A younger Aubameyang would have buried that

Although we are playing well and the passing seems much improved, Newcastle really looks a mess.

Lacazette for Aubameyang. Another disappointing afternoon for the skipper.

Methinks it's time to call a taxi for Aubameyang and Lacazette and leave the kids to sort things out.

Whilst I’m not too fussed, I’d bring on MN here instead of Elneny as you’re going to need him in Jan when Elneny is also at the AFCON.

Such a shame to think all that Oil money relegated to the championship.

In rugby. Rugby. A shoulder to the face like that is a sin bin.

Martinelli smacked in the face. That should be a pen.

Whilst a 4-0 to Liverpool was obviously not great, not winning this would be more catastrophic for this team. Good win.

Job done. Great for Martinelli to get a goal, hope Saka is ok.

Echo that. Great to see Martinelli score and so active too.

Aubameyang is past it. Hope he is dropped on Thursday. To save him embarrassment, just say he is not well.

I am glad Tavares played and he had a good game. That was a beautiful goal from Martenelli. I thought Ødegaard was a little slow at times with moving the ball on but looked good when running at the defence from deeper. Overall a good game against a team who may go down. Partey appeared to give the ball away a lot in the second half- maybe they were reading him well - not sure. Our skipper again looks like a player past his best. Arteta passed the first test of many before Christmas.

West Ham away to Man City tomorrow. Our woeful goal difference means we stay 5th but equal on points. If it costs us a place come the end of the season it’ll be infuriating!!

it wasn't a smack it was a forearm smash.

He should have seen a red

Well, shoulder but yeah.

Started a bit slow today, without the kind of urgency you'd like to see, but I thought we grew into the game and in the last 10-15 minutes of the first half we looked really dangerous. Came out the same way in the second, and got rewarded for it. In the end a very professional win, and I'm delighted for Martinelli - feels like he just needs a few things to go his way for him to get the confidence back and kick on.

Not really sure how to judge that one. The Newcastle player goes in for a shoulder against shoulder charge (similiar to Tavares on Wilson earlier) but just as contact is made, Martinelli drops down to turn for a cross and the shoulder catches him in the face instead. Could've very well been a penalty, but a card would've probably been harsh.

True but in the end it’s a stiffened up shoulder ready for impact into someone’s jaw who, it’s obvious, is going for a shot. That’s so dangerous and needs to be part of the weighing up process. As I said in, in rugby that’s a yellow and sending off for 10 minutes. Goes without saying but surely the tolerance for physical contact for that sport is higher.

If Saka did not get his injury, Martinelli would not have had his chance. Good that he took his opportunity well.

Pleased how on more than one occasion now the team have not got frustrated when they’re 0-0 at home with a team we should be beating.

Tomiyasu, Tavares and Lokonga in particular with some very good second half performances.

Interesting take on our players. Especially Ødegaard.

https://newsjust24all.com/five-things-w ... c7cEy3MLcs

Ødegaard needs times. Considering how little he's been in the team, I think he has been fine.

With regard to the striker situation: what has happened to Ntekiah? He's done well when called on this season.

Really crucial couple of away games coming up. Man U and Everton. If we can take 4 points from those we then have 5 games leading up to the turn of the year which are all winnable. 3 home games v Southampton, West Ham and wolves and away to Leeds and Norwich.
Of course nothing is easy but there is a real opportunity here to cement the position we’re in. The top 3 are far away, everyone else playing for 4th

David Luiz currently playing in the Copa Libertadores final for Flamengo. On the BBC. He was just standing over a free kick but someone else took it. Good decision.

Gidday Ash ...... in a strange way I think it would do Newcastle a favour long term to get relegated .

Any players heading to St James would be more committed to the Geordie cause , prepared to battle in the Championship ....... rather than say maybe a few Fancy Dans arriving looking for a huge Saudi $$$$$$$$$ pay day .

Didn't see the game ...... asked my son to pay a month at a time to have the Premier League . Thieving swine hooked a full years subscription , son protested they said they didn't do refunds so suck it up ......... many furious texts , phone calls later we got the whole subscription back ... so no league viewing for me this season .

Used to think Arteta was a bit of a positive mealy mouth but think now he has a fair idea what he is on about .

