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- [00:00]
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Ayo Akamolere
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- [01:35]
Ayo Akamolere
The Athletic FC and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akimwaleere. With 12 wins, 6 draws and 12 defeats in the Premier League, Newcastle have been struggling to find consistency this season. So a year on from their historic Carabao cup win at Wembley, are Eddie Howe's side actually progressing? Alright, and with us today we've got George Culkin. We've also got Jacob Whitehead as well. Yeah, it's been a bit of an odd season for Newcastle so far, gents. They're ninth in the Premier League, but they've also picked up some pretty huge results recently if you think about them beating Chelsea, also Manchester United in the Premier League and then that draw against Barcelona in the Champions League last week. But George, from your perspective, why have they been so inconsistent this season?
- [02:29]
George Culkin
Well, you have to go back to the summer and a summer that Newcastle entered without a sporting director, without a chief executive, which is negligence I would say. At the top of the club they lost their one of their few world class players in very controversial circumstances right at the end of the window. The business they did the other way was unsuccessful. It was desperate. There was a chaotic tinge to what they did in the. In the market. And they've been suffering the consequences ever since. They've been attempting to transition as a team whilst on a marathon campaign. They've played more games this season than any other team in the big European leagues. And it's just been a. It's been a struggle. It's been a struggle in lots of ways. Know that question about progress is an interesting one because you know Barcelona, a game that they've got on Wednesday night would. Would be the ultimate argument to say that they are progressing. That you know they've reached the. The. The round of 16 for the first time in their history. And they're playing all these games which is a hallmark of success. But I don't think many if any Newcastle fans would say that their team is actually better than it was a year ago. So they're paying the price for. I mean disastrous is a. Is a. Is a big word. But for a. For a very incomplete and difficult transfer window last summer.
- [04:01]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah, I want to delve into that. And Jacob, let's start with up front. Right. You know, sorry to mention the name Alexander Isak once again when we talk about Newcastle. But you know, 23 Premier League goals last season helped deliver Newcastle's first trophy in what, 70 years. Crucial goal in the cup final. Income Johan Wiese. Also Nick Voltamada. How do you think they've settled in this season?
- [04:22]
Jacob Whitehead
It's been a difficult period from Tesselin which comes off the back of what George was describing about what ultimately turned into a panicked summer. Valtimar initially when he came in for team was performing well almost his first month or two in the team was his most successful. His most successful period. Scored some important goals. But it feels now as if that honeymoon's over. He's been playing as number eight for Newcastle and when Visser eventually came back after a long term injury, he's just really struggled to hit. He's not been the same player we saw at Brentford really. Whether that's due to fitness issues, quality issues, it's particularly concerning.
- [04:57]
George Culkin
You know, isak also scored 20 plus goals in the Premier League the season before IO as well. And replacing that is impossible in the modern market. I mean it's just, you know that hit rate in terms of goals. But it's also what Isac produced across the pitch. Absolutely. A world class modern forward who can do a bit of everything. Replacing him was never going to be easy. If there was a big idea to what Newcastle did and there wasn't because as Jacob said it was panic. By the end of it everyone knew that they'd overpaid on Whisser. But the idea was that there you've got a player who is oven ready if you want for the Premier League. Yeah. And who's. One of his great strengths was availability. I mean there's an irony there. And Walter Marder was the wild card signing. And the idea was Whisser starts the season. The setup of the team doesn't have to change too much. You know. Absolutely not a like for like replacement for Isak and nowhere near as good. But you know that the team could replicate the way they played with. With Isak in the team more or less. And that Walter Mada starts on the sidelines, gets to grips with the way Eddie Howe wants to play, can see the team set up and is then sort of introduced. And of course that got flipped absolutely the other way around because Whisser gets injured on international duty before a ball is kicked for Newcastle and you know, hasn't had a preseason and you know, has really labored. Walter Marder had some absolutely beautiful moments. But I would say that's what he's been. He's been a moment player. He's not been a whole game player. He's not been a 90 minute player. And they are still working out what to do with him at a time when they've just been overloaded with matches and stretched by injury.
