Shak

So yeah, having given it up when Rafa left I hadn't seen this guy play til a week or so ago. Looks a good player, not sure what you lot have been on about the last few years

Real blast from the past type of thread this, kind of thing we used to love before our spirits were all battered to death.

A 7 or an 8 for me. Think it's a fair bit more likely that we'll go down than not but if the money is there for serious investment in January I think we have the manager and enough to work with in the squad already to give it a good go. Might not be enough but I expect us to still be fighting until the last few games. People voting 10, man. You're basically saying you think it's 100% impossible to stay up? Just miserable

Does feel like draws in Howe's two home games this far are possibly gonna be killer. I do think he'll turn the team into a decent unit who can play but we're massively behind the 8 ball already. We really could do with a couple of things going our way. A bit of luck would really be fucking nice right now.

Man you'd swear Clark gets sent off every time he plays and Fernandez is Baresi in his prime the way some people go on He's been very unlucky in that his two winnable games so far we've had Darlow and then Clark fuck us over by being shit and stupid. Could he have played other players instead of them? Sure, but the degree to which they've cost us by being in the team is incredibly harsh. Thought we did really well tonight, should have won it and probably would have done if not for Dubravka making s silly mistake, Norwich looked toothless.

Haha take that Krul you 80s looking shitcunt. Shite Pen. Get in.

Such poor situational awareness. He 100% knew it was a red card offense as he was doing it. How can you think getting sent off after 9 minutes is better for your team than giving the opposition a good chance. Wasn't even a sitter, just a one on one. Absolute moron, he shouldn't wear the shirt again.

First Darlow and then Clark. Really been punished mega harshly for being slow to make the right changes to the lineup.

Jesus, what sort of fucking moron does that?

Stuck with Premier Sports here, Damien Delaney reckons Howe will be hounded out by the fans before Christmas. God I forgot how much I hated dipshit football pundits... sometimes I'm not entirely sure getting back into football is wise

First goal was shocking from a PL keeper, kind of goal you'd see at youth level where the kid who's shite at football has been forced to be the keeper. Think a good keeper saves the third too tbh. Deflected shot so it's hard to say he "should" save it but it's at a good height and distance from him and not exactly a rocket, most PL keepers save that IMO.

Can only laugh

Can't get my head around people not choosing Shearer. Absolute fucking lunacy. Guy was one of the best players in the world in his prime and people are choosing dependable defenders and midfielders instead of him

Shearer Ferdinand Beardsley Might as well stay up in style.

I'm hoping hot air balloons will make a big comeback.

2 is definitely Souness. Think 4 is Roeder. The others I don't have any recollection of but 3 sounds like something Pardew would say. 1 I'll guess McClaren.

I remember when we signed him, there was definitely a player there. One that I'd hope Howe will get a lot out of.

Is it poor form to keep the head down for a year, wait until we've bought loads of good players and THEN start watching again?

I'm considering giving it a miss honestly, the mood in here is off-putting. Got to admire all of you lot who stayed watching under Bruce.

Was announced like ten minutes before your post, people are in the game thread losing their minds about it

Trying to get back into football is confusing as fuck, haven't seen us play in a couple of years. Why do we hate the team exactly?

We'll have to see.

One thing to be quite excited about is the fact that Emery clearly had decided to come here before he changed his mind. For a manager of his pedigree at a CL club to have been so close to willing to jump ship to our current squad and league position does indicate that there's gonna be a lot of investment and funds available for the new manager. Let's hope Howe makes the most of it. Any of the things I've seen or read make it very easy to root for the guy.

Will be quite positive if it's Howe. Young manager who has done some good things and looks like he has potential to grow. Should hopefully be able to make a quick impact which is important given our current plight. Important to remember that this doesn't necessarily have to be the manager that takes us to the CL and winning trophies. So much change needs to happen at the club before that's something we can realistically aim for, if he comes in and keeps us up and gets us looking like a team with some semblance of a plan while we rebuild the squad for a couple of years that'll be an important job done. Maybe he'll take a step forward as a manager at a club with more resources and become a top boss. If so, great. If not, that'll become evident in time and we'll hopefully be better able to attract a Ten Hag or Emery level manager by then.