TRon

He makes some good points nonetheless though. We might not press every game these days but that's difficult to tell if it's because we are deliberately sitting back, or players are just physically incapable or unwilling to do it. We do look like we are either confused or transitioning between styles.

They'd borrow against the club lto fund it, like the Man U owners did. Is that what you are suggesting?

As far as the club are concerned, they are giving full backing to Howe and see him as their long term manager. That's great, and I think he should get another season to put things right, every manager can have a bad season. But I do wonder if it will affect recruitment and whether Howe will still have a major say in it. Because we are probably going to have to churn some of last summer's signings, and we really can't afford another bad transfer window.

Definitely. I just want to see us playing decent football again. Doesn't have to be breakneck seat of your pants stuff like we have got used to, just some composure and control would be great. I think that would give the team a lot more confidence than a solitary result. Although no denying, a win in a local derby would be a massive confidence booster for the players as well as the rest of the city.

Burn also looked exposed since he's come back in, and he's normally a very solid defender at CB. I think the lack of pace at RB and Joelinton not being there as the enforcer is hurting us badly defensively.

Emery didn't turn us down because the PSR stranglehold was looser at Villa, at the time Villa weren't even on the horizon. His team Villareal were in the Champions League quarter final so it was a lot to give up to come to a relegation threatened Newcastle. Even so the deal was done until we leaked it from our end and that put him in a difficult position at home in Spain.

Tbh, Wissa was the logical call as he fits Howe's formation far better than Woltemade. In theory anyway. Why it's not working is another matter. Wissa (rightly) got pelters for his performance, but the football we were playing all over the pitch was shocking. The ball wasn't even getting to the final third so he was feeding off scraps.

But that ceiling has been imposed by the ruling authorities. The point I was making is that he HAS had financial backing as much as the owners were allowed to provide it. Could they have provided a better framework with more expertise at the administrative level. I'm sure they could, but again, we have the same problems in that we are coming from further back ( I mentioned Lee Charneley as an example) and we also are competing for top recruitment talent with clubs with bigger pockets and far more experience and grounding.

This is on the money. Once we took a position we should have held it or we should never have taken it in the first place. Jamie Reuben didn't come out of that very well travelling to Isak's house to try to win him round only to be put firmly in his place. That was so weak.

There were figures of a net spend of £430m+ since Howe's been here. I get that we were a long way behind other clubs like Villa who have a net spend of something like £20m or less in that time but the point is, he HAS been supported. Perhaps you could argue he didn't have much expert help, but then if you are going to use the historical squad value as a comparison then look at what we had in place of a CEO back then as a counterpoint. Lee Charnley.

No doubt the pangs for Italian home life will be eased by the rolling hills of Salford.

I think this is what will happen. For all the suggestions he's had no support from the top, I think it's the opposite. He will get another go next season IMO, and get the chance to put things right. Hopefully Wilson will provide him with some younger legs - and crucially - he's brave enough to use them.

Man U ffs. Didn't take long for the rumours to reach sewer levels.

Would love to see a ref with the balls to actually stick by their own instincts and just give that.

If that was the right decision then we need more wrong ones.

Same here mate. That was glorious.

Dunno if it's just me but Semenyo looks a bit heavy footed.

They aren't playing against us.

This is turning into one of the worst seasons in a long time.

Well at least that's some consolation.

Been getting fed up with that all season. It used to be that it was just the defenders doing this, but now the midfielders are part of the problem, and Tonali is one of the worst despite him being the opposite in his first full season. What made it worse was Brentford were very quick to ping the ball quickly and release their forwards while we were still out of position.

But when you say he got given the wrong players you are already making an assumption that he had no input on the players who would be coming in. That's not been my impression, I doubt we bring anyone in who he doesn't want here.

He's part of the problem unfortunately. His head's in the right place, but his body is past it.

Managers will get critics wherever they go. If anything Newcastle fans are more forgiving and loyal than most. Howe won't get hounded out, I think Baldwards has still got a chip on his shoulder against fans who gave him shit after his support of the Ashley regime during the takeover process.

Wtf is he playing at?