Shak

Christ, I feel genuinely bad for you lads who have been watching football all your lives and think just coming out and going hell for leather at them in the second half with no subs was an option More good than bad to take from that IMO, we looked genuinely good on the break and had numerous chances to score. I know both our goals were absolute worldies but so were all of there's to undo us. Really can't wait until we have subs again.

You can't just substitute some words out and replace them with Isak and expect it to not be shite.

Aye, this is it basically Would be fine with wages having to be part of FFP rules but there's no good reason that clubs who have the resources to do so shouldn't have the option to put future wages in escrow if they choose to do so.

It's not really fair after what he's done for us but I do think he's going to come under pressure if we lose and look shite on Saturday. We can sit here and be reasonable all we want but a huge section of the fanbase is not going to take a loss to Sunderland well at all and the grumbling we're hearing now is going to morph into quite a few people turning on him and making the next few months less than comfortable. A huge part of the last two years has been the really positive vibe Howe has built around the club. Players seem like a great group of lads, we've been good to watch and competitive in every game... results have been good. This feels like the first time that's really started to turn a bit. We've lost 5 of our last 6 games and we've played like absolute shite in all of them. Yeah, there are mitigating circumstances. But they don't excuse just how bad the last month has been. It was always going to happen eventually, Howe's first mini crisis. Players don't look happy, fans are starting to grumble. The injury crisis seems to be getting worse rather than better. Desperately need a win on Saturday, I still think Eddie can manage this team to the top but the margins are fine and he needs to arrest this slide. Fast.

Last few minutes have been a good example of the gulf in quality on the ball between their players and the vast majority of ours. They work a beautiful goal in tight spaces to take advantage of an opportunity. One of our players blasts the ball aimlessly into the stands from a similar spot. Another falls over because he knows he can't take advantage of a good position.

We have a number of players who haven't got the technical ability and passing to keep the ball when pressed the way Liverpool are getting after us.

If we do sign Gallagher I'd honestly be pretty concerned about the long term vision for how we want to play. Actually think Gallagher is pretty decent but he's basically an upgrade on Longstaff but not as good as what we hope Tonali will be for us. I remember in summer there was talk that Howe wants a midfield of three players who are all all-rounders rather than players who fill different roles. While that all sounds very exciting and dynamic in theory I don't know how easy to implement it's going to be. Any examples of midfield threes who've operated like that?

Away to Brentford last year we went 4-2-3-1 after half time and Bruno and Joelinton absolutely bossed it and we turned that game around. I'm also not sure why Miley, who has consistently risen to every challenge that's come his way, is such a guarantee to fail as part of a two man midfield either. All seems pretty irrelevant anyway. The last month has shown us that Eddie isn't going away from 4-3-3 even in a crisis. If our whole squad gets and stays fit then we probably have enough on the wings to get by for the rest of the season but long term only Gordon and Barnes are good enough IMO, whereas in midfield I think we've plenty of players who are going to be here and play a lot in the coming seasons. I'd agree that the ideal signing for us would be someone who can play all across the front line, though.

See mine!

Miley looked well able to play in Bruno's position away to Dortmund and could play alongside him too. Joelinton has also played alongside Bruno in a two man midfield when we've gone 4-2-3-1 and looked good there. Think it's a bit bizarre to be focused on bringing in a backup option to our best player rather than trying to improve the weakest parts of the first team.

I think Gordon and Barnes rotating at LW is the plan for the future. Think that'll be quality too, frankly. RW is by far the weakest position in our strongest eleven. We've got two options there in Almiron and Murphy who are both decent backups for a top half team, we desperately need someone better. Raphinha or Olise would be my top options, though not sure either of those are realistic. But that type of player would add so much to us.

We've put in a couple of years of playing nice with FFP, would very much like for it to go away so we can compete on something of a level playing field with the top teams. Wouldn't like to see us go and do what Chelsea have done, simply because it seems unlikely to succeed. But we clearly needed a couple more players last summer and had we been able to bring them in our season would likely have looked a lot different so far.

Allegedly Tripper has gone off the rails and bummed several members of the first team squad. Between hurt feelings and damaged anuses there are likely to be some more absences in the upcoming games.

Smith Rowe would be an interesting one for me, think a creative player that can play as one of the CMs or as one of the wingers depending on the opposition/situation is something that would add so much to our team. Maddison and Szoboszlai both would have fit the bill so there seems an interest in adding a player of that description. The obvious concern is his injury record, we've shown with Tino we're willing to take punts on young players that are working their way back though.

