The College Dropout

Isak and Gordon at least have credit in the bank

Do you see patterns of play? Now?

I don’t think people realise our FFP position - that we carry salaries and amortisation costs.

I don’t think Howe is a heavy ‘patterns’ guy. Not like Ange and co. anyway.

I’ve defended Howe recently but consistently we don’t look a well coached team and have not done all season.

Only scored 2 tap ins all season. Been really poor in front of goal.

Why are people so keen to change manager mid season? Give him the season. Assess at the end.

I do agree with this. Villa have only recently pivoted to a more youth and bargain focussed setup. Vila are on year 6 of their journey or so. Been through a couple managers and DOFS

I think that partly comes from needing immediate results. But aye a big part of that must be Howe tbf.

I’m hoping for the best. But I think today could be a turning point in our fickle fanbase.

And his replacement needs to be someone capable of club building over 3 or 4 seasons. Thats not Tuchel or Allegri.

IMO The targets for the season are too aggressive for our budget. Howe’s not allowed to develop players over a couple seasons. The club isn’t looking to rebuild the squad. That’s how he’s being shafted. If the club wanted a younger, cheaper team with less ambitious season I’m sure Howe would be up for it. That’s what he did at Bournemouth. But he’s clearly under pressure for immediate results which is why he needs improvements to the XI today not next season.

You’re acting like this stuff is ordained by God. Levy is actively pursuing and reinforcing his position. He didn’t inherit a cartel position, he was instrumental in its formation. Our owners have just as much agency as Levy. ———— one constant thing among some fans since the takeover is they think the owners have done everything right. PIF are 3 years in - mistakes have obviously been made. At some point I think they will realise they need to pivot to succeed.

Think the move has been great for him. He’s getting regular PL time as a#10. He would’ve have that here. He would’ve been getting 15 minutes off the bench.

Tino was needed at that time. Our RB was 33 years old.

This is the main we’ll probably have to sell a purple next summer anyway.

Agreed. Not a good fit for us. But he tried hard, fairly mobile for a big lad, won some headers. He did a job for us. The move was best for all parties. He’s now playing in a team that plays to his strengths and playing the best football of his career. I never bought the ‘he’s shit’ tripe. He looked decent for us imo in a system not suited to him. And his record before and after proves he had something.

Nope. We carry wages and amortisation. Isak costs on the books is the same now as the season he signed. Contract extensions reduce amortisation but in Bruno and Gordon’s case somewhat offset by a 50-100% increase in wages. We’ll find out next year. But I don’t think we are doing a great job of keeping the wages down. We probably have 5 players on £100k+ and we wanted to add another.

He’s scored something like 18 league goals since Nuno was appointed. Up there with Cole Palmer and only behind Haaland. Good fit.

He’ll get 13 in total. Great start for me too. TC active. This is the week DCL has got to score.

Always liked Chris Wood. Bad fit for us. But a good PL striker.

Nah he’s Nuno’s man which I think has given him confidence.

I don’t understand what you’re saying here?? How can we grow to be as big as Man U organically? Man U won the PL era. We are going to grow organically and beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the CL semifinals? We don’t have the brand. We don’t have the location. And we won’t have the revenues ‘naturally’. 8th is about our natural level. We’ll need unfair advantages elsewhere to close the gap. Building a £4bn stadium and continuing to invest as much as possible into the squad is one of them. Creating a top 5 academy in England within a decade is another despite not having a top 3 catchment area (London is like 4 different areas, midlands, Greater Manchester have more kids).

To become #1 in Europe is what we are talking about btw. Let alone catching and surpassing Spurs. We’ll need to get the best youth in the country and abroad. That’s not natural. Sure we need the best kids from the NE but we’ll need to take the best from London and further afield like City do.