Malick Thiaw

A bi- a bit further forward potentially you do have more options, but we'll just keep, uh, focused on, on the center back pairing for now.

What does the short-term future look like for Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman? You know, what can they do to get back into the starting 11? Is it Dan Burn-

Well-

... and Fabian Schar's places to lose?

"We are in the team.

Dislodge us." And they dislodged themselves, because the performances were poor.

Particularly Botman, but w- Thiaw's got away with a lot, you know, because we're so busy going, "Oh, dear Sven, what have you done?" And, and, you know, w- Thiaw's been doing, been pretty moderate himself.

Um, without a shadow of doubt, and that's life at this level.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, I was pleased to see Tomori honestly, um, because that hopefully meant that Thiaw was, was going down the pecking order and we're gonna talk about later why he was probably real big time down the pecking order now.

Um, I was kind of waiting for him to get his minutes 'cause like, you know, he was frozen out and then brought back and I, and I, I think he did a decent job.

I think he can do a job for us.

Yeah.

I think, um, I think I was, I was definitely glad to see Tomori.

Tomori is much better than Thiaw.

Uh-

it's not that cold hard calculation that led me to 14k in the international break it's not that cold hard calculation that led me to the promised land that's threatened to turn every rule book on its head in this game everything we know about this game nightmare was turning it on its head and now my brain's warm my emotions are fluffy just like this side hair i don't deserve the above average hat because I brought in Lewis Hall.

I sold Trout because I said Newcastle's defence is crap.

Malik Trout can't do a goddamn thing.

We've just conceded four goals.

I'm spitting everywhere and I don't care.

Schick opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 29th minute, giving Leverkusen the lead.

Just three minutes later, Malick Thiaw doubled their advantage in the 32nd minute.

Then before halftime, Schick was on the scoresheet again, converting another penalty in the 41st minute to put Bayer Leverkusen three goals to the good at the break.

That brace, coming after his introduction, was a key part of the score line.

The kid up front who they had, that Sharif, was physically...

You look at Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw and you're like, "They'll, they'll handle him." He's a big, strong lad, that Sharif, but they should, they should handle him pretty easy.

And instead they just panicked all the time and made him grow in confidence.

I mean, if, he didn't need any confidence when two minutes into the game Horníček loses one and chops him down with a, with a- A dive to try and save himself.

So if you put Szoboszlai in the 11 and Wissa in the 11, that's how I have it set up at this point in time.

That's my bus team at the moment, with Hall for sub and Thiaw second.

Now, ideally I would be, uh, probably selling Szoboszlai, I think, if he was, uh, not fit or anything of the matter.

But I think the, um, the alternatives at the price range for Szoboszlai are actually not that appealing.

So I'm happy keeping Szoboszlai, even though selling him means that I can potentially release some cash.

I think if Szoboszlai is out this week, which is a possibility, I'll just let Thiaw, sorry, Hall come in, who's gonna be my first sub, which doesn't feel all that great, but I do think that Hall is the best of the three Newcastle guys I have.

So even if I do have to play him, I feel relatively okay with it because I feel more confidence in him than, than any of the other two Newcastle guys.

So I think Idiola did mention after the game yesterday, um, against City, where he said that there was tightness in his hamstring and he could've risked him, but he chose not to, which gives me the feeling that there's a good chance that he's back for Brentfor- Brentford this week.

But at the moment, I'm recording, of course, before the match on Monday evening between Coventry and Newcastle, where I still have Lewis Hall to play.

But I know that some people still own other players like Harvey Barnes, Malick Thiaw, and Wissa, so things can still change.

But it looks like I might have got a green arrow finally on wildcard, which feels very good.

Now, I've only got one transfer in the bank, and the week after the wildcard is always a week that you look to roll your transfer if you can.

So unless we get news on the deadline stream one way or another, this is where I'd place him.

Malick Thiaw, Gomes, Egan, Mendy, Davis at Ipswich home to Fulham.

You've got Diop, O'Shea, Gvardiol, Thomas, Virgil van Dijk, again, against City.

He's not the best fixture.

Yeah.

And then I believe right center back will be Malick Thiaw.

And then right back, I'm very pleased to say, I think will be Amadou Onana.

It would be lovely.