Geordie Journos: Southampton reaction and Marc Guéhi pursuit
The lads discuss the positives and the concerns from Newcastle's Southampton victory.
They also talk about transfer window frustrations, the pursuit of Marc Guéhi - and Liam rails against 'stat men'.
They also talk about transfer window frustrations, the pursuit of Marc Guéhi - and Liam rails against 'stat men'.
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00:00to throw him to the Wolves, to throw that player ahead of the new season,
00:05was actually the opposite to respect.
00:08I was so encouraged by what I saw in that hour,
00:10when they were playing with 10 men and seeing the result.
00:12Whether it's Mark Gahey or someone, the need to get a centre-back...
00:15Get in the bin, the lawyers.
00:17Football is a game played to be watched with the eye.
00:21FANS SING
00:22HE SHOUTS
00:24HE SHOUTS
00:25HE SHOUTS
00:27Right, it's your Geordie Journals.
00:29Football is back.
00:31Gives us something to talk about, eh, lads?
00:33Yeah, definitely.
00:34It was good to see Newcastle back at the weekend.
00:37Back at St James' Park was a bit more...
00:39Well, a bit less plain sailing than we would have hoped
00:41against the newly promoted side,
00:43but, hey, start with three points,
00:45and St James' Park on their feet,
00:47Joe Linton back to his best.
00:49All in all, a good day,
00:51just probably not how we would have liked it to pan out.
00:54I don't mind three points is three points, isn't it?
00:56You've just got to win your games.
00:58I think, if we're going to go over the game a little bit,
01:02for me, it was two games in one.
01:04I think the first half an hour,
01:05which I'm sure we'll come on to,
01:06there were some concerns,
01:09last-season concerns,
01:11and the season previous at times as well, to be honest.
01:14Some unresolved issues,
01:16but then the next hour-ish after that
01:21was a real show of strength, solidarity,
01:26unity, fitness, togetherness.
01:32I thought it was great.
01:33I genuinely thought the result mattered
01:36much more than what the performance did,
01:38and I thought they put in both.
01:40I see a lot of these so-called statisticians
01:45doing the rounds where they talk about,
01:48oh, this is how many XG there was in this game,
01:51how many shots on target.
01:53Get in the bin, the lawyers, get in the bin.
01:55Football is a game played to be watched with the eye.
02:00It isn't on a spreadsheet.
02:02I see lots of people,
02:03and we'll probably come out of transfers as well
02:05as we go through this meandering half-hour on Shorts TV,
02:11but I think you see a lot of people play out
02:13with spreadsheets of,
02:16oh, there's me two right centre-halves,
02:18and there's me two left centre-halves,
02:19and now I've got three left-backs,
02:21and I'll have him playing six and him playing eight.
02:25It's not football manager, championship manager.
02:27Maybe I'm one for the older ones there,
02:29but it's not your football manager,
02:30and it's not, I don't even know what they call FIFA
02:33these days, but it's not a computer game.
02:36It's a load of blokes on a pitch running around
02:39with so much nuance,
02:41and things happen in flash seconds,
02:44and I'm just fed up with it.
02:46That's probably a different video altogether,
02:48this, of me getting totally frustrated
02:51with social media personalities who crop up
02:57and build their whole life and career on statistics,
03:01when I've always found, in my personal experience,
03:05the eye is the only test that you need to watch football.
03:09I think you can tell if a footballer,
03:11your new sign-in, the positivity comes from someone,
03:14you've never seen them before,
03:16unless you're in one of these statisticians
03:19or people who makes their career out of these things
03:21by watching other people's YouTube clips.
03:23I think if you go on and you look at the guy in person,
03:27you can tell within half an hour,
03:29has he got a good touch?
03:30Can he do this?
03:31Can he do that?
03:31Is he picking up good positions?
03:33Is he lively?
03:34Has he got pace?
03:35Can he hold the ball up?
03:37Can he win his headers?
03:38I think that's how you tell.
