TRon

I don't know how much truth there was in it, but there was talk that Emery felt Howe shouldn't have been mentioned in the same breath as him when we were interviewing for the manager's position after binning Big Steve Bruce. "Who is this Eddie Howe?" or words to that effect.

Forgot Diego Carlos signed for Villa with him being out injured for so long. They really did chase around after all our targets like.

Yep. Wilson is tried and tested season on season. Watkins is having a great season, but for all we know it's just a purple patch.

Has Enrique ever talked about Newcastle since he did a U-turn on coming here after the takeover? I didn't see any mention in yesterday's press conference or in today's touchline interview, whereas Howe spoke about how well it had worked out for him in both interviews. Publicly acknowledged what a great job Emery has done, where again I'm hearing nothing about Howe coming from the Villa manager.

Looking forward to seeing how they gel tbh. I know ASM will be a big miss, but also think Gordon can do really well coming in for him. It's great to have quality options when big players are missing.

I haven't for one minute laughed at this transfer, if anything the opposite. I'm just relieved we got a good chunk of our money back, we gambled heavily and it paid off. It hasn't for Forest though, and I do feel a bit sorry for them. It's all well and good spending desperately on a striker to hang your hat on, but to spend that much and he barely contributes before being ruled out for the rest of the season...hard not to have some sympathy tbh. But I'm glad it worked out for us so well. Hallelujah tbh.

This is the first time he's been asked to put his body through the wringer. Howe's football philosophopy is a lot more demanding on wear and tear for a footballer, it's not that surprising some players hold up better than others. ASM has always looked susceptible to muscle injuries. That said, if the coaching staff think he can be built up to a better level of resistance to these injuries, I'm sure they'd be happy to keep him rather than let him go for less than £30m.

Yep. Don't really see the point of comparing with Joelinton or ASM, Willock brings totally different qualities, just as they bring theirs.

Agree, it's a bit daft to suggest Madrid isn't a dream destination for any footballer wanting to reach the top. One of the most glamorous clubs in the world, a few bell end fans (which club doesn't have them?) isn't about to deter the best players in the world from going there.

Still pissed off that he had a perfectly good goal struck off, VAR really shouldn't be intervening unless it's a clear and obvious error, and that handball was very far from clear or obvious. Wish refs would stick to their guns more and tell VAR to get to fuck if there is no clear error. Apart from anything else, it was a classic Wilson finish, the type only real poachers sniff out.

It's because he has that laid back vibe and doesn't shout and bawl like Gordon Ramsay. We've seen posters on here say stuff along these lines, for some people facial expression is more important than actual output.

Feel a lot more sorry for Forest fans than I do for Chris Wood. He's done pretty well to have gotten moves to two fairly well rated Premier clubs when he's clearly championship level and an aging champ level player at that.

It's not great because it will probably lower his selling price down the line as well. Other clubs aren't daft, they will look at how many games he is missing through injury, and it seems to be more season on season.

We need Chelsea out as of yesterday just to confirm they won't eat up a CL spot in the unlikely event they win the competition. Viva Real!!

Just hope that robbery at Anfield doesn't come back to haunt us. If we go 2-0 up with Isak's legit second goal there is no way they come back and get even a point let alone three. Absolute travesty of a result.

Has anyone seen much of Manuel Ugarte as an option for the DM role? I saw some stats which looked outstanding, but of course that could depend on the standard of football he plays at.

Bruce was a shit manager, being 20 plus years in the game means nothing, it just means most owners don't really know that much about football. This is getting tedious now, by all means if you want to talk him up do it in the Steve Bruce thread, but to be doing it in a thread about Rafa is basically trolling.

Would love that signing just to see Everton fans go into meltdown over us pinching another one of their best players in the space of a calendar year.

Eddie was genuinely keen on him, pretty sure he said as much. Whether we still want him after being given the run around for two windows is doubtful though. Think we've moved on, but wouldn't be surprised if he still goes on to be a great signing for someone.

Not even sure how they are midtable tbh. Presumably they've got a couple of decent players on loan which is masking their general shitness.

Let it go man.

Since we walloped them last week, Man U seem to have shifted up a gear and seemed to be putting more men forward against Everton, they looked like they were a team on a mission. There again, might have helped they were playing a Dyche team where he was probably more defensive than others will be, especially considering they are fighting relegation.

Some absolutely baffling decisions made in the last month or so, I can only imagine it's in the hope of getting some new manager bounce, even if it's only a short term measure until the end of the season. Working out for Palace anyway, which is a shame since their owner is such a cunt.

Yeah I get there was some bad blood over the relegation gloating during that season, but before that I always considered Villa a traditional big club, one from the midlands which every region always needs. I'm surprised people are still carrying that over, but would imagine it's just a few 'nackers who take everything to heart.

If Howe has said that then he won't even be on the bench.