TRon

I think that was Eales who fell out with Stavely, then was too ill himself to pick up the slack.

Sounded pretty dead for a derby where we were playing for pride. Not sure if that was because Sky tend to mute the crowd noise, or if it was just actually quite flat in there.

Owners are usually pretty far removed, that's why you have football boards making decisions. Although I agree it's early stages to judge the new people in charge, we'll have a better idea after the summer.

I think it will depend on whether we have our ducks in order. If they are in long term contracts, then we can force them to honour their contracts, but whether Howe will want players who want to be elsewhere is something I doubt. We would obviously need big fees if they are contracted long term, but if we are ahead of it, we can recruit replacements before it gets critical.

All our good players will leave if they get headhunted by the top clubs. If they can get to compete in CL and double their wages, why would they stay?

Agree on him keeping his job by default tbh. It's not a good policy, but if you are going to shoot the King, you better not miss.

Same here. I don't think he can turn it round tbh, but he'll get another season just because the board will be reluctant to ditch a hero.

The two managers we targeted after sacking Bruce were Emery and Howe. Both have been very successful since, although the leadership at the top tier has changed since then so no idea how we would go about it now. I have no idea how much football knowledge we have in the boardroom tbh.

They are crap, but even before the game I knew we would struggle agains them because they don't lie down. We lack genuine quality so we couldn't beat them with that, and they have more fight and character so they will always win a battle.

I think the majority will tbh.

Difficult to see us transforming into a side which passes their way through games, when everything has been geared to high intensity football. He needs to ditch a lot of players and buy some who can implement that style effectively. Not tht easy tbh.

Said this for a while now. That's how we end up playing Woltemade in midfield, and we can't find a formation that will work where he plays as a striker...which is what we bought him for.

Looked like he did really well defensively when he came on. At least one last ditch tackle which prevented a goal.

Probably right he gets another season anyway. If he got sacked there'd always be a band of Howe fans who would hold it against the club forever.

I think a lot of the problems are the players we have just don't have much character, and I said this before the game. But his in game management is usually rank.

Well I never fancied us to win but I didn't think we'd be so shit we would hand them the win instead.

Except no one wanted to do it.

I don't know why we are even thinking about defeat. Fuck that it's not happening.

So it should be tbh. I can take a draw, they aren't that easy to beat, but I will not accept a loss on our own turf after losing the first leg at the SOS.

Woltemade in midfield in a Tyne-Wear derby

There's my biggest concern right there. I just don't feel enough of our lads have it. Hope they prove me wrong tomorrow like.

He should start, but I don't expect him to get much change against a low block. But then I think Wolt will get even less.

Points wise it's definitely possible. But we just don't have enough genuine quality up top to go on a winning streak IMO. I'm not even thinking about the defence, since I do think we have the players at the back if we can just cut out the mistakes.

When you get hammered 7-2 it does change. Not permanently of course, it's just one game. But if I see Juventus getting battered 7-2 I will think a bit less of them. But then next campaign they might beat Barcelona 2-1 and reputation restored.

That's a weird take. I was thinking about our standing among fans worldwide, not sponsors. It's fans that give clubs stature beyond their own borders. I don't enjoy us getting hammered 7-2 going global personally, but that doesn't mean I think it will collapse us as a club. We have built a pretty good reputation in Europe over the last few years, this is just a bad day.