TRon

Mate it was Sunderland. Getting done twice in the derby matters to people who have grown up with the rivalry. It's not always easy to keep emotions in check.

Staveley was a great ambassador for the club, but ultimately she was about the sales pitch. She would have sold us as a great investment project to PIF, and that has been realised since they will more than double their outlay if they sell up. She would also have known fine well that we have no realistic route to being Number 1 but which owner doesn't want to sell that vision? Truth is, it is almost impossible, but if PIF can't do it, what are the chances anyone else will?

We've had Tonali and Bruno available most of the season, and we bought in Ramsey as cover as well. Joelinton is considered a key midfielder and Miley has done brilliantly when called on, although he's been out injured for a while now. We have the numbers, if they are struggling to control the ball then you have to question whether they are fit for purpose, or maybe we are just playing a game which means they get compressed too easily.

That sounds good but in reality you need the best players to win matches, not owners in the stands.

Obviously I don't want to lose Bruno, but I do think Miley is the obvious long term replacement.

You can be as patient and strategic as you like, unless you can buy the best players and pay the best wages, you will remain outside of the elite unless somehow every cartel club gets everything wrong and you get everything right.

Fair enough really, he's probably only got one big contract left in his career, he'll want to make sure it's a good one.

What could a new owner do any different?

Not that surprising since there are no roadblocks to the elite divisions in other sports.

Also seems we don't have much movement through the centre of the pitch, we always try to funnel everything wide. Then inevitably we get done by a central play ourselves when the opposition just slide one right through the middle while our players are caught out of position.

They are shite. We just spent a lot of money to build a side that's not demonstrably better.

I remember people saying this after we'd played 7 games of the season. Now we have people saying it when we have 7 games left. I think we'd have to win just about all of them to recover this campaign but we can always live in hope.

Thing is it's been going on all season. If we have analysed it, seems either we haven't come up with an answer, or the players are just too thick/lazy to implement it.

He was getting tossed around by Brobbey in the first half, but he still just about kept him in check.

It will be a big decision on whether to give him a new contract. For all he's been fantastic for us, he's past his peak now and there must be question marks on his physical ability to keep pace at the top level going into next season.

Tbh he's backed up his words with actions. He's been one of our best players this season IMO, and he's turned up in the big games for the most part. It's too many others who have wilted.

He'll get next season but it will be interesting to see if he has as much say over the transfers in/out.

We bought 6 players into the squad last summer specifically so we would be able to manage the packed schedule. Even with Bruno and Joelinton out we were able to put out a side which cost a shitload more than Sunderland's. But we still lost...again. We can't keep blaming our tiny squad like we did a couple of seasons ago. We've just bought badly, we spent a load of money on poor players ultimately.

We are fans, we aren't paid to know the answers. But the club have hired people who's job is exactly that. That's not an argument for or against Howe either. It might well be that they have full faith in Howe and have no intention whatsoever of looking elsewhere, and I believe that's probably the more likely tbh. But at the same time, they will need to see that he's moving us forward and looks like he can get back on track next season. They will want to see a coherent style which is workable when we have European commitments as well. They will also want a manager who will go along with signings made by the DOF who will also presumably by buying players for the NUFC of the future, whoever is in charge.

Well that's the thing, a manager should be getting the players who suit his system. So how did we manage to fuck things up so royally in the summer?

I've just not seen that much from Howe to suggest that would be the direction he would go, i.e. possession based and with less focus on a high press and intensity.

If Howe stays another season I would be very surprised if he has as much say in our future targets given what happened last summer. He'll get the final sign off obviously, but it will be Wilson's job to identify the players.

I'm not sure about that any more. I have no doubt he could get better results with better players, but I think he hasn't really worked out a method which suits the players we do have. I don't know if he would be that successful at Man U with your players if he was going 433 and going full intensity over 90 mins every game of the season.

To be clear I don't hold that against him. He's one of our better players and I've not been one of those who has gone in on him like many have on here. I think he's one of our few players who have the big game mentality and shows up and that shows in his willingness to step up and take penalties just as one example.