03:39Football is all on the eye,
03:41and I thought Nicasia Nated,
03:43for half an hour, failed the eye test on Saturday,
03:46massively.
03:47And then for the next 60 minutes,
03:49turned over 70 with all the added minutes,
03:52really passed the eye test.
03:54They passed the eye test because
03:56you had players like Sean Longstaff.
03:58He was putting in the type of challenges
04:00that anybody woken off any end in that ground on Saturday
04:05would have loved to have done.
04:07They would have loved to have got their hands on Ben Brereton
04:09after what had happened with the Fabian Scher incident.
04:12And Sean Longstaff was one of us able to do it,
04:15and he did it, and showed a physicality.
04:17Joe Linton was everything we expected of him,
04:21the physical specimen that he is.
04:23He's just a, I think you described it,
04:25Jordan, as a monster or a beast, didn't you?
04:28And it just is.
04:29I've seen Alan Shearer talking,
04:31Alan Shearer, the great Alan Shearer.
04:33We should all bow down when we see his name.
04:35Alan Shearer talking about Joe Linton,
04:37and how he's one of the best midfielders
04:41in the Premier League.
04:41Now, I think I might have, at times,
04:45I'm not talking about the start,
04:47but might have even doubted it in recent times.
04:50But it's hard to argue on that kind of performance
04:52where the guy is winning all of his balls
04:55on the floor, in the air, is outrunning people,
04:59is making challenges, is scoring goals,
05:01is looking to threat, his energy levels are up,
05:04his influence is massive on a game.
05:07It's quite incredible, really.
05:08And I think those were just two.
05:11Dan Byrne, another person who'd been criticised
05:15in recent times, but really stood up.
05:17And it's just a really solid, old-style defender
05:23who can just do the jobs that you want a defender to do.
05:26He isn't going to be a marquee who brings the ball out
05:30and flies out of defence with the ball at feet.
05:33He isn't going to be, probably, Fabian Scheer,
05:35who'll ping a pass from corner flag to corner flag
05:38and land it on somebody's little toe.
05:41Like, he can't do that.
05:42But what he can do is, he'll show a fighting heart
05:45and he'll win every ball, he'll win every tackle,
05:48and he'll always be there in the right place
05:50at the right time.
05:50Jordan, what were your thoughts?
05:52I mean, I probably went all around the houses there,
05:53but it was quite a, it was,
05:56despite it not probably being the most aesthetically pleasing
05:59game on the eye, it was entertaining
06:01and it had a lot to it.
06:03Yeah, I didn't know where your rant was going to end there.
06:06I thought you'd still be going on about stat men.
06:11I think you share these opinions, though.
06:13I don't think I'm alone.
06:15No, you are very right.
06:16I mean, for the 60 minutes that Newcastle had 10 men,
06:20you've got to give them so much praise
06:21for seeing that result.
06:23But for that half hour,
06:24they come up against a newly promoted team,
06:26and football isn't played on paper,
06:28but you expect Newcastle to be on top against Southampton,
06:31and that wasn't the case at all.
06:33And that, it is probably a concern.
06:36I know during the first game of the season,
06:37it's really hard because you've got players
06:39still getting up to speed.
06:40There's a lot of rust in that Newcastle team
06:42of players coming back at sort of different times
06:44in pre-season, so I'll caveat all that.
06:47But the only thing I would say about our first half an hour
06:49is we did see that last season
06:51when Newcastle were struggling at points
06:53at St. James' Park.
06:54So a lot of food for thought for Eddie how to address that,
06:58especially ahead of a tough game next week
06:59against Bournemouth as well.
07:01But I was so, having had a few days to think about it,
07:04I was so encouraged by what I see in that hour
07:06when the player were 10 men and seen out a result.
07:09You mentioned the players there that had played so well
07:12and almost epitomised everything about Newcastle United.
07:16But one guy I did forget to mention, Liam,
07:18was Bruno Guimaraes, who I don't know how good he is.
07:22I was leaving it for you, Jordan.
07:23I'm glad you did, because I was running out of things
07:25to say when you were going into the rant there.