- [06:48]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah. Can I just quickly talk about a little elephant in the room because we've spoken about it on this podcast. Jensen. Jacob, I'll start with you and please follow on. George. Is that. You know we talk about the kind of money Newcastle spent but they also went after various targets in the summer. They never quite landed. And by those names I'm saying Joao Pedro who went to Chelsea. Ekatica who ended up at Liverpool. Sheshka who ended up at Manchester United. They lost out on some really key players there. How do Newcastle become that team that feels like a destination for those kind of players? Because I'm, you know, let's look at it. Guimaraes is there. He's a top player. So Newcastle can attract them but sometimes they get beat to the post when it comes to these very, very key transfers. Jacob.
- [07:30]
Jacob Whitehead
I think there's a lot of factors behind it. The most pressing one last season I think was for lack of sporting director. And that you know, meant that Newcastle couldn't act as fast as they wish to. How sort of almost gave a bit of A warning at the end of the season, like, let's move fast. And they didn't. But there are other things. There's obviously being in the Champions League regularly. They've achieved it two of the last three seasons, but can't pretend that that's not going to be a major draw. Some of it's going to be wage structure. Now, Newcastle are very careful about that for very good reasons. To make sure their existing top earners for likes of Guimaraes, Botman, Gillinton, Gordon don't get stung, especially when they're at a point where they want to be holding onto those players. Some of it I think is just emotional as well. Like, you know, players often want to be at the club, at the clubs that they saw succeeding when they're 11 years old, when lots of players now are 11 years old. Newcastle are in the championship. And that is an emotional hit which Newcastle have to overcome and be better in every other area to effectively convince people to join to make up for that.
- [08:30]
George Culkin
Yeah, I mean, I think there was a slight miscalculation with some of their. Some of their transfer targets right at the start of the summer. I think there was a feeling that they'd won a trophy. Finally they were back in the Champions League for the second time in three years. They'd proven that they were an elite team or that they showed that they could be an elite team, but they're not yet an elite club. And I think. So to give a little bit of context for those targets that you mentioned, IO. They didn't. I mean, the irony is, is that they didn't actually think that there was much value in the European market last summer. That things had kind of flipped a little bit and they wanted to kind of get in early with players like Pedro and Liam Delaps, another one. And they were blown out of the water by the more established teams in the Premier League. Why couldn't they get those players they couldn't get anywhere near in terms of wages. And you know, again, this is similar to what happened with Isak and Liverpool. You know, Liverpool effectively offered to double Newcastle's wages. They're not going to be able to compete at that end of the market until they have the commercial and marketing infrastructure to compete with that. And that is something that's hampered them ever since the takeover because they can't just pile money in. They have to get sponsorship deals. Everything under the previous regime was effectively outsourced. So they've had to start again really in those terms. And they're still playing catch up. They've made big progress but there's a lot of work to be done. They're miles away from bringing in the kind of money as a club that they need to do to be able to compete with those more established names. And those more established names they also still have kudos. They have worldwide reputations and Newcastle aren't there yet.
- [10:17]
Jacob Whitehead
And I think that's especially highlighted by the fact that Newcastle to compete in the Champions League on multiple fronts this season is they didn't just need to replace Isaac, they needed to build depth across the squad and that meant that they had to recruit in other areas. They had to bring in. I mean they've been targeting a right sided center back for about three years now. Brought in Malik Chao who's been a, who's been an excellent signing so far, who's. Who's really landed. They needed more depth in midfield because they effectively have the first choice trio. They had Louis Miley and they brought in Jacob Ramsey who after a slow start in the last month or so has actually started to really show what he's about. These deals had to take place. There wasn't an option for them to just go for the striker after which maybe they could have got to a higher number but that wasn't a luxury they had. So while they spent money in some ways that's sort of seen as unavoidable, there wasn't really another way out of the problem.
- [11:07]
Ayo Akamolere
Well we spoke about where Newcastle are George in the league at the moment. 9th currently behind Brentford who are having an extraordinary season in fact also behind Everton in the table. I'm just thinking how important it is to qualify for Europe in terms of money coming in. Fundamentally we've talked and we'll speak about it later in terms of how Newcastle can operate at the optimum with PSR and all those kind of things. But fundamentally how important is it to finish in a European place, more importantly, dare I say a Champions League place?
