TRon

Bruce was signed quite obviously in a blatant attempt to appeal to Geordie sentiments. That's why he's not similar. I actually preferred Ashley's initial preferences for his London pub mates in Kinnear, WiseLlambias and Pardew. At least then you knew who you were dealing with.

He's not up to the level required, but he does look like a fierce competitor, tomorrow's game might suit him, even off the bench. They need this win more than us, it might play in our favour. It's one of those games where a draw might be as good as a win all things considered.

Jesus Christ, I wanted them to survive, but they actually deserve to go down with that sort of decision making. Great for us though, I thought we were writing off the best part of £20m a couple months ago.

So a slimier version of Neil Warnock then. I think I'd prefer Neil Warnock every day of the week.

I think a big part of that was Bruno and Willock though. Both of them can work in tight spaces and transition the ball forward, I think we've become a bit more limited in both our pressing and releasing the ball early with them out.

Jess Marsch should have had enough faith in himself to take the job on a short term deal. If he's got any belief in his own abilities he should have backed himself to earn the longer contract anyway. Howe landed one of the best jobs in England because he didn't hesitate while dithering Unai flipped and flopped. Howe knew he had the credentials and he knew the job was right for him. There again, maybe Marsch just thinks Southampton is a shithole. Seemed like a decent opportunity to prove himself at this level to me.

Just came in to say the same thing. It's like the criticism of Haaland, you have to look at what sort of players they are, then work out if we are doing enough to get them in on goal. If they are not doing the business then, fair enough we can call them poor. If you want a big target man, buy Wout Weghorst. Our football's understandably dropped off a bit since losing Bruno, not to mention having a smaller squad means there is probably some tired legs out there.

His time as manager will always go down as one of the worst periods of supporting NUFC for me. When your only interest in watching games is to hope we get beat so we can be shot of him, it's about as bad as it gets. I'm not interested in hearing about results or league positions in some random season, the man was no sort of football manager, and an absolute cunt to boot. He was probably given the job based solely on those credentials.

On two fronts, the league and the final itself if they have to juggle players to avoid burnout.

I think it might be time to just lock this thread so we don't get posters gaslighting everyone just because it's a bit of a giggle. There's not really much else we need to say about Pardew anyway, he eventually got found out. Shit managers always do.

I already said that I was really concerned about us losing Bruno and Willock for the game against Liverpool. Everyone obviously ia going to miss Bruno, but Willock is also a key player in the press and transitions, people sometimes lose sight of that becasue his finishing is still patchy.

Schar is probably the only one who looks even remotely like scoring, and even then he gets nowhere near close usually. Shearer must have been nearly a head shorter than most of this lot but you could guarantee he would be in there powering a few in every season.

We can discount swampland so that rules out Wearside even qualifying as south.

That would be the ultimate rise from the ashes so going to agree, but a Miggy winner would be pretty special as well. Another player who has largely been regarded as a flop but who's having a tremendous season, and gives 100% game in game out.

We won a lot of points from Trippier set pieces last season, some of them he scored directly, not just great delivery for others. He must be due a goal or two soon, this game would be a great one to get it.

I voiced some concern about our lack of impact from set pieces earlier in the season and was told that we actually scored quite a lot of goals from them. Perhaps we do - or did - but the big lads are all pretty useless in the air from the corners. Lascelles was the only one who really attacked the ball with venom, the rest of them will jump, but the ball usually just skews off their heads into the stands.

They still have a lot of good players, and the worry is that they have won just in time to gain some confidence before playing us. I know we are better than Everton, but I'm not overconfident about this one, not with Bruno still missing, and now Willock as well. Just a bit too much disruption to our midfield at the wrong time.

Not just a beast, actually shows decent composure to bring the ball out of a minefield in the middle and release teammates which is crucial.

Didn't really see what decisions he could have made tbh, there wasn't much space, and he had no one to pass to in the penalty area.

That tiny ground with it's 11k capacity when he took over brought it home just what he achieved there. Incredible story tbh.

Everyone wasn't bad tbh. Joelinton and Gordon were both very decent.

Was great to see him getting such a fabulous ovation from the Bournemouth fans at the end of the game. Especially after the way he left considering all he had done for them.

Feels like those teams have more quality players to fall back on when it comes to rotation though. It's a bit worrying for me that as soon as Bruno is out of the picture our football suddenly starts dropping levels to an alarming degree. Some players look like they feel out of their depth when he's not there conducting.

He seems to be starting these sort of games a lot, where there's not much space for him to attack. He's not a target man, he needs to be played in.