07:27But he was, I mean, I talk about rust in players,
07:30and I think he's probably one of them
07:32because he came back late, obviously,
07:33from the Copa America,
07:35and maybe in the sort of the opening stages,
07:37he didn't look at his total best.
07:39And I don't think it was his best performance on Saturday.
07:43It certainly wasn't his most influential.
07:45It wasn't his best of the ball,
07:46but then chasing runs in the final sort of five minutes
07:50when he's running the halfway line to win a free kick.
07:52And then, you know, he got on the right-hand side as well,
07:54where he's doing the same.
07:56Captain for the day as well.
07:57Again, a man that just epitomised everything
08:00about Newcastle that day.
08:01So there was a lot of performances out there,
08:03although it wasn't great technical performances,
08:05I just thought epitomised what Newcastle United fans
08:08want from players, and it was to give everything.
08:10And I thought from one to 10, shall we say,
08:13I thought they did that.
08:15Dom, going over that,
08:16so we've talked about the positives now.
08:18What were the concerns that you saw in that first half hour?
08:22Because when it was 11 v 11, there is absolutely no doubt
08:26that it looked like men against boys at times.
08:28I mean, that's probably going a little bit far maybe,
08:31but Salvatore Mbappe looked like the home side.
08:34There's no doubt about that.
08:36Yeah, definitely.
08:37And I think in a lot of ways, a lot of people watching that game,
08:40the red card, as much as it was a massive blow to Newcastle,
08:43probably saved them.
08:44It meant they could play slightly differently
08:47and get the crowd still on their side.
08:50They're sending off Galvanise, the crowd Galvanise Newcastle
08:53and really gave them something to hold on to
08:56once Joe Linton scored on the stroke of half time.
08:59But yeah, that opening half hour,
09:01it was almost like a pre-season rust that was still very much there.
09:06And we see Anthony Gordon starting the game after 45 minutes,
09:10looked still like he's very much getting up to speed.
09:14Bruno, the first 30 minutes was losing possession,
09:19dawdling on the ball.
09:20I think the only good player who stood out in the opening half hour
09:23was Joe Linton, who then again went on to become man of the match.
09:28I think in most people's opinion,
09:30and shows his importance to the side as well.
09:32So, yeah, Newcastle in the first half hour,
09:36it was a throwback to last season,
09:38where you look at, we said on Saturday,
09:41the Bournemouth game, the Luton Town game,
09:45where you're against these lesser opposition of teams
09:48that you expect to be at the bottom end of the Premier League table.
09:52And they're outplaying you,
09:53they're creating all the chances,
09:55they're putting you on the back foot.
09:56And Newcastle weren't asking enough questions.
09:59But then I think, like I just said,
10:02the red card put the onus on Southampton to go and attack
10:06and actually created a different sort of strategy for Newcastle.
10:10And ultimately, the cap lies on a mistake from Southampton.
10:14But I think getting the goal through Joe Linton
10:18gave them something to hang on to.
10:19And I thought defensively in the second half,
10:21they were brilliant.
10:22And shout out, like you say, to Dan Byrne,
10:26Emile Kraft comes on and does a job.
10:28But I think the midfield three,
10:31although not necessarily defensively,
10:34isn't the first thing that comes to mind
10:36when you look at Bruno, Sean Longstaff, Joe Linton.
10:40But I thought defensively,
10:41the shift they put in was as good as you'll see, really.
10:45And that's what won Newcastle the game after a really iffy half hour, I feel like.
10:52Yeah, I think the midfield...
10:55All the work that we do is trying to analyse these things,
10:58see trends, see problems, all this kind of stuff.
11:02The midfield three was the hardest one to analyse in the whole game
11:05because individually, I thought all three were excellent
11:08at doing everything they had to do.
11:11But I still think the problems were there from last season.
11:17The two or three passes and the spaces in behind,
11:20and all of a sudden you've got three people running through on the back four,
11:23was a real problem.
11:25And I think it's something that really does need addressed.
11:29I don't think they will address it.
