Season 2 - Building From A Positive Start

Welcome to season 2, where we are looking to build on a 2nd place finish, a semi final and a quarter final in the domestic cups and a good performing team overall. This year we also have the Champions League to deal with as well so could the extra games affect us as we go on. The summer was a busy one with the Euros being played and won by France, however we were also very very busy, bringing in 11 new players and selling on 11 ourselves. Now I should point out all 11 aren't going to be straight for the first team, some of them are youngsters to be our 3rd choices or lower etc just to give us some extra depth, but also improve the level of our youth squads to create a better competition for places and further development. However we do have 6 players who have come in to be either straight in the first team or the backup option for their position, and I have to say they have all upped the level of quality in those positions and a window I'm very happy with. In this post we will show all the new signings, as well as our preseason results and the first 4 games of the season and lay out what we're hoping to achieve in this season.

Transfers

Sold

We still quickly list off the players we have sold, where they have gone and how much we got for them, but nothing too out there and majority are just squad players.

Name Value Team

Odysseas Vlachodimos £8,000,000 PAOK

Jacob Murphy £11,500,000 Real Sociedad

Dan Burn £17,500,000 Aston Villa

Charlie McArthur £375,000 Leeds United

Fabian Schar £8,750,000 Al-Shabab

Lloyd Kelly £15,000,000 Al-Taawoun

William Osula £7,250,000 West Ham

Miodrag Pivas £825,000 Leicester City

Harrison Ashby £4,100,000 Sheffield United

Max Thompson £39,500 Bristol City

Kieran Trippier £10,000,000 Liverpool

Isaac Hayden £0 Released

As you can see quite a few players have left, and not really for much value at all but luckily we had a huge budget anyway for this window thanks to our rich owners. So we went to work replacing the players sold and improving where we wanted to.

Bought

So going into it we knew we wanted a fair few players, and a fair few players we got. Let me introduce them all to you, we will go in the order of the cheapest players up to the most expensive last.

Pedro Lima

Pedro Lima came in for £1,800,000 from Wolves and is in line to be our third choice right back this season. He has the potential to go to the level of our best right back currently (who you will meet later on) and for such a small price means it is a no risk deal. As if he doesn't make it I'm pretty confident we will get more than we paid for him. He will mainly be playing in the under 21's this season but I will try get him playing in the Carabao Cup as well for us so he gets some first team experience.

Max Moerstedt

Again another young player coming in to be our third choice striker for this season, who will also be playing a lot of under 21 football but some cup games for us throughout the season. Max Moerstedt comes in for just £4,600,000 from Hoffenheim and again has high potential to really push on. However again for being so cheap it's also a no risk one as his value will be much higher than what we paid now and could be sold further down the line if he isn't quite cutting it for us.

Giacomo Faticanti

Another young player brought in to be our third choice defensive midfielder behind Tonali and Klemens. As a result he will also mostly be playing under 21's football this season and a few cup games here and there but fully believe he could push on to be in and around the first team in a few seasons. We got Giacomo Faticanti in for just £7,000,000 from Roma so again is looking quite the bargain and I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops.

Elia Caprile

Elia Caprile is the first of our signings that will be involved in the first team straight away. I realised Mycael is a season or two away from being good enough just yet, so we've brought in 23 year old Elia Caprile to play backup and cup goalkeeper for us behind Pope. He comes in for £8,750,000 from Napoli so still not too expensive, and the plan is only for this season and potentially next depending on how Mycael develops. However he looks a solid backup keeper for us this year and still has room to improve himself throughout the season.

Madi Monamay

Madi Monamay is the first of 4 new centre backs to join our club this summer. He is certainly one brought in for the future and will be our 3rd choice for the right centre back position. I felt like centre back needed looking at and refreshing due to the age of Burn and Schar, as well as extra depth due to having a couple of games last season where we had no centre backs on the bench due to injury so more than happy to get this guy in. He came in for just £9,000,000 from PSV and already has 2 caps for Belgium, so should be some good improvement on this guy throughout the seasons.

