steve_69

Fucking hell, we are shit!!!

Bit of a shock. Good luck to the lad, shouldn't take him too long to find a new gig.

Howay man, anyone who has watch Giroud knows hes a quality player. He would be infinitely better than Joelinton. He will end up at Spurs under Jose. good player - but he does not score many goals anymore... Pretty tough to score goals when you're not playing. He was pretty prolific at Arsenal when he was starting games

Oh well, at least Sean Longstaff is bang in form!

Surely that contract if it exists, would be counted into the price? Or that might explain how the value is so low. If it were me buying the club, I’d just go along with it and then break contract later. It’s much harder for Ashley to prove in court that a deal like this isn’t breaking some sort of rule I don't know how these things work. The kit deal would have to be adhered to, even though it was negotiated by the previous regime wouldn't it? Same with any other endorsements. I know these things would all be factored into the price of the club but imagine if that 10 year contract has no break clause and it's just Ashley's way of keeping his claws in, you could see that being a stumbling block in negotiations. All speculation of course

Someone told me yesterday that Sports Direct has a 10 year contract in place to run/control the retail side of our merchandise. Presumably Ashley could put any number of this type of contract in place and they would have to be adhered to by the new owners?

I agree with you. A whole fresh new start from top to bottom. Why? Who would you prefer? I've been thinking this as well. Love Rafa as a person and his comitment and passion. But last time he was here we didn't play the most attractive football. He is very defence minded. I would like to see Pochettino. Did a great job at Tottenham and really built a good team. Broke the dominance of "the top 4". Would be pleased with Rafa, but Pochettino would be my first choice. He had 5 pence to spend on transfers FFS!

Fair point, but have they seen the state of Ashley's jeans?! Swings and roundabouts!

Probably stolen anyway!

The easier side of management is making a team hard to beat. I'm not suggesting anyone can do it, but organising a defence isn't rocket science. Plenty of very average managers have made careers for themselves out of building a solid defence and concentrating on scoring from set pieces - it's limited football manager 101.

Hayden is having a total mare!

A striker would be even better, preferably one who can score goals

The way we play under Bruce, Chris Wood would be a decent addition. Ashley Barnes is pretty handy as well.

WHAT He is still on £850 a week. his contract has never been updated since he was an under 23 player. The club are still trying to get him on he cheap rather than pay the going rate for a premier league player Sean hasn't had his contract extended either. He's still on the same deal he was on before he broke into the first team.

Longstaff on free kicks again FFS!! I’ve yet to see him deliver a good one

His errors and poor finishing are magnified 100 times because he's missing the very few chances we/he creates. Because we basically create 3-4 chances per game and he's normally on the end of one or two of them, his misses are far more critical than they should be. A player can't play themselves back into form with only 2 opportunities per game. We need to create more fullstop. The alternative is to sign a 1 in 2 striker and we know that's not going happen.

He just needs to score one and I reckon he’ll get a few. That turn for the shot he put wide was decent. His confidence is obviously shot.

Why anyone would willingly pay to go and watch this dross is beyond me!

Another half time masterclass from the Geordie Guardiola.

Shelvey could’ve played this game no problem. This was Bruce’s attempt at keeping the squad fresh over the festive period - basically surrendering to Man Utd by changing the entire central midfield. Not surprised to see a few ‘fans’ finding a reason to criticise Shelvey in all this though. Yawn!

So credit him for the 9th place beforehand I guess then ? I kind of think you have to to an extent, although a lot of it has to do with Rafa’s coaching before him. Pretty telling though that whenever Bruce tries to make any significant changes - system, formation, personnel - we get spanked! So you give him no credit ffs No, I give him some. Just not a lot. His biggest stroke of genius so far is realising that our strength is playing like Rafa did. Thats what has seen us succeed so far. Bruce has tinkered with the lineup and system in this game and the result is pretty telling.

When we lose properly it’s because Bruce has tried to impart some of his managerial genius on the squad. Leave it the fuck alone and we’ll survive. Tinker and we’re fucked!

So credit him for the 9th place beforehand I guess then ? I kind of think you have to to an extent, although a lot of it has to do with Rafa’s coaching before him. Pretty telling though that whenever Bruce tries to make any significant changes - system, formation, personnel - we get spanked!

It’s time Shelvey’s critics took the fucking blinkers off and realised what he gives to us when he plays. It’s no coincidence we win more games than we lose when he’s on the pitch. People have been crying out for Shelvey to be dropped in favour of the Longstaffs - well I’ve not seen us put in a weaker central midfield display for years than today. Man Utd were there for the taking and we’ve made them look like vintage Barcelona. You might not like Shelvey but he is absolutely critical to us doing anything this season and probably the next few as well. Any other opinion is just wrong.

Take him out of the midfield and we’re absolutely fucking useless.