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Concerned it will be hard to read this banner.

Would be interesting to see what Howe would've done with them. Bet it would be more than they are now.

There are no obvious options, it's all tradeoffs. So we need to be very tolerant of whatever happens, basically, whether that's playing tired players who consequently get injured, or putting out lacklustre lineups in competitions we'd normally want to take seriously.

Still well on course to be player of the season. Him or Schar.

On this subject, Louise Taylor clearly had her knives sharpened judging by her match report. Today's result ruined the angle she was obviously going to take.

Weird to think he hasn't been here a year, yet. Feels like longer.

Fair shout on signalling to the media, rather than the board.

What a blessing it is to have him given our injury situation. Would be getting really ugly otherwise.

Did I see Gordon pretend to offer a hand up and then fuck him off immediately after that? Was hilarious if so.

Why do those threads get permalocked?

Supposedly the only thing holding back investment is FFP, which this won't help with. If we're as professional as we're supposed to be, childish demonstrations like this shouldn't be necessary. I accept that's 'if'.

Questions definitely need to be asked, but I don't think when he says hardly trained he means they've done no strength and conditioning work. I believe he's referring more to on pitch games which are played at almost match day intensity.

Can we agree naming 4 goalkeepers in a match day squad is silly? Unless all of our academy players are not only awful but also have appalling attitudes, one of those spots should be for them. I don't think this is about sending a message to our board - it certainly shouldn't need to be, anyhow.

No wonder Tonali is looking good in training, he's only up against children.

Totally agree, I won't be leaping on him any time soon. It's more just the platitudes that Howe hasn't been saying that he generally has about other players, including kids, in similar situations. So pleased to hear him getting some phatic treatment.

Sure. Just been striking how quiet Howe has been on him, particularly in relation to off field work, which is a free hit in terms of press relations. It's the closest he's come to public criticism, to be honest.

Probably mourn it. Doubt it would succeed but morally we'd be entitled to a monster legal action when you think how different history likely would've been e.g. I genuinely don't think we'd have hired Souness to "finally get that trophy over the line". Painful.

Pleasing to hear.

Yes that's my bias. It would be admitting defeat if we disrupted things and took him back early. Would probably need to repair relations with Feyenoord too, in terms of being a reliable sporting partner.

Fuck me, they need to give up with these Undertaker comebacks.

Edited my previous post a bit, which partially answers your question. Couldn't go back to what? No VAR? We easily could. Alternatively a competitor association might come along one day, though a different game altogether feels more likely. Extrapolating things out over decades and decades, I can see association football becoming an increasingly niche, boutique sport which is increasingly dependent on old legacy customers spending ever larger amounts of their disposable income on it. Like modern professional wrestling. Think back to the Spurs-Chelsea match - what on earth would a 9 year old think of that? Over time they'll switch off.

I think that's his point. Something that didn't used to be the end of the world is now catastrophised in the stressed out pursuit of an unobtainable perfection. And yet before this, when it "didn't function well", football had spent 150 years rising from an intra-village bun fight into the most popular, financially valuable sport in the world. On the current trajectory, there will never be a moment where the game's major players say "that's enough accuracy thanks - big money's riding on this game but it doesn't really matter".

I think there's a possibility that some of the injuries will be down to him and the style he has the players play. Not all players will be physically up to it, maybe including top ones like Isak. BUT I'd say that's about cost-benefit analysis i.e. would players like Almiron have us anywhere near top 4 without it this approach? Uninjured and solid midtable isn't an improvement. So for the next couple of seasons it's about getting the most out of the players we have, and frequently that will involve having players who are not both incredibly talented and super athletes. You only get a full squad of those when you're at the tippy top level for a long period of time.

In my heart of hearts, I don't really take this talk too seriously. But it's why I think any sign of dissent is very significant and we need to be as overt and consistent in our support as possible. It's as though some people have no idea how quickly the wheels can come off.

That's the key, unfortunately. It's a cultural problem. People are actually asking for the game to be like this, whether they realise it or not.