11:32They're not going to go down that route and address getting a midfielder
11:37because it looks like they're going to struggle to get anybody.
11:38They're not going to struggle, they will,
11:41but they're having a struggle at the moment.
11:43Right, so in the second half of the show,
11:47we'll have a little chat about transfers.
11:49I think that's kind of what everybody's talking about these days.
11:53So we'll see you on the other side.
12:04Right, I'm back.
12:05I think the show is now going to focus a little bit more on transfers
12:10because we're in the transfer window and the final throws.
12:14I mean, I say the final throws of the summer transfer window,
12:17but it barely feels like Newcastle United have got started, doesn't it, Jordan?
12:20It's been, I think, what many would describe as a frustrating summer window.
12:25Yeah, hugely frustrating.
12:26I mean, you look at that start at XI on Saturday against Southampton,
12:30there wasn't a single new player in there.
12:32Now you can class Lewis Hall as a new signing
12:34because they've turned his move into a permanent from Chelsea,
12:37but no starters outside of Lewis Hall.
12:41You've got Willa Sula, who will essentially be a third-striker option
12:45to Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak.
12:47You've then got two goalkeepers in John Ruddy and Odysseys,
12:51Vlaka Dimos, who weren't in the squad.
12:54And Lloyd Kelly, who, to his credit, came on and helped Newcastle
12:58see out the result in the end, but again, wasn't at the start of XI.
13:01So transfer window is about improving the start of XI
13:05and getting better players in to play in that start of XI.
13:08And Newcastle, frustratingly, haven't done that yet.
13:11And that's why it's a massive...
13:13It's just under a fortnight now until it closes.
13:15It's a massive couple of weeks for Newcastle to go and sign off at least one player.
13:21Now, ideally, I think, and you guys will agree,
13:23there's two positions that massively need strengthening.
13:27Of course, the first one is the centre-back position,
13:29which I'll let you guys chip in on as well,
13:31with the right-side centre-half position.
13:34The current pursuit of Mark Gee, now that is essential
13:38that they go out and sign a right-side centre-half now,
13:41especially with the prospect of Fabian Scheer missing three games now.
13:45Look, Fabian Scheer will be back in no time,
13:48but it just shows that if Fabian Scheer was to pick up an injury,
13:51for example, during the season,
13:53they're so light and they've got Emil Kraft there relying,
13:56which is because he was on Saturday, isn't a long-term option.
13:59So they are desperate to get a man in there.
14:01Yeah, they really want Mark Gee,
14:04but, Dom, it's proven quite a frustrating or hard chase for Mark Gee, isn't it?
14:10To caveat this with, the situation does feel very much active,
14:13so by the time you watch this, there may or may not be an update,
14:17but, yeah, it's been really frustrating,
14:19the way it's played out in the media as well.
14:22Steve Parish going on various outlets,
14:25speaking in public about Mark Gee.
14:27For me, if I'm Mark Gee, that probably unsettles me slightly.
14:31I wouldn't want to see my chairman talking about my future so openly,
14:35and basically his latest comments saying,
14:38look, if we get an agreement, then it moves on to personal terms,
14:42almost talking quite dismissively of Mark Gehy
14:45and whether or not he'll be at the club,
14:48which, I mean, is mad, really.
14:51And Eddie Howe came out and a question he answered to you, Jordan, on Friday,
14:56was he wouldn't do anything like that.
14:58He doesn't really...
15:00He wants to show the respect and let things play out privately
15:03when it comes to transfer discussions.
15:05I've heard Steve Parish, I've watched every single interview that he's done,
15:09whether that be with the BBC,
15:10in his latest one where he was hooking himself out to talk sport yesterday morning.
15:16I hear him say the word, and it's a really important word,
15:19in every walk of life, I hear him say respect quite a lot.
15:23He seems to respect Newcastle United.
15:25He respects Mark Gee as a person, as a man, as well as a footballer.
15:30He respects agents who do things the right way, as he described yesterday.
15:38So why has he gone about it in this manner?
