The College Dropout

I read/heard somewhere that Man City will use any legal tool to defeat the PL. Their strategy is combative. That's why they haven't cooperated with the PL in their investigations. They will dig in their heels, not cooperate and take everything to court if needed. I think that's the right approach.

The other route is playing a warm body in place of fatigued players. Yeah we probably lose those games (we lost those games anyway btw) but we have players fit and ready to play other games. As I've previously mentioned. Other managers like Rafa would've played boys and started blaming fixture congestion, owners, FFP, the weather, the rules on added minutes etc. I've shared an article on Howe's lack of rotation at Bournemouth during their promotion campaign compared to Rafa's for us. That lack of rotation is a feature of his management, not just a bug caused by injuries. Wilson started all 46 games that season btw. Then his knees exploded for the next 2 years.

Again - that is not how it works. The player and manager ultimately decide. Again look at concussions. Let's end here. I'm not trying to be black & white. I understand risk-based decisions. But you have to own risk and your risk management strategy. You can't take risks, they don't work and blame bad luck. I've played that scenario on this forum plenty and I've said I prefer we take a medium/long-term approach and take a short-term performance loss for medium-term performance gain. Howe continually takes risks to win the next match. Even when that risk didn't pay off in terms of both results and fitness, he kept prioritising the next match over future matches. I agree with you every management team faces the same decisions. Howe keeps taking a short-term approach and it keeps backfiring more than it succeeds. It's fair to question the continued approach. It's fair to use hindsight and say "I understand why he took that risk... but it didn't work.. and it continues not to work... maybe Howe should learn and adapt". For me, it's got so far now that I don't expect Howe to change his ways. I don't expect a change in setup to mitigate the lack of athleticism in midfield. I wouldn't be surprised to see Burn start on the weekend (although I feel the last game was a turning point). With Gordon & Isak out, I expect Wilson will play a lot of football no matter what his body says unless he says he can't. On his Pod, he said he would be more selfish going forward because he wants to stay fit to get into the Euros squad. So we'll see. I hope you can see I'm not being black & white. I understand there are reasons for the decisions he's made. But I've always been clear and vocal that there are good reasons to take another route. And whatever route the manager takes, he has to take responsibility for it. Going back to my primary point. Some of the injuries have been bad luck. Some of the injuries have been caused or aggravated by decisions the club (medical department, players, manager) has made. That's not bad luck. So again for me, the injuries aren't a get-out-of-jail-free card, Howe is partly responsible for them. I also think my views on Wilson are balanced and not black & white. A lot of people want rid of him because he can't play 3x 90 minutes a week. If he could, he wouldn't have joined Newcastle in the first place and he wouldn't put up with not being the star striker. If management would work with his limitations, we have a fantastic #2 striker. IMO Chris Wood is the level of most genuine backup out-and-out strikers.

I'm not saying he's an idiot. In this context, you understand the decision. But it's not bad luck. He has contributed to the problem. There were other options that he deemed inferior. The upside of those would be less injury risk. So we are lying in the bed that he has helped to make.

Do you not know that Wilson is injury-prone? Football is a lot simpler than you think it is. Medical departments have far less sway or knowledge than you think when it comes to injuries. Again, the concussion protocol is a pressing example.

You're avoiding the question. The answer is obvious - that does not seem a sensible thing to do. Due to other circumstances, our manager decided to take risks that backfired. That's not bad luck.

Seems the most likely outcome though. The loan was only a FFP sidestep for both clubs. Nothing to suggest it's anything but a formality.

Is playing a 32-year-old injury player 3 times a week for 90 minutes several weeks in a row - sensible management? @madras You seem hell-bent on defending Howe rather than just looking at things objectively.

A lot of footballer wages depend on the fee you've joined for and the clubs you've left. Morata has bounced between Real Madrid and Juventus before landing at Atleti. And he's the starting 9 for Spain. Of course, he is on megabucks. I don't have strong views on the Joelinton contract thing. I want him to stay but don't really know what is fair for both parties wage wise.

No. He said, he knew he wasn't ready but Alex got injured, the team needed him, so he declared himself fit. If Alex hadn't gone down, Wilson wouldn't have declared himself fit. Howe has managed Wilson for what? 6 or 7 years? He knows him well. He knows he's a good lad, a proper professional who will sacrifice his body for the betterment of the team. It's Howe's job to protect the player's longevity for the medium-term betterment of the team. He didn't. He played him 90 minutes, game after game until his injury-prone, only fit striker broke down again. That's poor management. Every single outfield player with regular minutes has been injured this season. Every last one (except Bruno actually). It's not just bad luck. It's a lack of due care.

I disagree on Wilson. I just think we need to manage his fitness player. Treat him like the injury-prone player he is. I remember in his last couple of seasons at Arsenal, RVP didn't play twice in a week. He stopped picking up injuries. Wilson wasn't injured towards the end of last season because his minutes were managed well. With Barnes back, we can use Gordon as a striker option to ease the burden on the lads. People are fed up with Wilson and lost patience. But Isak is in the same boat. He's been injured as often as Wilson since he joined. Because he's the star boy and the darling people aren't getting on to him but the same thing happens with Isak. He's another - his minutes need managing otherwise he will keep breaking down. I keep saying this but I think we are a winger option short IMO. We need to be able to use Gordon wherever he is needed or to give him a rest.