- [11:39]
George Culkin
Well I think Europe, if you'd said to them, you know, if you'd gone back to June for example before, before all the nonsense with ESAC happened, you would be saying that know Europe would be minimum requirement for this season but I mean obviously targets and goals, you know kind of change and mutate over time and then you actually see what's happened, you know, see what's happened in the course of the season. Yeah I would say that that would. If they finished eighth and you know got into, got into a European place or seventh or sixth, I think that would be that would be job done. It would have been a very kind of circuitous route to get there. I mean, I think, you know, the money for the Champions League blows money for the. For the other competitions out of the water. I mean, yes, it's important. The further they can get this season, the better it'll be for their bank balance. But the area that they've really struggled with this season is just being competitive on four fronts, which, you know, they defended their Carabao cup to the semifinal stage. They've reached this stage of the Champions league round of 16, not last of 16 for the first time in their history. And they got to, I think, the fifth, sixth round of the FA Cup. So, you know, they were competing on four fronts. They're just not cut out for that. They haven't done this before. They were in the Champions League two. Two seasons ago, and they were really, really stretched then. But as it goes, they, you know, they. They become more used to it. They have to get back into Europe. They have to get. I mean, it's like, for me, personally, covering the team this season has been exhausting. And I'm like thinking, well, you know, this is the exception. But it's actually, it's not. You know, they don't want this to be the exception. They want this to be their. To be their existence. I mean, I've not had time to look forward to a game of football because I've constantly been at a game of football and it feels like this isn't, you know, it's like, well, this isn't sustainable. But this is the. This is the world they want to live in. And so they've got to get better at it. They've got to get better at going from one competition to another competition to another competition, you know, maintaining their standards. You know, at the end of this week, they've got this huge game against Barcelona on Wednesday night. And at the end of this week, they're playing Sunderland. And for a. For a big number of Newcastle fans, that will be the most important game this week. Not Barcelona. Now, that's a. You know, that's a whole other. Particularly after what happened in the reverse fixture in December when Newcastle just didn't turn up at the Stadium of Light and got beaten. So they've got to kind of get used to this existence of playing week in, week out, two, three games a week, and being able to cope with it, and it's really stretched them this time.
- [14:16]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah, George makes a really good point, Jacob. And you think about teams trying to break through and Trying to operate at the optimum. But you know you go from a few games, you know in competitions one season to the muscle memory. You need to operate at the optimum. But you also haven't got the squad to do that. Jacob. This is also a learning phase for Newcastle. If they are thinking they want to be one of those top clubs.
- [14:38]
Jacob Whitehead
Yeah. And I think part of the problem here is that some of Newcastle's greatest strengths have led to some of these issues. I think their first choice midfield trio is amongst the best in Europe. Sandro, Tonali. Gillinton. Bruno Guimaraes. They play with such intensity. I mean watch the Carabao Cup Final last season. They blew Liverpool away. But that's asking him to get to a physical level which is pretty much impossible to do three times in a week. They then need to build depth there. You then think about Eddie Howe. And I think my position's always been that his greatest skill as a coach is improving players on the training pitch. And you can see it consistently with players who have signed for Newcastle. I think possibly the best example right now is Lewis hall who barely got a kick in his first six months after signing for Chelsea from Chelsea as an 18 year old. And last week was exceptional against Lamina Mao. But it's happened with Gordon. It's happened with Dan Byrne. You know it's over and over. But when you're playing every midweek you just don't have the time on the training pitch to do that. To unlock that extra level. And so that's something which Newcastle or two major issues which I think Newcastle are going to have to sort out. The first one. The midfield is in a way possibly easier because you're actually able to in a way throw numbers at the situation. Now that's not an easy solution. But it is a solution. But the Howell one is more difficult when it comes to coaching players.
