TRon

Same here.

The only one we are under any real pressure to sell is Tino because his contract is down to a couple of years left. Gordon and Tonali are tied down for longer, so the only way they leave is if they start kicking up a fuss.

I think that's reasonable. We just have to come to terms with being a selling club. That unfortunately is part of the growing pains.

His crossing is top class, not much argument there. It's just when he has to carry the ball more than 5 yards that he becomes a liability.

Out of interest, how do Italian fans rate him? I was keen to watch him play for Italy yesterday but had other commitments, but I would love to know if he is better on the ball for a side that plays more patiently. In England he's great at the closing down, but this season his own passing has gone astray when opposition teams have closed HIM down.

Just off the top of my head, Elanga, Wissa and Woltemade.

Does anyone think he would look better in a different system, or is it he just isn't cut out for English football?

It's what many have been saying for a while now. It's not that we have a bad style of play, it's just that it's not possible to play at that intensity for 90mins+ with two games a week. We tried to fix it by bolstering the squad, but Howe doesn't trust half the players he's brought in. I think it's only right to give Howe another crack at it next season, but I don't see him overhauling his playing philosophy, so it might look ok if we don't have Europe to contend with, but we'll just hit the same buffers again a year down the line. He needs to find a way of playing which is more sustainable and tires the opposition out instead of us. That's usually with possession football which is not our strength.

He's not, that's just a mischievous headline. He does say that he wouldn't have Woltemade playing 80m from goal though, and that's a fair point.

We lost Wissa for half the season, but tbh we were still placed within touching distance if he had come back in and performed. Elanga looks no better than his first appearance tbh. They have turned into car crash aquisitions.

I've never liked him, or his deliberately over the top opinions, but his actual breakdown of the problems are pretty much on the money. I respect the fact he's stuck to his guns from early on in the season as well instead of just jumping backwards and forwards depending on how the latest result has gone.

This is my biggest problem tbh. There's no way to play in Europe and operate at 90mph twice a week. Unless we evolve to a possession game, we will eternally be yo-yo-ing between good seasons and bad.

Well at least they've got the money. If they have made bad appointments, hopefully they'll keep at it and land on the right ones at some point.

We lost twice to our local rivals who's whole squad cost less than three of our players. I really don't know what excuse there can be which explains that away. You can't even call it a fluke.

Yep, and I would hope they still deliver a new training ground.

Do you think they are bullshitting?

Maybe they really believe they can bridge the gap by 2030. It's unlikely but not impossible. I don't really care tbh, until there's genuine reason to think they are just stringing everyone along, I would prefer to believe. As for other owners, where are they? No one put their money where their mouth was for 5 years when the club was up for sale. Nothing stopping them from doing so now either. Put a bid in for the club and see if PIF want out.

Well I'm not going to be wise after the event. At the time I thought we WERE getting guaranteed goals so I was fine with paying over the odds because I thought it would offset losing Isak. But how we have failed to get him into our team is a major failure, either on the recruitment front, or the way we are set up tactically. We can't blame his fitness any more because Howe has said he's fit.

It's another cup at the end of the day. Not like we have loads others on the shelf in the last half century.

We really just need to match whatever he would get elsewhere, assuming it's within our wage structure. I'm pretty sure he would stay if he gets that.

Would you rather they said they are happy to be number 7?

No real financial benefit either. Let's hope they follow through on their plans, but they have spent quite a lot of money just upgrading the current facilities...which let's face it, is probably all any other owner would do. if that.

I do agree with that tbh. I don't think some posters, or fans for that matter, appreciate that there aren't many investors around who will willingly put in a huge chunk of money from their own pocket. From what I understand PIF are willing to put up 50% of the cost of a new stadium. Yet fans moan why isn't it done already? Truth is, if we had different ownership, we probably would never even consider it because it's such a big project. Most would be happy to toodle along with the current ground and just put the prices up given we've no realistic chance of getting CL football on a regular basis.

We didn't try to outclass them. We weren't good enough to do that. Either the set up was wrong, or the players we have are just not that good.

It wasn't really a gamble, we were paying for what we thought were guaranteed goals. It was just bad scouting and poor research since he doesn't seem to have any of the qualities we require from a centre forward to fit our method.