00:00Hello, I'm Matthew Gregory, and welcome back to the Premier League panel. This week, we're
00:08going to take a good long look at Newcastle United. Are they serious top four contenders?
00:12Did they make a mess of the transfer window? And what's changed since last season? To help
00:17me pore over everything going on up at St James' Park, I'm joined, as always, by an
00:21expert panel. North East football reporter Mark Carruthers is here, as is National World
00:26Football journalist Curtis Leland. Mark, I'll come to you first. It's been a bit of
00:31a strange season so far, some quite up and down performances and results. You know, you've
00:35got a very creditable draw against Manchester City very recently, a comeback win against
00:40Wolves, also a pretty disappointing show against Fulham and so on. What do you make of where
00:44the team is right now?
00:46If I'm honest, I don't know. I know this is really boring, but I don't know.
00:52That's a strong start to the show, thank you, Mark.
00:54No, I mean, you look at the first sort of five, six games before the Fulham game and
00:59results were, on the whole, really positive. You know, getting a draw down at Bournemouth
01:03when they didn't play well was a positive. Getting three points against Southampton opening
01:08day when they were down to 10 men for over an hour, really positive. Beating Tottenham
01:12is kind of a given at St James' for Newcastle, so certainly these days anyway. The one thing
01:18I would say is that performances weren't there, that the results didn't really match what
01:24was going on in the pitch. I don't think the levels of intensity and aggression and
01:31togetherness were there from Newcastle through those games. I think that sort of culminated
01:35in the Fulham game where no one hit the levels. It was a really poor display and I think they
01:41got what they deserved, basically. I think it had been coming throughout those games.
01:46What I would say is I think the Man City game last Saturday, you sort of saw little bits
01:51of the qualities that led the club to that fourth place finish two seasons ago. There
01:57was the intensity, there was the high press, there was the energy, there was the anger,
02:03if anything, where most of the players looked as if they were ready to really get stuck
02:07into players and really make it uncomfortable. I just felt, even though the home record last
02:11season was still strong, really strong to be fair, I didn't feel it was as uncomfortable
02:17for clubs to come to St. James' Park. Whereas for the first time this season, and I'm fully
02:22aware there are only three, four home games in, Manchester City, who are, let's be honest,
02:27the best team in the Premier League by some distance, looked uncomfortable and looked
02:31awkward. And I think Pep Guardiola accepted that after the game and that's what Newcastle
02:36needed to do more. So to answer your question, I guess, yes, it's been a positive start of
02:42the season results wise, performances are improving. So I think we're very much sort
02:47of, and I am sitting on the fence here and I apologise, we are sort of in a wait and
02:50see scenario with Newcastle now to see where they go next. Can they replicate that performance
02:55against Manchester City over the coming games?
02:58Well Curtis, I'll ask you basically the same question then. I mean, do you sort of share
03:02Mark's cautious optimism, I suppose, about results and improvements, or are you a bit
03:07worried still about the level of performance we've seen and some of the specifics?
03:11I'd have to echo most of what's Mark said really. I think, particularly the Manchester
03:17City game, I think that was the nearest thing to Newcastle at the best. I think for most
03:21games they've kind of rode the look. The Bournemouth game probably is the main summary of that
03:27because there was a last minute goal and even I was sat there when it was disallowed kind
03:32of going, we've all let off there. So yeah, I think it's a case of like at the moment
03:37it's just been individual moments have got us out of games. Things like what Harvey Barnes
03:43is capable of, flashes of what Gordon's capable of. But yeah, I don't think they've got going
03:49at all yet. And like last night's game against Wimbledon kind of summed it up as well. They
03:54didn't really push on after getting that first goal.
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