Like i've said repeatedly. Callum Wilson is on record saying he rushed himself back before he was fully fit and was overloaded with too many minutes in too short a time before he got reinjured. Some people think football is more advanced and complicated than it is. There's only so much physios and scans can tell. A lot of it depends on how a player feels and what he says. Players often declare themselves fit and if they can battle through a fitness test - they will play. They may still feel discomfort because the injury isn't fully healed, and they may be over fatigued - but they are pushing through. When I listen to current and ex-footballers talk about injuries and coming back - a lot of it is just declaring themselves fit - no expert examination. It's down to the player and the manager in the main. The same was true of concussions before the protocol came in. This is conjecture on my part. But I think we have a culture that encourages players to push themselves to return quickly from injury. Again, I remember a twitter ITK saying Schar wouldn't start one match. He did start... and came off within 15 minutes. I think the injury was known by medical staff and Howe before the game but they thought Schar could battle through and play the game. They took a risk on the injury. It didn't work and he couldn't play. Fortunately, it was a minor thing and he was back the next game. For me, that is evidence of our high-risk tolerance towards injuries. With that high-risk tolerance towards injuries - it's not pure bad luck when we get an injury crisis. How could it be? We've taken a bunch of risks.

.... make sure they are fully fit or close before bringing them back in??? Is that a novel concept or something?

I think many have realised this. Take PSG or Chelsea away in, second half. We ended up being unlucky because of mistakes/referee calls. But lots of people acknowledged that we barely played any football for the last 20 minutes of those.

Think it was half a season. He never fully recovered physically. This doesn't make sense. You take a risk because you think the upside is greater, it backfires - you accept responsibility and fault for taking that risk. The injuries to key players Willock, Isak, Wilson, Joelinton could've been prevented if we were more cautious with their rehabilitation. Howe has to take some responsibility for that. So when we talk about "bad luck" with injuries - an element of that isn't bad luck. We've knowingly taken risks and they've backfired. That's chickens coming home to roost. So Howe doesn't get a complete pass on the injury front. I understand why Howe made the decisions he did. I just think a lot of his decisions have been short-sighted and not worked anyway. I hope he learns and improves going forward.

I'm not saying that's not the plan. There's just no evidence for it. And Bruno is closer to profile to Shelvey the previous deepest CM (passer, not athletic) than he is to Tonali. Likewise, Tonali is close profile-wise to Longstaff. Strong, hard-running, engine etc. I think his crossing skill will be useful if we start phasing out Trippier for Livra.

From what I saw it was Tonali RCM Bruno CM.

You have not listened to the episode I’m referring too. He explicitly says he rushed himself back when he wasn’t ready and that’s why he got injured again. Those are his own words and he was clear. And you are refusing to accept it. Just read what you wrote. Does that make sense to you?

I’ve seen no evidence that they will rotate on that RCM. Bruno will continue to maraud when he feels like it from the deep role and Tonali and the other CMs will have to cover for him when he does. Only really Longstaff covers for him regularly.

Again, we have 1 player on record saying he rushed himself back to fitness. Go and listen to his podcast. That is actual evidence against "being cautious with injuries". We know for a fact, Joelinton continued to play despite picking up what turned out to be a season-ending injury. These 2 things are not opinions these are facts.

Based on the evidence - I don't think this is true. We have a player on record - saying he rushed himself back to fitness. We've seen Joelinton & Gordon visibly injured and continue to play with Joelinton's injury a season-ender. We've also seen several players look unfit for several games at a time. And many players playing on despite clearly being exhausted. We have several instances of players coming back and being injured again within 6 games. We have several instances of players playing until they pick up fatigue loaded injuries. Again, I like Eddie a lot. Happy that he's in charge. But I think he's made several strategic and tactical mistakes that have contributed to a lot of our issues.

He's not though. Like I said, he was brought back early. Played 90 minutes again and again until injured. He's as injured as often as Isak. We've lost 7 out of the last 12. Including some bad results against relegation-level teams. People are going to be disappointed. At a point in time, we looked well placed to finish in Europe. Now it feels like an uphill battle. Finishing between Brighton and Wolves would be a disappointment. If we finish 6th and qualify for Europa. Most people would be delighted. If we finish 7th and go to Conference most people would be happy. I've mentioned this several times. Eales seems to think Europe is a good and realistic target. If Howe achieves that, I think everyone is at least content.

How many teams have 3 strikers? Isak, Wilson and Gordon as backup is as good as the league has IMO. That's fine. But I think we are missing 1 CM or winger. 1 of those free's up Joelinton's role. As soon as Willock & Tonali went out, Joelinton was a full-time CM. Then Barnes out. Gordon is a full-time LW. If we had 1 more winger option, we could mix up Gordon's minutes upfront and give him some more rest even with the injuries and suspensions. IMO Murphy should have the Ritchie role but one that can actually be used.

Who expects us to qualify for the CL?

If the situation was in the England camp. I don't think we would've been had. We've got players, coaches and connections to the setup. We would've heard whispers. I can't prove it but I'm certain AC Milan and Juve knew it was coming. Which means people were talking. They palmed the players off to rich foreign clubs who weren't itk.