- [15:56]
George Culkin
Yeah. And the other thing to consider about that is that when you look at Newcastle's fixtures this season they have not had a gimme game. Yes they had that Karabag second leg match after their 61 victory. But Eddie Howe didn't rotate 11 players. There's been no gimme matches. So there's been no match where he's been able to take his foot off the gas or the team take their foot off the gas. They've had to go at this high octane 100 miles an hour in every single match. They've gone from one huge match to another huge match to another huge match. Now that does make this a peculiar season. You know that there's been no match more or less where he's been able to sort of say, okay, we can take it easy now. If they get into a different European competition that may be available to them. You know, so this whole idea of playing with intensity, yes, that is their style. That is the style that they've played under.
- [16:53]
Ayo Akamolere
How?
- [16:54]
George Culkin
But they've not been presented with fixture or a run of fixtures where they could swap personnel or take their foot off the gas. And so they have been fatigued, they have been exhausted and it stretched them and you know, actually having quote unquote a lesser competition, which they would have a great chance of winning in my opinion, would have done done them some favors. But it's just not been the way this season has played out.
- [17:21]
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- [20:02]
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- [20:41]
Ayo Akamolere
We're almost five years into Piff's takeover of the club. Gents, let's not forget when they took over, Newcastle were in a relegation battle. They've also brought a trophy for the first time in so many years and also finished in the Champions League places twice. George, how would you assess the project up until this point?
- [21:00]
George Culkin
Well, if you, if you take a step back, you have to say that it's been, you know, in footballing terms, it's been exceptionally successful. It's the first, first domestic trophy for 70 years. Two Champions League campaigns in the space of three seasons. So many highs, so many incredible highs in terms of matches and, you know, escaping relegation in the first place. You know, Howe doesn't get a lot of credit for that, I don't think because of the money Newcastle spent in January. But that came after a long, long spell of underinvestment with a team that was was on the floor. It's been incredible. And now Newcastle are at the sort of. I mean, David Hopkinson talked about it to the Athletic not too long ago, talked about it as should be entering the taking care of business phase, which I kind of quite like as a concept. It's like what comes after the moment that you've been waiting for for your whole life, which was a trophy. And it's not. I mean, it's actually not easy being good. If this season tells us anything, it's that being good is actually quite tough because your. Your expectations change. I hate that word, but it's like you go to the stadium thinking that your team will be good enough to win that day, as opposed to every victory feeling like a kind of beautiful celebration. And you know that you get viewed differently. It's, you know, this kind of great. One of Howe's greatest strengths was to kind of come into Newcastle and recognize there was something about the city instead of like the Kevin Keegan thing of being everyone's second favorite team. It was like, well, we don't care about being everyone's second favorite team. We're going to go out and fight for everything. We never get given anything in this part of the world. We have to fight for everything. And that sort of became Newcastle's identity. And it's a kind of classic underdog, you know, sort of identity and story. You can't really be underdogs though, when you're in the Champions League and winning things. I mean, maybe Atletico Madrid have kind of succeeded doing that kind of thing in Spain. You know, a big influence on how Simeone. But it's very difficult to do that. So this season has been a struggle. It's been a struggle because of the amount of games. It has been a struggle because Newcastle, I don't think, found themselves in the place they thought they were, which was being able to compete with the big clubs around them in terms of finances and signings. And they've been having to sort of change their identity or find out what they. Who they are and what they are whilst being battered around the head with matches. And it's been very, very tough. The big questions are about the rest of the club. The first team raced ahead of the club in terms of progress and, you know, the rest of the club needs to do Eddie Howe and the others a favor by showing that they're at his level. You know, it's been very difficult for Howe, I think at various moments, certainly within the last year, 18 months, two years, to sort of say to his players. Okay, well, things may not be going well this week, but here's your new training ground. Here's the new stadium. We might not be around to see it come to fruition, but it's happening and there's been too much delay on that sort of stuff. So. Look, it's been phenomenal. This has been a sticky season. But the ambition is there. And really it's time now to press the button on. On big projects, I think.
- [24:22]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah. I mean we did see boos though for Newcastle, Brentford and Also Everton at St. James's park this season. Jacob George makes a really good point actually. Perhaps the hand that Eddie Howe has been dealt is probably not the easiest to be fair. And you've spoken about how well he works with those players. But also what are the thoughts on how far he can take this project at the helm?