At this point I'd actually really like to see us sign Phillips on loan just to see how our midfield looks with a more traditional DM sitting in front of the defense. Allow us to be a bit more aggressive pushing both our full backs forward in attack, no more of the whole Burn becoming a LCB when we're in possession thing. Also a chance to see how Bruno looks as a #8, operating further up the field. I have doubts about his athleticism for the role but also think there's the potential for him to give us some more ability on the ball in the final third so I'd really like to see it for a bit. If it all looks good then bring in a true DM in summer, be it Phillips or someone else. If not, Bruno goes back there to start next season.

We can also raise some decent money to offset FFP concerns by selling other players instead of our obvious best ones If we do look to sell, Almiron and Longstaff are the two that I'd probably be looking to try and move on. Almiron it feels like next summer will be our last chance to get money back for him. Longstaff is a bit tricky as he's useful for the homegrown rule in Europe... I feel like from a pure footballing perspective though Miley should be taking his spot in the team/squad. If we sign a new DM as has been rumoured, it leaves Longstaff quite far down the pecking order once Tonali is back too. Also could see us looking to move on one of Joelinton/Willock, unpopular as that would be. However, if it opens up opportunities to add players who can offer more in the final third, it may be a hit worth taking.

I'd 100% prioritise it and would be completely fine with playing the kids against Liverpool on Monday to be as ready as possible for the Sunderland game.

Delighted he's been left out so we can have a big lumbering donkey of a CB shoehorned into his position

He's massively out of form but because of the injury crisis we've basically had to persist with him and it's doing him no favours. Painful watching the guy with the ball at his feet, seems to do the absolute wrong thing almost every time. A few minutes before the Forest goal we had that attack with him and Tripps 2 on 1 against the fullback. The ball he played to Trippier forced Tripps to make a slide tackle to get some sort of cross in. Turned such a promising position into nowt. Same again with his chance before their goal, he just seems to have absolutely zero chemistry with any of our players. He'll get far too much flack over the coming months and it's sad because he's been great for us and seems a lovely lad who gives it all, I'm looking forward to him not being in the team though I must admit.

at people saying it was a poor penalty.

Feels like from Isak's reaction there must have been contact but it was hard to see. Does the defender stand on his foot, maybe? Fuck it, we'll take it

Aye but even then it will be two full weeks between City and the 4th round game.

Feels like this little run and how he adjusts his ideas going forward will be the making or breaking of him long term. I would hope that the last season and a half before this have built up enough credibility that our owners aren't considering doing anything stupid. This season has thrown so many challenges at him, barring a complete meltdown and him losing the dressing room in the second half of the season there should be no serious thought given to moving on from him. That said, this season has given him some serious issues to consider going forward. Firstly, he hasn't managed the squad well from a fitness perspective. Maybe it's just an epically unlucky run of freak injuries, but the most worrying thing for me has been that we've had a number of players either suffer setbacks on the way back from injury or get hurt again soon after returning to the first team. Eddie clearly demands a high intensity approach from his teams and I think it's very fair to wonder if he's demanding too much of them physically before they're ready. The last few weeks have also shown that once we can't play the relentless high press that we're a side very much devoid of ideas on the ball. Today was painful to watch, we kept the ball quite well but it's clear that we have very little idea what to do with it once we get to the final third. Does Eddie try to bring in players who maybe offer more in terms of craft on the ball, even if it means sacrificing some of the workrate? Or does he feel that with three or four more quality additions to the squad we'll be able to play the relentless style he likes every game and it won't matter? And if that's the plan, has he solved the fitness issues that have arisen from it this year? Those are the two main questions going forward for me, and it's OK to ask them. There is no perfect manager out there, nor a secret list of the good managers and bad ones that we're trying to find out which one he belongs on. Being a manager that can take a club where we want to go is a really big ask, and it's entirely possible that ultimately he won't be up to it. However, he's shown a lot of top level qualities in his time here and his drive to keep improving are incredibly evident. I really don't think he'll be sitting there wondering why things have gone badly the last month or so, he'll know full well why and will have ideas on how to fix them. And he deserves our backing every step of the way while he tries to do it.

This lad not starting today was mental like. Can't fucking believe Burn appears to still be first choice LB.