The College Dropout

We have 3 legit fullbacks. 1 is 35. Howe plays a team to win in every competition. A proper DOF doesn't let that entire situation happen.

Letting him go to that tournament and having 3 proper first-team fullbacks and intending to win/compete in 4 competitions was a terrible decision. Tino is still first choice RB and second choice LB. It was obvious he was about to play crazy minutes this season. Pretty certain every single outright first-choice player in our squad has picked up at least 1 injury this year. Close will be true for every other CL team. If we intended to sign a LB that would be ahead of him, I would've been happier with him going. I made the argument at the time. Tino was the only player for England at that U21 who was expecting to play a 50+ game CL campaign the next season with a legitimate shot at the World Cup. Definitely not a fucking fullback either.

I think he might not know what to do tbh. But against man City there were times others were pressing with a lot more intensity than he was and it's happened before. But against PSV it was tremendous. It might be tactical as you say. Woltemade is worse at it but he looks physically incapable of it mostly. Both definitely have room for improvement.

It's a borderline racist trope as it is and one a cursory google into him would be immediately invalidated

He looks lazy in his pressing often.

What's with the supposedly?

Agree with Jordan. Let's see some action please.

Aye I felt like Hopkinson was bullshitting in that TalkSport interview. The purpose was to restate ambition without any details to realise it.

The writing has been on the wall for this team for awhile now.

Look at the state of this

I’ve said all year I support Eddie 100%. I’m not frustrated with his coaching decisions. He just needs a DOF and staff to shoulder 80% of transfer decisions. I’m frustrated with PIF.

Which 2 have turned out very well? The job of a DoF in transfer market (not blaming Howe) is to sign players. Not identity good players - but actually get deals done. So the transfer committee of 2 scouts and a coach all agreed they liked a number of PL targets as first choice plus 2 other players we’ve been interested in for years and a 6-month wonder. Job is to get great deals done. If Ashworth or Mitchell led last summer I would want them sacked. As such we had people leading it at short notice without the experience or the skill to make it a success.

Aye he's no Dimitar Berbatov technically. Or in his movement. He's shown a nice touch and some great finishes in places.

Match thread - during the game - is the place for kneejerk excitement one way or the other imo. And the next day on every player/manager thread too tbf. It's all heat of the moment stuff.

I'm not blaming Howe btw. He had too much responsibility and influence.

The model is outperforming your wage budget by several places. That's the impressive part. If you can do that consistently with the 7th/8th highest wage budget, you're a European mainstay. Increasing revenues so you can move up that list. That's the name of the game for us. Outperforming our spend in fees and wages. If we can do that 4 years in a row by 3-4 places, it's a different ball game. Most of you will be disappointed if we finish in-line with our budget.

Yes, you are. The point is Howe had near-unparalleled influence over transfers at this level of football. You will struggle to find several elite clubs or top clubs in England with no DOF or a manager with as much influence/control over transfers as Howe did. Even Howe won't have the same level of influence over transfers in the future. It is well-reported. But you are choosing to be dumb. *I forgot Monchi left Villa

You're being dumb pal.

I think we'll finish 7th or 8th. Our last 7-8 games we'll be out of the cups most likely and they are favourable. Worst we'll do is 9th save for more major injuries or going deep into the cups. You can't fall 2-3 places down the league, play 12 extra games and expect to maintain performance level mind. By definition we would have dropped performance level in the PL.

The Owner? No idea. The analytical approach is led by the Owner.

I'm not presenting them as facts. And it is not personal opinion. I'm repeating the best information that we have. The most credible outlets have reported what i've said several times without rebuttal. If we get better information - great. But there is information out there, so I will use it and speak to it.

same broad analytical approach as Brighton.

"The recent history of PIF is a tale of grand schemes, wild ambition and unfulfilled promises." We were warned of this at the start - and it didn't seem true to begin with. This is my issue with yesterday's interview. No details just more talk of ambition without adding a single shred of meat. "Layer four: the new training ground, rumoured to be out near the airport, is yet to materialise. No spades in the dirt, no announcements or architects’ drawings, no timeline. The new stadium in Leazes Park remains a figment of the imagination. During the takeover process, Amanda Staveley claimed that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia had “massive plans to invest in the city, in housing, everything”. The regeneration of St James’ Park, its community and the wider urban area was a major part of winning public support for the bid. More than four years on, there is little to no evidence that any of these schemes were formalised, let alone enacted." This is the thing that gets me most along with easier sponsorship opportunities. The football side is one thing that has ups and downs. But we really need to progress here. And everyday that passes has me losing a bit of hope that these lot know what they are doing and are willing to do it. The other stuff is interesting and semi-relevant but of less concern to me personally.

Not saying she was perfect. But I think we miss her force of personality - with the fans, with the squad (at least Mitchell era), with PIF and potential transfers too. Her ability to convince and get a deal done.

And a lot is true. We didn't have a DOF. So there's a vacuum there. The reputable sources say transfers were led by Howe 2x and Nickson. And our transfer targets pivoted in direction from the previous active committee (Ashworth, Nickson, Howe 2x) with Ashworth and Nickson leading on negotiations (https://archive.ph/EGJmI). So taking the changing make-up of the commitee (Ashworth gone entirely - 2/3 of the committee being Howe's) and the targets gives credence to the idea this summer was Howe-led. You also listen to Eddie talk about transfers fro the last couple of seasons, what Mitchell said about transfers - both of their histories, and Ashworth too... you can make an educated guess on the influence of each summer window. You can disagree. But I don't think we sign both Wissa & Elanga with Mitchell or Ashworth as DoF. 1 maybe but both at those figures go against the type of approach they've been involved in previously. This approach is much closer to what both Howe's were doing at Bournemouth but with a bigger budget and more experience.