Good morning Kiwi,

Getting on for my bedtime here. You might have a point but really they aren’t breaking any new ground. They’ll eventually just pay for some guys who set up the operation at City and copy them play by play. The championship detour will delay them by a year or two maybe I reckon

I guess it really all hinges on what they do this Jan. Shades of West Ham “buying” Teves and Mascherano in 2006 or whenever it was. They’ll be quite desperate I think because they were a bit woeful today and desperation doesn’t make for good decisions. So whatever happens I think a truckload of mercenaries heading to the Paris of the north East in the January sales. Imagine how cold Newcastle is in January!!

With the contrast in finishing fortunes I'd swap Aubameyang with Martinelli next few games .... the former can get the hump and we can sell him off in January .

Get out to Boots and buy yourself an extra hot water bottle ...... just watched ArseTV 's Robbie chatting with Lee ... the way they were wrapped up and acting it didn't seem exactly tropical in London .

I think we don’t look great up top right now and aubameyang did struggle but to suggest replacing him with martinelli up front off the back of 26 decent minutes is premature. He had really poor games v Brentford and Chelsea and looks far from capable enough of playing up front on his own. I’m really pleased for him and his performance today was far better though.

I would however contemplate starting lacazette and playing martinelli wide at old Trafford and giving Aubameyang a rest. Really would be the last thing they would expect.

Ødegaard had something of a mixed bag of a performance. Showed some of his depth of passing but he seems to slow the game down also at times. He needs to try and work on being more decisive.

I saw le grove praising lokonga on social media but again I thought he had a mixed bag also. Looks assured but distribution is slow and telegraphed, I’d play AMN at old Trafford. Arteta won’t but he should.

You could be right I was shelving his earlier poor games thinking rewarding Martinelli for his improved performance and giving Aubameyang a bit of a shake up .

i think his horrific miss was due to being a bit too casual ... little spell on the sidelines might freshen him up .

I wouldn't expect us to beat United whoever we put out , they'll be hurting real bad over the Watford /Liverpool losses , Solskaer sacking ; no matter which way the Chelsea match goes there is no way they'll fold to us .

Arteta on Martinelli
It is a big moment for him. I'm especially happy for him because the way he behaves. Some players are respectful when you make some decisions, some players are very respectful like he is. He makes every decision you make even harder because he deserves more. I'm really happy because he helped the team get the three points today.

Very happy to hear Arteta endorse Martinelli.
At the same time, he is sending a veiled message to some others. Sneaky Arteta

Hi there Kiwi. I think this team, especially the defence, will stand up well against United. After many years of sloppy and careless defending, I feel much more confident with this lot. I am hopeful for a win. This team has it in them. Pool gave the defence a lesson and Arteta would have used that as an important learning tool.

There’s a clip of one of the players getting a pat on the back from the referee and then throwing himself to the floor in faux agony! Did he not know it was the ref?

If we play Martinelli up front I feel it has to be with a proper strike partner. Martinelli and Lacazette would on paper have a complimentary set of skills.
I’m also interested in what happens with Balogun in January. He’s been playing U23 still this season and scoring goals for fun. It isn’t fair to judge him on the Brentford game when we were well off it and now it’s a very different team. Probably another who would benefit from playing as a 2 man strike force with someone like Lacazette

Martinelli provides those occasional moments of genius that just make you believe again that he could be the player we all hoped he might be.

The problem is that he probably isn't ready to play as a no 9 (if he ever will be) and without Europa League football as a proving ground there is just no way to ease him slowly into that kind of role, the same goes for Balogun.

The issue with Aubameyang and Lacazette is that they each lack the attributes that the other has. If you could mould the two into one player you'd have a great CF.

We need to find ourselves a proper all round CF which is not an easy task because there are not many really good ones out there and they are on the radar of more attractive clubs than us at this moment in time.

We can't throw Martinelli in at no 9 against United and we probably can't play two up top to accomodate him in a striking role either so we are forced to choose between Aubameyang and Lacazette and both are far from the perfect solution.

Lascelles on Martinelli how could VAR not give a red. The angle from the back showing contact with kneck/head was abh and deserved a red.

VAR needs a tweak, assaults like thast must not be allowed ever.

One thing that’s irritating me is the number of times our GK has been wearing the away kit I bnb hola when we play at home. I’ve seen our GK have green and blue kits, neither of those clash with Newcastle’s home kit, I can’t remember what colour kit Newcastle’s gk was wearing but if it was either green or blue then our gk can wear the other. Why are we having to change kit when we’re at home?