- [24:47]
Jacob Whitehead
I think it's really dangerous to speak in the universal amongst a fan base. Especially when feelings change so quickly with form. I mean, I remember two years ago when they were in the Champions League the first time. There were lots of similar issues which club were facing. And then they won the Carabao Cup a year later. And I'm not sure if any supporters who were complaining two years ago would have had any bone of contention back then.
- [25:09]
George Culkin
Chelsea were booed off after losing to Newcastle on Saturday as well. I mean it's like it's. It's a surprise when it happens at Newcastle because it happens so rarely. I think that's something to point out. But it's also important to point out that Hal's name was sung throughout both of those matches.
- [25:27]
Jacob Whitehead
I think it's also important to separate his work as a coach from his work as a sporting director. Which is effectively what he was asked to do last summer. And it's that recruitment which has led to a lot of the issues this season. Like I don't think we're having this conversation if Newcastle have a striker who's on track for 20 goals a season. To be quite frank.
- [25:49]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah, you touched on it at the top, George. Can we just get a sense of, you know, what it looks like upstairs, the people around Eddie Howe? Because there's been a lot of change at Newcastle, hasn't there?
- [26:00]
George Culkin
There's been way too much churn at that at that level of the club. And it's not done Howe any favors. He's. You know, he lost a big ally in Amanda Staveley when she left the club. Paul Mitchell came in as sporting without his kind of knowledge, without his input. Now some people Would say, you know, it's not his job to have input on that kind of appointment. Except that relationships at the club had been so tight before then that they'd all worked together. As Jacob said, he was effectively sporting director for the first year post his appointment certainly in the first January window and the summer afterwards. Absolutely integral to everything that was happening at the club and kept informed about everything. He felt very unsupported in that moment. That was a really dangerous moment. Mitchell leaves then after 12 years without making a first 11 signing without him. That was supposedly his great strength. And the timing of his departure I think was dreadful. It was dreadful for Newcastle. Again it was portrayed as a kind of victory for Howe, but it absolutely wasn't. He was devastated that they went into that window without a sporting director. It didn't do him any favors at all. There's now a structure in place. There is a very ambitious, a very charismatic and personable chief executive in David Hopkinson who's worked at Real Madrid but has worked in the NBA. Worked, been very, very proactive in terms of getting the message out about ambition. And Ross Wilson as the new sporting director and he's someone that HAM knows. They both sort of will say that, you know, it's not like they were close mates or anything like that. I think they're trying to project this image of professionalism which I'm sure they are. But like they're working very closely together. And David Hopkinson referred to the three of them as a triple headed hydra or something like that. And those relationships are so important. They just haven't been there for, for a good couple of years at Newcastle. Now the, the idea is Hopkinson's the idea man. He's the man that brings money into the club. Wilson should ensure that there's no more disasters. I mean it's quite, you know, it's entirely possible that other players will want to leave Newcastle this summer. So I don't want to sort of say that won't happen but you've got those three people working really closely together and that makes me quite excited about what could happen next because those relationships haven't been there for a good couple of years and Newcastle have suffered mightily because of it. And the fact they've been able to do what they've done on the pitch in that time, including everything that happened last season, is pretty miraculous. All things being said, there is a
- [28:50]
Jacob Whitehead
real irony to Ross Wilson being in charge of transfers at Nottingham Forest at the time when they took advantage of Newcastle's financial situation to Take Elliot Anderson at a point where you know, you can see what he's gone on to do at Forest and how highly he was rated then. And I mean effectively the brief is to do the same. But you know, for Newcastle now there is a chunk of evidence there behind him.
- [29:16]
George Culkin
Yeah. Newcastle's recruitment or Newcastle's in terms of selling has been disastrous. I mean those deals, you know, go back to those deals. Jan Kuberminter and Elliot Anderson. 60 million quid they brought in but Newcastle had to sign vlakadimos keeper like 20 million quid. You know, hasn't played for Newcastle, is now out on loan and that business now looks dreadful. You know, Anderson on his own would be worth what, 80, 90 million, 100 million. And they have to get better, be better at sellers. They brought in a huge fee for esac, but they've spent it badly and they have to. You know, selling players has always been part of their blueprint but they have not done it well enough.
