 up until late in the game so how much would it actually have helped them?

They appear to be resting Partey, Elneny, Aubameyang, Tierney, Lacazette and Saka...yay We should take it as a compliment really.

I think Southgate will pick him for the squad because he can’t justify dropping him but I don’t think he’ll play him, probably not even for the friendly as he won’t want the pressure to select him for the competitive games as he had before. He’ll be hoping the likes of Foden and Greenwood slot straight back in and the team perform well without Jack, then he can drop him next time. I don’t think it’s a Villa thing, I think he’s just not keen on him. 

I’d like to see Grealish and Mount (who is also excellent to be fair) have more game time together. I never really understood why Southgate kept spinning it as a choice between the two of them.

1 hour ago, a-k said:

Could simply be because they don't mind if they get caught out of position on Cash's side, as it would be Trez left free to attack. On the other hand, if they target and push forward on the opposite side, they run the risk of letting Grealish get free in acres of space.

Excellent point 

8 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

Gabby really hasn't helped... dick

I’ve got a horrible feeling that tweet of his is going to backfire then used to embarrass us on Friday evening. 
 

Yes, we’re all enjoying our great start but some  of our fans are getting a little big for their boots. 

38 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I dont believe vardy is out. Smokescreen

I’m sure they’ve tried that trick before as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if a few of their injury doubts recover to make it on to the team sheet. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if both him and Mings feature on Wednesday which is not great for us. I’m pleased that the Leicester game has been pushed back a day.

This international break has been a real inconvenience, the high and the confidence of the Liverpool result is going to feel like ancient history when they actually play again.