Zero

Injured

Back at the days when Trippier was the best attacking full back in the world, Burn at LB was fine Not now.

A new left back in January as critical cover is a must to me. This match shows exactly how badly we need Hall to carry out Howe’s attacking plan

That’s why I said Howe needs Hall back

Aye was just going to say this. You should be the one that can spot the difference before and after joining the toon. He definitely looks like a more complete striker now

That’s what I suspect for long. It looks like he has some personal problems and thus unable to fully concentrate on the pitch

I can see your point but seriously break the trophy curse for what? 70 years? is something that back at March every fans said “whatever it takes”. You really don’t need to downplay the achievement in order to prove your point that Howe has questions to answer and he might not be the one that really suits a mega club that needs to challenge multiple competitions with less training and preparation work allowed. I think most of the people here also get it, but given what Howe’s achieved he definitely deserves full backing from every counterparty to turn things around and prove he can do it. In fact it’s harsh and disgraceful to not backing him since arguably he is our best manager for nearly 40 years. If Howe makes another spending spree and rebuild the team, and we are still sitting close to the relegation zone, I don’t think we need to discuss anymore. PIF will pull the trigger.

yea it’s not fatigue, definitely not. Thats why I suspect it’s intentional.

to be fair that’s kinda related to what I want to say next I suspect that some of the players are selectively turning up for the important matches because, they know they have past their best / reserving their energy and only turning up for the important ones. I don’t want to blame them. This is their age: Goalkeepers • Nick Pope: 34 • John Ruddy: 39 • Mark Gillespie: 34 • Aaron Ramsdale: 28 Defenders • Kieran Trippier: 35 • Lewis Hall: 21 • Sven Botman: 26 • Fabian Schär: 34 • Jamaal Lascelles: 32 • Malick Thiaw: 24 • Emil Krafth: 31 • Tino Livramento: 23 • Harrison Ashby: 24 • Dan Burn: 34 • Alex Murphy: 22 Midfielders • Joelinton: 29 • Sandro Tonali: 26 • Anthony Gordon: 25 • Harvey Barnes: 28 • Anthony Elanga: 24 • Jacob Murphy: 31 • Joe Willock: 26 • Bruno Guimarães: 28 • Jacob Ramsey: 25 • Lewis Miley: 20 Forwards • Yoane Wissa: 29 • William Osula: 22 • Nick Woltemade: 24 This is probably their last dance, to some of them. They probably want to win the ECL and that’s it. And if that’s the case, seriously, Howe can’t do much. As I said, his tactics requires the players to give them all.

I would go as far as unless we finished lower than 17 in the league table, Howe can do whatever he wants to rebuild the team. What he needs is trust and funds from the management.

The correct route is to change the players but I really doubt the management would think the same.

Good: Thiaw WTMD Debatable: Ramsay Bad: Wissa Elanga To be fair to Wissa, he probably won’t be a bad signing if we didn’t sign WTMD. Elanga has close to no excuse. On that price and from an EPL team it’s normal to expect him to contribute immediately, but, instead, he even perform a lot worse than his days at Forest

Just to add, I think Howe’s tactics requires the whole team to run and give their all. As long as the players are willing to follow the instructions and cover the grounds then we can dominate the game. Vise versa. The willingness to run and fight is Howe’s lifeline. so if the core players really passed their best and lost their ability / willingness to give their all, then they have to leave or be demoted to the bench. And the club should bring in new players that are able to / willing to do the job. I genuinely hope the management can realize what the problem is and don’t make the wrong decision

odds are Howe just behind Farke for the next manager to be sacked. I can only say outsiders do think it’s not entirely a joke. I personally don’t want him go. In fact I think he is the perfect one if we really decide it’s time for an overhaul. Just think, if the players are really good enough or still has potential to improve a lot, then a change of manager MIGHT improve the performance. However as said, our core players (Pope Joe Schar Trippier, in a way BG, Burn, Gordon and Botman as well) might even have passed their best. A change of manager will just make things worse. The loyalty to those core players are holding Howe back. Howe and the club need to be brutal to have a major clearout. It’s perfectly fine to me to give up this season if Howe can make good use of it to rebuild the team. We have some good young players that can become our new core (Tino Hall Thiaw Miley WTMD). If it’s rlly the time, just do it Eddie.

Given his injury and attitude problem he simply won’t play for us and thus won’t have any contribution. In fact we would be even worse since we won’t have WTMD and Wissa.

if you are competing in Europe, you should totally give up domestic cup games - unless you are Man City

I think it’s quite obvious that Howe doesn’t like this kinda winger

Just to think it’s a bit weird if we really need Nick to drop that deep to help. We have 3 CM already, so in fact we need 4 players around the circle to bring the ball forward?

The problem is Burn simply acts like he’s fucking fed up

if most of the core players are underperforming then rotation cannot help much.

As said, Howe has done more than enough to have at least a season time to turn things around. And he also deserves a Jan transfer spree to buy players and save the team. The only scenario that he would be sacked before the end of the season is we couldn’t pick up a few points and continue our bad run so that we are within relegation zone around January.l, which is hugely unlikely. The question that worth discussing now, however, is whether the bad run is down to the players, or Howe. And somewhat I think this time it’s more on the players which, in a way, even more difficult to resolve. Pope has been great in dominating the air for a few years. I fully expect him to come out and catch those high balls. And then these few matches he played like Woodman who looks like an easy target to bully. Burn looked like having a mental collapse after committing the first foul that got overturned. Yes we all shouted for subbing him out. We all know Howe fucked it up. But then I also understand that to Howe, Burn is the one he trust most. He wanted the team leader(s) to stand firm and stabilise the team during difficult time. Just like what Howe said in hindsight subbing Burn out must be right. However you also can’t deny that for a veteran like Burn, he really shouldn’t commit the second foul. Just keep calm and focus. He isn’t an amateur player. He is a professional veteran, a team leader with loads of experience. Nevermind the others like Botman, Joe, Elanga, , Gordon and BG (yes, sorry captain). The only players that really playing up to their ability are probably Thiaw, Murphy, WTMD and Trippier (considering his age). That’s why I asked the question re the grounds covered stat. The team or the players simply don’t feel right. They are letting Howe down. It’s not like Howe has lost the dressing room but the players do feel like no longer giving their best on the pitch. The drive is missing.

No matter what, Howe fully deserve a full season for turning things around. I don’t think anyone here would disagree with this. That’s from a fans perspective. But then, if we keep on losing league games and drop to the relegation zone, then I fully expect Howe to be fired around Xmas. The management wouldn’t want to risk another relegation to the project. We got to get at least 3 points against Everton and Spurs.

I just realize we have conceded 8 goals for our last 4 league matches. And, we have been signing praises for Thiaw, arguably our player of the season so far. Man. Burn should be back to CB and Botman should be benched. I do feel like we have been starting Botman no matter what to please him and pursuade him a new contract.

I was genuinely shocked to see Ramsay coming out from the bench instead of Miley. I fully expect Miley to be given more chance this season. Seriously he is heading to the Anderson route.

I wonder if there is some stats re the distance covered by our players, and compare it with what we have done last season. Something doesn’t feel right to me. Especially the midfield.