- [30:00]
Ayo Akamolere
Yeah. Is that part of the issue here, Jacob, is that as I keep saying, don't fall in love with these players even though they might bring moments of joy. Because as part of the model as a club that's growing, you're looking at an infrastructure now that includes, you know, someone who's worked at Real Madrid, someone who's taken Nottingham Forest to Europe. You know, there is a constant churn and change at Newcastle right now that actually you know what, it's more of a patience to see where this might end up as to where they are right now as well.
- [30:27]
Jacob Whitehead
Yeah. And I think Newcastle ended up in a. A quite a strange position because they went from avoiding relegation one season to qualifying for the Champions League the next season. They sort of skipped those middle steps. Now ordinarily you qualify for Champions League, it's natural for you to think we're a destination club. Now we shouldn't be saying like that's psychological. It's normal. You don't want to sell players. And Isaac was the first player who actually had left that they really wanted to hold on to in terms of first team regular. Like obviously Elias Hansen was coming through. He wasn't starting yet. Minta was one for the future but it does leave him in quite a difficult place as yeah, as George says, they acknowledge that selling is something they need to do but that doesn't mean the reality of it is nice or something you actually want to do in the moment. Those are always going to be difficult decisions.
- [31:24]
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- [32:49]
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- [33:25]
Podcast Host
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with Ayo Akamolere.
- [33:30]
Ayo Akamolere
All right, George, very quickly, you mentioned earlier the new training ground and the possibility of an upgrade to St. James's Park. I know Chris Waff has written about this as well. How long is that going to take?
- [33:42]
George Culkin
Well, we're talking multiple years here and it does feel like the club have missed a trick here. They've lost some ground. Yeah, they have identified a site which is kind of for a training ground out beside the airport, but we're still talking about Planning permission needed and we're still talking about contracts needing to be sorted out. Newcastle are still undertaking work at their current training ground which is not due to be completed until this summer. So that gives an indication of where they are. They're still multiple years away. The stadium is even further into the distance. Again I think they're moving towards this idea of building a new stadium close to St. James's park, probably around Lees Park. I think that is the preferred outcome for the club. But we are years and years away. Again Hopkinson has said for the foreseeable future they'll be staying where they are and have to make, make the best of it. I mean it is, you know these are huge consequential decisions but there just has not been momentum behind them. And you know I remember, I remember sort of on the day of the takeover talking to Amanda Staveley and Murdad Gaduci and in you know like with the training ground they said oh you know we're probably four or five years away from that. Well we're coming up to the fifth year and you know they haven't got, they haven't got much further down the line and players don't sign for clubs because of their training grounds. But the training ground has been a mess. I mean it's now it's not a mess anymore. It's good, it's. It's perfectly fair. I think Hopkinson's referred to it as a seven out of 10. But Newcastle keep telling us that they want to be a 10 out of 10 football club. They want to be the best of the best and they're, they're a long way short of that.
- [35:29]
Ayo Akamolere
Okay, well let's move ahead and let's talk about the Champions League because Barcelona at the Nou camp for the Geordies on Wednesday. The first leg of the Champions League last 16 ended 11 between the two teams. Do they have the blueprint gents to beat Barcelona this time around? Jacob, what you're saying.
- [35:49]
Jacob Whitehead
I think what was really interesting about last week's game is the number of problems Newcastle were able to cause Barcelona. Like I think ultimately Barcelona were forced to adapt to Newcastle rather than the other way around. The flip side of that is that Newcastle have gone come away from that game having only drawn. It was a last minute Yamal penalty which got Barcelona equalizer and it was a game which I think Newcastle probably deserved to take a win from but you know deserves tough button o parsnips in this, in this situation and you can't Imagine that Barcelona's midfield is going to be as passive in a home game at the new camp with with qualification on the line, Newcastle are still going to be missing Bruno Guimaraes, which is. Which is tough for them. Despite how well Jacob Ramsey played last time. You'd imagine that Anthony Gordon would come back in. He was sick for last week's game and only fit enough to appear off the bench. Livermento might be back. So how for the first time he does have some options. But just, you know, seeing as their plan effectively worked last time and we could only come away with a draw, I think it'd be optimistic to be say they are going to go through. Of course there's a possibility. But the ending to the last game did sour us a little.
