TRon

Oh yeah, not much doubt on that. He's a guy who is strong as an ox, holds the ball up well, and can get into the penalty area for the odd goal as well. For £22m that's damn good value.

He had time to set himself and take aim. Usually you would curl those into the far corner but both shots were ballooned over the middle of the crossbar.

His finish for the opener was great, but those two he skied were criminal. He muffed them both in exactly the same way as well.

Yep. You can say what you like about him being let down by those above, but even if he had to take on more work than he should have, that at least allowed him to go for the players he really wanted. Most of them have turned out to be duds.

He's a handful but I'm not sure he's ever going to be a prolific goalscorer. But at least he does one job really well, and that's to hold the ball up. We've bought a striker who doesn't seem to be a striker, and another one who apparently has retired after getting his big move.

Tbf, if Howe's remit is coaching and and organising the football on the pitch, he's not going to have anyone above telling him how to set his team up, which I think you have acknowledged there with your last sentence. He'd walk before being told how to play football. I think results will improve now the pressure is off, and he'll get another season. But the same players who couldn't handle the big games this time round will wilt when the pressure returns next season.

They're not that decent technically either. But yeah they are cowards, I called it before the game as well so it's not hindsight.

Fans respond to performances tbf. If they can see the players are having a go, they will get behind them.

Said before the game that I would rather Pope had started. Not that Pope is pulling up any trees, but this lad is not made for top level football.

A lot of them have been replaced since Eales left, presumably because they were deemed to have done a poor job.

Ditto on all of those wading into the ocean. I'd still like to keep all of the big names mentioned, but if they are going, then just get big fees as possible. At least we can cash in while their value is premium.

I'm a big fan of Iraola but feels like one of the other big clubs will be in for him by next season. Spurs and Man U were the obvious choices but if Spurs go down, and Man U give Carrick the job permanently, he might still be an option.

Yep. They might be a shit team, but they set themselves up to make the most of their limited talent. They actually looked the more composed when they were approaching dangerous areas than we did as well.

We bought players with poor character in the summer IMO. Either that or we are just using them in a way which has them totally flummoxed.

I always got the impression that he wanted to choose his signings anyway, probably just needed someone else to do the negotiations and admin part of it.

It's one of the reasons I voted unhappy but willing to give him more time. I don't think he will turn it around tbh, but with there being no obvious candidates who we will get a free run at, I think he'll get another season by default. He needs better players to work with, but then he also needs to be able to make better use of the ones we've got. I think his tactics haven't worked this season and I'm not sure he's capable of doing anything different given another season of European football.

Great. That will leave us with the players who want to be here, but are shit.

Fair play if you can look ahead to next season mate. Feels like after two humiliations this season it's a step too far for me. Just wrap this one up asap and be done with it.

Or the first touch.

Honestly feel if he felt that he wasn't getting backed he would have walked away by now. I think that's what Mitchell did because he knew Howe had PIF's support and he didn't.

We have no one who can do much damage from a central midfield position either. When Willock comes on he's often in a good position to drive forward with the ball, but he will inevitably miss with the final pass or lose his footing when it matters.

Staveley left because we didn't manage PSR well and ended up getting shafted by Forest on the back of it with the Elliot/keeper deal. The CEO (Eales) was a poor appointment and he brought in a poor successor. That's on the board not the owners though, the owners are an international investment firm, they aren't going to be making these decisions. The board is, and I presume that's why a lot of them have been quietly moved on, because they dropped the ball with appointing a CEO. Howe was backed over Mitchell in the summer, he was then given the opportunity to bring in his choice of players in the summer and they have mostly failed. Maybe he shouldn't have been put in that position, but he was backed nonetheless.

That's the sign of a poorly run boardroom tbh. It looks like there's been a shake up at top level for that very reason.

The ownership have backed Howe to the hilt so far, so are you blaming them for that as well?

Aye. Fuck them tbh.