Ismael Doukoure

Ismael Doukoure is our 2nd centre back of the window, and will be playing 3rd choice on the left centre back position this season. Slightly older than Monamay at 21 years old but with plenty of improvement to come through him. He cost us £15,250,000 from Strasbourg and is capped at under 21 level for France. The aim with him will be to get him improving and pushing on the door of our left side of the centre back, but I'd have no problem making him our backup option should we need to sell one of the other 2 already.

Benjamin Sesko

The next of our signings that is for the first team, we bring in Benjamin Sesko for £43,000,000 from RB Salzburg. He will be competing with Isak for the starting striker role and with his age means we have plenty of years and improvement out of him too. Considering he's currently being linked with Arsenal for over £70,000,000 in real life, the amount we have paid for him feels like an absolute steal and very happy to have him in the squad. Our striker options for this season are now Isak, Sesko and Moerstedt which sounds far better than last season when it was Isak and Wilson.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis

Taylor Harwood-Bellis joins us for £47,000,000 from relegated Southampton and comes in to be our second choice left centre back. A massive improvement on Dan Burn due to already being at a similar level to him, but only 22 and plenty of time to improve. Also much more comfortable on the ball than Burn was which fits the tactic we play much better too and means he will be a solid fit into our lineup. The left centre back position this year will be Botman, Hardwood-Bellis and Doukoure which again is an improvement on Botman and Burn from last year.

Kiliann Sildillia

The final centre back of the window, Kiliann Sildillia comes in from FC Metz for £47,500,000 and will be our second choice right centre back and pushing Garcia for the starting role. He already looks a very solid player overall in his stats, and at 22 can push on even more and become a top level Premier League defender which is what we're after at this point. This makes our right centre back competition of Garcia, Sildillia and Monamay which again is the improvement on Garcia and Schar from last season.

Yeremy Pino

Yeremy Pino is one of our two big signings this window, with the 21 year old having the potential to be one of the best in the world whilst already performing at an elite level. We got him in for £70,000,000 from Villarreal but his value has already jumped over the £100,000,000 mark since his move. He is an absolute gem of a player and will be a massive improvement on our right wing for us. He is coming in to be the starter ahead of Barnes, but now means we have Pino, Barnes and Kuol for our right wing which are all strong options for different levels of games.

Jeremie Frimpong

Finally our big signing of the window. We knew we were selling Trippier and I also knew Livramento wasn't ready to step up to be the constant starter, so I wanted a younger player there but who had star quality. We had a look round but kept coming back to Frimpong, and in the end I went all out to get him and spent big on him. He has cost us £75,000,000 from Bayern Leverkusen but will be a star right back for us for years to come. The right back position is now covered by Frimpong, Livramento and Lima which gives us that extra player who can play there as well as an improvement overall on Trippier as the starter.

So with all the transfers in, it's safe to say our squad depth is looking much better this year across the board except left back. The standard of players has gone up as well and I believe this is a squad capable of competing across the 4 competitions we're involved in this season. Aims will be to secure a top 4 place and get Champions League football again, get to the knockout rounds of the Champions League and win at last 1 of the domestic cups based on the team we've put together for this season. What do you think this team is now capable of?

Pre-Season

Compared to last season, our pre-season has gone pretty successfully this year. We have rotated players round to get as many fit as possible, whilst bedding in as many of the new signings as possible and have come away with a 100% win record and come high scoring games as well which excites me for the season considering we did have a few games early last season where creativity and scoring were problems. So with the transfers done, the warmups complete, let's see how we started the league.

The Matches

Newcastle 4 - 0 Man U

What a start to the season we have had here. We started positively and putting early pressure on, which was made easier when in the 5th minute Dalot hacked down Gordon and got a straight red card. We took advantage instantly when Wirtz played the ball into the box for Barnes to get on the end of, he was given far too much space and was able to get his shot away and score the opener. Then Bruno wins the ball back in the middle of the park, plays it out left to Hall who is able to get an unchallenged low cross in to the box which Isak taps home for the second. In the 40th minute we had a corner and instead of our usual aim for the near post we played a short one, the ball was given to Tonali on the corner of the box who played it across the edge of the box for Wirtz to whip it into the far corner and give us an excellent third. A few seconds later Frimpong has broken down the right and got away an effort from the edge of the box but it hit the bar to deny him a debut goal, but we did still get our fourth before half time when Bruno intercepts the ball and then releases Isak into a one v one situation, which he fires under the keeper and in to make it 4-0 at half time. The second half went the same way but we were unable to finish our chances, although we did score a 5th before it was ruled out for offside. Tonali scooped the ball over the defence and Barnes was free in the box, he then cut it across for Moerstedt to score on his debut but VAR ruled it out. A very easy start to the season.

