TRon

They are the ones who are bolting for the exits because they have better teams bidding for them.

I have my reservations because I just don't see where we find a striker who will replace Isak, and I think we need that for a Howe team to work. But I can understand why we would want to go with what we know rather than take a risk on the unknown. We will have to downgrade our expectations next season though, unless we land some really stellar players out of the blue.

He's already on record as saying he's willing to work within the financial constraints the club now finds itself in. It will just depend on who ends up being the real boss in the recruitment scenario. Him or Ross Wilson.

Very similar to how replacing Isak was never going to be easy. Personally I think Howe's 4-3-3 is heavily reliant on having a top class forward with pace, and a great team ethic, so if Howe stays on, we are still going to have that problem next season. Genuine quality strikers of that type cost a fortune, and they are few and far between.

He's better than the average winger IMO. We've seen enough shite ones here to know that if we sell him, the chances of replacing him well could be really hit or miss. Top wide men cost a fortune for a reason.

What's even more telling is that even if we have spent more than PSR dictated, no one was happy with poor results, i.e. a DOF who clashed with Howe, or not having a competent DOF in the first place. Even if the club tries, if it does so in a clueless manner, who will give them credit for that? You need both at any level. Endeavour and competence. If you are missing one of those, whether at DOF or managerial level, you will come in for criticism.

He wants away, better to cash in now, at least we should be able to extract top dollar for him. I think it's going to be a season of rebuilding next time round anyway, can't see us challenging for CL with the current crop of players, and we tried buying proven players to challenge this time round and we blew it. The next stage will be painful but inevitable because of SCR.

That actually worries me more. It would mean that we are doubling down on Howe's football methods, and that Wilson is looking for players for a style that has run it's course.

Can't say I'm stoked about Howe pivoting to a new profile of player under Wilson with them already having a good relationship. I would love it to be the case, but I'm worried that Wilson won't be the one wearing the pants in that relationship, and Howe is ultimately going to do what he thinks is right regardless. Does a leopard ever really change it's spots? Howe is Howe, he's still going to manage in the same way, with the same methods. It will just be different players, and then I guess we will find out if it was really just about the players in the first place. I'm not convinced.

If Emery has a season like Howe's, which he's due according to your trajectory path, then he'll come in for plenty of criticism as well. I think Emery is a bit more flexible with his formations so might juggle his squad a bit better, but next season will be interesting for sure. I think a drop off is forgiveable but I think we've dropped off a cliff this season, that's what has caused real consternation. If you drop from 5th to 9th then it doesn't look so bad.

Think it's a fair price personally. He's a very effective player, still only 24 as well. We get to sell him at peak value instead of waiting until he becomes a depreciating asset, and I think he'll be a hit at Bayern.

No one wants to think Howe is shit though. Results are always what defines a manager at the end of the day. If you can't get them, then some good football would be a mitigating factor. When you've got neither, you're not left with much. When it goes on over a whole season then questions are going to be asked, it would happen anywhere doesn't matter what field of work.

I said this in the Tonali thread. You can criticise him for aspects of his play, but I thought he was pretty much running non-stop. But the tracking back from other players for their winner was atrocious.

Judging by the way some of them are stood around looking instead of defending, I'd say they have lost belief in what they are doing.

Same. I still rate him despite all his supposed flaws, I would much rather see him in Germany rather than lining up for Liverpool or Arsenal.

We were right to back Howe, but that doesn't mean Mitchell was wrong either. Howe has been a good manager, but our transfer policy was always going to catch up with us sooner or later. I think we have recognised that now hence talk of a change in direction.

I said this a couple of days ago, but I'm still seeing Mitchell blamed for the summer's transfer fiasco. His timing of leaving obviously left us in the lurch, but he clearly wasn't on the same page with Howe on transfer policy. Howe won that battle for the trust of the hierarchy, and here we are. That's not to say Mitchell was the answer either, he might truly have been a charlatan. But maybe he knew his job better than he was given credit for.

Really don't understand why this hasn't happened yet. Pope has been poor this season, but Ramsdale doesn't even seem to know where the posts are. He's all over the place in his goal, his movement seems to have nothing to do with where the ball is in play.

Don't get me wrong, he wouldn't be my favoured choice, I would prefer Fabregas or Iraola, but realistically I think those guys will get poached by the current elite clubs. When I suggested Glasner as a sensible option it's just that. He's won a couple of trophies, seems intelligent and ambitious. That's it.

Honestly my impression at the time was that Howe blanked Vlach purely because he was furious at the swap deal with Anderson. Which I don't blame him for tbh, but that came about because we had overspent our budget the previous 3 years. I might be way off the mark here of course, but it seems bizarre that he just refused to include him in the playing squad at all.

When Jacob Murphy is part of the leadership group it's not that surprising we don't show much fight on the pitch. Trippier still has it mind, but he's a few games from setting off to the sun somewhere.

The only redeeming factor for Woltemade would be if he could look any better in a different system. Not convinced myself, but would at least have liked to seen us give something like 4-4-2 a go.

Losing that many players is the easy part. Replacing them with similar quality not so much.

I don't really care about his arrogance tbh, it's part of what makes him dangerous in big games. He's a bit like Shearer in that respect, also helps with his pens IMO. Problem is, he doesn't want to be here, and that means I don't really see him as one of us any more. Just sell in the summer and get a good fee.

For us to be in Europe we'll need a top class striker with pace. Those are pretty hard to nail down.