- [36:59]
George Culkin
For me, a phrase which David Hopkinson uses a lot internally at Newcastle is perpetual optimism. So if I'm going to be perpetually optimistic, which is really not in my character, but I'll try.
- [37:11]
Ayo Akamolere
Come on. Squeeze it out, George. Come on.
- [37:14]
George Culkin
One nil obviously would have been a better result for Newcastle. I'm not going to try and claim otherwise. But I do wonder if one all sort of at least takes away that sort of the psychology of going there to defend and just to hold on to what you've got. Now I know Newcastle have just gone to Chelsea and won one nil. And it was a classic away performance. It's also their first clean sheet in all competitions for something like 15 games. I just think going there knowing that they have to score is better. It's better for the game. But it's. I don't know, it just might sort of suit their mindset a bit better. I mean it's. You know, you have to put this in context. Barcelona have played 14 times at home in La Liga. They've won 14 matches. They've scored 46 goals. They've conceded eight. Now that's La Liga. They have lost in the Champions League at home. But that was to psg. The one glimmer of hope, or one of the glimmers of hope to rephrase is that they've conceded at home in every Champions League game and blueprint. I'm not so sure about that. But Newcastle have shown that they can score against them. They have phenomenal pace and they will use that at Barcelona. Barcelona play this high line with Gordon on the pitch. With players like Alanga. With players you know, like Barnes. Like the front three that Newcastle could play will have pace and can trouble them. But they're going to have to put in A performance that matches what they did in the first leg and probably is better than that. So blueprint? I don't know. But they've. They've got more than a puncher's chance, I'd say that.
- [38:52]
Ayo Akamolere
All right, let's move on. Let's enjoy the rest of the Champions League, at least the Tuesday night ones. Right now. Let's start with Sporting versus Bodo Glimt. Jacob Bodo Glimt keep surprising everyone. And actually going into this three zero ahead. I did not see that coming.
- [39:07]
Jacob Whitehead
No, I mean, I love watching them. I think I've been on a few podcasts talking about my love for Croithian tactics, Toto football, and right now I think they're almost the best embodiment of that. Just players who know what their role is so well seemingly can just pop up any place in the pitch and do their job. And it's quite good to see that in this. You know, we've spent lots of last 45 minutes talking about PSR. It's nice that you can just sort of get a team who fundamentally don't seem to need to deal with all of that and can just be a really good fundamental team and get this far from a smaller league. Yeah, it's great. I hope they go through.
- [39:44]
Ayo Akamolere
Okay. Arsenal also play Leverkusen. It's 1:1 on that one. Chelsea play PSG. It's 5:2 to PSG on that one. George, I want to talk about Manchester City versus Real Madrid. Manchester City having to come back three nil down to Real Madrid. I believe in miracles. You've been optimistic today. What you saying?
- [40:03]
George Culkin
Well, having seen. Having seen Newcastle get stuffed plenty of times at Man City, I wouldn't rule it out. It doesn't feel very likely that though, does it? And I'll be watching. But it's also a game that I feel like I've seen about 9 million times before, which is recurring Champions League, which I have. And so, I mean, I know you didn't ask me about. About that and Jacob answered very well, but that's why it's so nice to see Bodo Glimps and, you know, other other names at this stage of the competition. I can't see Real Madrid letting that slip. I just can't.
- [40:35]
Ayo Akamolere
Okay, fair enough. Let's leave it there, gents. Appreciate your time as always and good luck to Newcastle against Barcelona on Wednesday night in the Champions League. George, Jacob, thanks for joining us. And also thank you guys for joining us as well. We'll catch you soon.
- [40:49]
Podcast Host
You've been listening to the Athletic FC Podcast. The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavro and Jay Beal, with editing by Paul Iliff and Nick Thompson. The executive producer is AD Mohead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, including our dedicated club shows. Search for the Athletic Wherever you get your podcasts. You'll also find us on YouTube YouTube at the Athletic FC podcast, so make sure you subscribe The Athletic FC Podcast is an athletic media company production.
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