Arsenal 1 - 2 Newcastle

We were surprisingly good in this away match against a team that we know we'll be competing with at the end of the season for the Champions League spots, so this could turn out to be a very big win further down the line. The first half was controlled by us, created lots of efforts but unable to finish any and it resulted in 0-0 at half time. The second half started the same way, and we finally got our opener from an Arsenal mistake. Raya with a really poor clearance only made it to the edge of the box, where Gordon was waiting in position to volley it straight back and into the top corner to make it 1-0. Then I'm not sure if it was pity for their mistake, but Tonali decided to bring down Saka in the box to give them the opportunity from the penalty spot. Odegaard stepped and sent Pope the wrong way to make it 1-1. Fortunately before the end we were able to get ourselves back in front, when Moerstedt wins the ball back from the high press, and threads it through for Barnes to run on to and his shot found the corner to give us a deserved win at the Emirates.

Newcastle 3 - 1 Nottingham Forest

We started this game slowly and got punished for it pretty quickly, as in 4 minutes Hudson-Odoi is able to get an effort away from the edge of the box which beats Pope and makes it 1-0 Forest. However this woke us straight up and 3 minutes later, Pino broke down the right wing and his cross found Isak who finished it nicely to make it 1-1 immediately. In the first half Forest were also given a penalty for a tackle which looked like it was outside the box, but VAR agreed it was in the box and the penalty was given. Fortunately Pope went the right way and was able to tip the ball wide to keep it 1-1 at half time. We thought we were in for a tough second half as Wirtz had to come off with a knock, but immediately Bruno played the ball over the top to release Isak, who gets into the box and then cuts it back for Gordon to smash it in for 2-1. Sesko was able to come on and make his debut in this game too but had a quiet half hour. In the 86th minute Pope made an excellent save from close range to keep it at 2-1 and looked like he had won us the game. However Bueno slotted the ball through to Pino who scores in the 91st minute to make it 3-1 and confirm the win. Our home form has been so good that we are now up to 20 games unbeaten at home.

West Ham 1 - 3 Newcastle

Our early goal to be conceded in the 4th minute of the game against Forest seemed a pretty quick one, but West Ham went even better against us and I'm really hoping this isn't a pattern starting to happen. West Ham went 1-0 up in 24 seconds as straight from kick off they played it through us and Ward-Prowse was able to finish from the edge of the box. We only had to wait until the 13th minute to equalise however, when Frimpong wins the ball back, links up with Pino and then charges into the box and finishes into the far corner to make it 1-1 and Frimpong is off the mark for us. The rest of the game was very even and pretty quiet, with neither team really creating chances and it felt like a game where if you could get a late change, if you take it you will win the game. We got our chance in the 84th minute when Frimpong whipped in a cross from the right to the back post, where Barnes headed home to give us the lead late on. Shortly afterwards Barnes got the ball back, played a 1-2 with Joelinton and got himself into the box and finished into the bottom corner to add his second and make it 3-1 to us at the end of the game.

The League

So after a solid start to the league, we are the only team to win all 4 of our opening games and sit top of the league early in the season. Palace and recently promoted Leeds have had a pretty good start to their seasons with both of them currently in European places whilst Villa who are in the Champions League this season have had a poor start and sit down in 15th. With Burnley in 16th and Norwich at the bottom, it's looking like the relegation battle is going to be including at least 2 of the newly promoted teams this season.

Next Time

Next time we will be playing through September and October, with the start of our Champions League and Carabao Cup campaigns due to start. We've got some tough league fixtures too in Villa, Man City and Spurs to see if we can manage and keep up our early season form. So are you happy with the transfers? What do you believe this squad is capable of based on the start of the season and what we've got available to us?