15:41It makes zero sense.
15:42The words that are coming out of his mouth don't actually translate to the actions.
15:47To throw him to the Wolves, which is a Palace decision,
15:51to throw that player ahead of this new season,
15:55was actually the opposite to respect.
15:58You know, they've just appointed a new manager.
16:00They were the most informed team at the back end of last season.
16:04They've brought in a few players, there's been some change,
16:06they've lost players as well.
16:08But there's a general air of positivity around Selhurst Park,
16:12about the new Premier League season.
16:14And you've just framed the whole thing on your captain potentially leaving,
16:19and done every interview in the run-up to it on your captain potentially leaving,
16:23and throwing said captain in front of the media to face the music.
16:27It doesn't sort of smack of respect to me.
16:31It actually goes the opposite way.
16:34And the only respectful party in this whole thing
16:36has been the way that Newcastle United have conducted themselves.
16:40They've gone about things the right way.
16:42Eddie Howe has not addressed Mark Geary's situation publicly, nobody.
16:47He's just not that type of manager or person.
16:49Paul Mitchell hasn't been on every radio and TV station going,
16:54talking about how he's trying to sign another team's captain.
16:58It hasn't happened.
16:59No public talk from Newcastle United sources of five bids,
17:04or whatever it may be up to by this point.
17:07It's been quite a bizarre situation.
17:10And I've got no idea how it plays out, being honest, none at all.
17:14I think it could go anyway.
17:17And like, as Dom, you were quite important to timestamp this.
17:21This is recorded on Monday morning ahead of Monday evening airing.
17:26And things can, in these situations,
17:28when you get the business end of transfer windows,
17:31things can change in a minute, never mind a few hours.
17:35So this may well have did, Newcastle may well have moved on.
17:39They may well have a bid accepted.
17:43They may well be talking to Mark Geary.
17:45The whole thing may be dead.
17:46We just don't know.
17:47But in general, I think it's been.
17:50I don't think it's reflected well on Crystal Palace.
17:52I think Steve Parrish and others have tried it.
17:55I think they're probably
17:59chastened a little bit, hurt by the Elisey loss.
18:03They know that they're very vulnerable to anybody who quite fancies Eze
18:08because of that release clause that they've allowed to put into the contract.
18:11And I think Geary was the one that they probably thought at the start of the summer,
18:15he's the one that will stay and we're not going to lose him.
18:18So we don't have to worry about that.
18:20And it's become an instant worry because the footballer himself wants to move on.
18:25It's quite clear of that.
18:26I think what I think it's not remiss of us to talk about that.
18:30And who wouldn't?
18:31You're going from you're going from a Crystal Palace
18:34who are who are seemingly upwardly mobile.
18:37They seemingly want to head in the right direction.
18:41But they have a limit.
18:42They have a ceiling as things stand.
18:43That's just football hierarchy, whereas Newcastle United ceiling.
18:46They also have one.
18:48It's a little bit higher.
18:49And it's that ceiling exists within a realm where trophies are possible.
18:55Look, they haven't done it for a long time, but that's where it exists.
18:57It exists in a realm where Champions League football is more than possible.
19:02Crystal Palace, as things stand, it would take, you'd imagine,
19:05a lot of money or a long time for them to get anywhere near the same ceiling
19:09as Newcastle United as a football club, who are traditionally one of football's
19:13top ten, top eight
19:16powerhouses in the English game.
19:18Whereas Crystal Palace, for large parts of their history,
19:22floundered below the top level of English football.
19:26So it's just it's apples and pears.
19:28So I think anybody talking about why would the player want that
19:32is probably a bit mad to think that he wouldn't want to make that move.
19:37Do I think it's definitely Gehy's final destination?
19:40I do, because I think I don't think he's a world class operator.
19:43I think he's a good top ten level
19:46in terms of footballers.
19:49He's in the top ten defenders in the Premier League.
19:51I don't think he's in the top five, though.
19:53So I don't think we're talking about a world class player here.
