Is this Heaven??

I have a confession to make. I started this after we tied Man U. So it has been modified to include last week. Which I may add, is awesome.

No, this is Newcastle. It doesn’t work as well as the original Field of Dreams quote but it sure does feel like a bit of heaven. I guess Kevin and I have been in a sort of dream state and I think I just woke up to find Newcastle sitting in 4th place and are just behind Tottenham in 3rd place. We have a record of 5-6-1, we are 1-2-1 against Man U, Man City, Tottenham and Liverpool (we should be 1-3-0, but I can’t even complain about that) and we lead the Premier League in goals against. I think that last part is the most impressive stat of the entire season so far. We are averaging .83 goals per game and we have already played Man City (3-3), Tottenham (2-1) and Liverpool (1-2) who destroyed Bournemouth 9-0. What is even more amazing is we have allowed the fewest goals by pressing high and being relentless on the pitch. I rarely see us hunker down for the point but rather continue to push for winners. It is such a joy to watch and experience this revolution on the pitch. Is it crazy that I actually thought we would get something out of the Man U game and I was not concerned about the mighty Red Devils at Old Trafford. I was even less concerned about going to Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium (My son thinks that is the dumbest Stadium name for English Football) I tend to agree. Do they even reference White Hart Lane anymore?

So, let’s start off with the results. As predicted by Kevin, we came away from Old Trafford with a scoreless draw. One more point against the supposed “Top 6”, which I think is impressive based on the fact that we didn’t even start our best 11. One thing that I have stopped doing this season is worrying about what lineup is going to be out there for a given game. Howe has done an amazing job of getting all the players to play to their abilities and play as a cohesive unit. That said, we really miss Maximin even thought we have gone on this crazy run without him. Jacob Murphy has benefitted from this but I think is one player who has missed a bunch of opportunities in the games. His crossing and decision making has been poor and possibly costs us some really good scoring chances. I think Howe saw that and was the reason he was taken off so early in the second half for Fraser during the Man U game and had him on the bench for the Spurs game. He is an impact sub and I think that is fine. It can be said that sometimes it is just better to get your best players on the pitch no matter what. I keep telling myself that when I see Dan Burn playing LB and having Targett sitting on the bench. I have to hand it to Burn because I thought having him back there was a one week trial. He struggled in the game dealing with Sancho’s speed but as usual his positioning and recovery on plays is always really good. I was so happy to see Joelinton back rampaging through the midfield and it was classic Jo when he hit the crossbar and the post in the first half of the Man U game. I even didn’t see him fall down in this game. I thought overall we played the Man U game well and got really lucky to get out of there with a point because Man U can’t hit the side of a barn sometimes even with nobody around. We went to Old Trafford got a point and didn’t sit back to get it and put them on notice that we are just going to get better and better.

I don’t want to disrespect Everton but this was the also ran during this 3 match set. Over the last 10 years I would say that our expectations of results when going to Old Trafford, playing Everton at home and playing at the Spurs we would be happy with 1 points and ecstatic for anything 3 points or above. Now we collect 7 pts out of 9 and I don’t think I blinked. Leaving Spurs with all 3 points and really looking like the better of the two teams for the majority of the match was just glorious. The icing on the top for everything this season has been the play of Almiron. I have always enjoyed watching him play and as Kevin can attest was his biggest defender. To see what Eddie Howe has done to his game is just unbelievable. He has unlocked Miggy’s brain somehow to allow him unlock the Miggy that we thought we were getting when we bought him. It was Jo last year, and now Miggy. Just great! I think bringing Bruno on board has also been an enormous boost for him. So we are in 4th. Are we going to stay there? No. Are the Top 6 scared shitless? Liverpool and Man City – no, everyone else you bet.

What is even more enjoyable is how the dialogue has gone overboard and gone in the other direction. Now there are articles about if we can stay in the Top 4. Or is there now a Top 7? I hate to tell them it really has never been a Top 6. It has been a Top 2 for the last 5 years with everyone else being an also ran. So, am I in Heaven? I think being in 4th in week 12 is as good a reason as any so Yes this is Heaven.