19:56And we're talking about somebody he would, and this is the
19:59this is the problem that Newcastle United would have if they do this deal.
20:02You become, I think, worthy to do it at the kind of numbers that we're talking about.
20:07You'd probably become the fifth most expensive defender in football history.
20:13I don't think he's in the top five defenders in the Premier League at the moment.
20:17So that kind of gives you, that kind of opens the door as to the conundrum here.
20:21Is Newcastle United is the man that they want,
20:25but they're essentially going to have to overpay for the player
20:29if that's what they want.
20:32And I don't know how I feel about that.
20:34I know you've had a lot to say on that one, Jordan.
20:38Yeah, so at the fees that's been mentioned,
20:41I don't think Mark Gaye is worth the money that's being touted about.
20:45But it's almost at that point now where Newcastle have picked their man
20:49and they ultimately, I feel, now need to go and get him.
20:52The only word I would think about is with the Mark Gaye deal is
20:55what is the alternatives?
20:57Because they're being linked with alternatives and the alternatives aren't
21:00very high class either.
21:03I mean, there's a guy, Chelsea, Trevor Chalewa, who's being linked again this week.
21:07If that was the alternative, I'd be very, very disappointed.
21:10I would rather they went and probably overpaid on a Mark Gaye than fall back
21:13on a player that wouldn't necessarily improve the start of XI.
21:17So they want Mark Gaye.
21:19We all know the fee.
21:20You guys probably agree the fee is probably too much,
21:23but that's the man Newcastle wants.
21:24That is the man Eddie Howfield will improve and take his team forward.
21:28And if that's the case, then I think they've got to go and do it.
21:32Tom?
21:33Yeah, I think the need to get,
21:36whether it's Mark Gaye or someone, the need to get a centre-back,
21:39and I still think they need a right winger.
21:41I think right winger should be the priority.
21:43But clearly the noises we're all hearing in Newcastle
21:46at this moment in time have sort of put the eggs in the centre-back basket.
21:51So that's where Newcastle are.
21:53We've got less than two weeks left of the window.
21:55I think Newcastle need a Mark Gaye
21:59sign-in, whether it's a defender or a right winger.
22:01I think ideally they need both in order to make this transfer window a success.
22:06So where does it go from here?
22:07Do they get anybody else?
22:09Do you think it's Gaye or Bust?
22:13Centre-half or Bust?
22:14Or do you think there is the potential Newcastle
22:16will go and sign another player?
22:18Because I've said right wing, but what about quickly, lads?
22:21Do they just do one?
22:23Or do you think there's more? Jordan?
22:26I think they need to sell to bring in a right forward,
22:29which is the position they need to strengthen, rather than a centre-back.
22:31So I think they'll get a centre-back and then throw in a right forward.
22:34I think they might need to sell someone.
22:36I agree. I agree.
22:37I think, like I've just said, I think the right wing position
22:41should be the priority, but it clearly isn't at this moment in time.
22:44But yeah, the sort of money would be talking about Newcastle.
22:47It looks like they would have to get rid of a Miguel Almoran, for example,
22:52if they wanted to almost upgrade on him.
22:56Yeah, I'm very much in the same camp as well.
22:58I would have said, I think if you look at the stats,
23:02we'll not go into that again, but if you look at the stats,
23:04it would suggest Newcastle United are desperate for defenders
23:07because they conceded a lot more than they did before and scored goals, though.
23:11But I do believe that a right winger would have been a more transformative sign.
23:15And just to add extra spice to that front line of Anthony Gordon
23:20and Alexander Isak, I think that would have transformed Newcastle United
23:23and kicked them on more than any central defender would do.
23:27Because of injuries, of course, they haven't got the options that they wanted.
23:30But we'll wait and see.
23:31And of course, you'll always be able to catch the Geordie Journos
23:35at half ten in their usual slot on this TV channel.
23:39So we've enjoyed it.
23:42We'll catch you again next week.
23:44And if you don't already, you're probably going to catch us this week on YouTube.
23:47So follow the Geordie Journos on there and we'll see you next week.