Memphis

Listened to almost the entire podcast and wow, Howe comes across as an insanely driven, hyper-professional, super-detailed leader. You can begin to understand why he's had the effect he has on our club when you listen to him. He focuses on the positive aspects of players, gets to know them personally, gets them to invest in each other and truly care, and is a wonderful technical coach on top of that. He could stand to work a little less, I'm sure, for his family life but he doesn't seem to mind a skewed work/home balance. It was a tremendous listen. We could not ask for a better person to be our manager.

So far we have shown most of our interest in two major categories of player: 1. Early 20s, potentially world class but already excellent players playing for good clubs, and who are on manageable wages -- Bruno, Botman, Isak 2. Teenage prospects who we rate as potentially top players - Kuol, the three Brazilian teens, the mackem teen Obviously we signed Burn, Wood, Targett and Trippier in opposition to those trends but Wood/Burn/Targett were needs must signings and Trippier a statement/culture changing one. That first window was a desperate situation but thankfully I think we're past that point now. We spent over half our total on the category 1 players. We identified them very specifically, sought them out, waited patiently and then struck. Our interest in these players isn't always well-known publicly but when they're available, we act quickly. The category 2 players are not as time-sensitive but we do need to get them on board as soon as possible to start acclimating them to our team culture. All of that is to say, it would be very much like us for a player like Moussa Diaby to end up here in January. Maddison too, although at 25 he's maybe a tad older than our norm. Edson Alvarez? Any other type of rumour I tend to dismiss out of hand. We have a specific type and we don't tend to deviate much from it. So no one over 26-27, no one on huge wages, no one who won't immediately push to be a first team member.

It's interesting to watch opponents now laser-focused on limiting the supply to him. Buendía was glued to his hip for the majority of the match, and he often had to deal with two or three players as soon as he touched the ball. But that attention has opened up space and opportunities for Almirón and Trippier on the right - and even the likes of Murphy too. His presence is so important, he just commands attention, and even under duress he's able to advance the ball or make the right pass. And if he gets space, he will always pick a dangerous pass - or strike. Honestly the best overall player we've had in decades, and he's got a chance if he stays long enough to be the best ever.

This man is something special. Wouldn't trade him for anyone else.

Back to Angelo Gabriel - he's 17 and already top 2 or 3 (according to Wyscout data) in the Brasilian top league in dribbles, progressive passes, through balls, smart passes, basically all the stuff we need from our attacking players. He's obviously raw but already making huge impacts in league matches against much more experienced players, and he's part of the national team U20 setup. He looks like he's got all the makings of a future star. The kind of player we need to snap up and mold in our image

We have a number of players who can play as a 6 in a pinch but none for whom that's their best position. Even Bruno is best as an 8 but he plays incredibly as a 6. Howe's system demands everyone press and harry but it does mean that we are probably less capable of changing tactics. A top-class 6 unlocks Bruno at his absolute best, unlocks more running into channels, and gives us even more ability to maintain control of matches via the midfield. It's not a necessity per se but I think it would be a position worth targeting. Edson Alvarez would be perfect. Not sure we can get him.

Perfect win. Disgusting match save for the last 15 minutes of the first half. Nullified Everton completely. Looked bereft of energy but still had much more than Everton did. These are wins of character and mental strength. We are a tremendously tough team. Don't know how much longer we can work this hard with a squad this thin but long may it continue.

Don't see how anyone could fault him for what he's said. I appreciate his honesty. Obviously if Real Madrid are talking to you, you're going to listen. But he has made it very clear, and it seems very genuine to me, how much he's invested in the club and the entire project, and how meaningful being here and being beloved is to him and his family. I can't see him leaving too soon but eventually, if he continues at this level, there will be a massive offer for him from Real Madrid or some such. That's just the reality of it. But I'm going to enjoy him for every second I can. He is a majestic player.

This has been coming. 5-1 and 4-1 scorelines don't flatter us one bit. The fitness levels are so incredible compared to any previous manager. Everyone is so, so energetic. Players like Almirón, Murphy, Longstaff who at times were written off now all look like they can play a part.in a good side. Brilliant coaching. Our mentality is special.

Absolutely insane that we signed this man in the position we were in 10 months ago. And that he chose to come without an escape clause. What a man. What a beautiful man.

I worked in media for a long time here in the US and had to do loads of press conferences, and you're right - the questions are generally stupid. Most managers understand that their job is to communicate with the fans and the outside population and so they'll grab on to whatever sliver of an actual querstion exists, expand upon it for the purposes of a quote, and that's that. That's why you have so many "how important is it for you to ________________" or "how big is it for PLAYER X to get on the scoresheet" or some other obvious question. In a normal setting, the answer would be, "Are you stupid? What kind of dumbass question is that?" But because the journalists don't want to (or have been asked not to) ask seriously probing questions, and they know that the manager or player are very unlikely to give a legitimate answer, they ask something that fits within the framework of a piece they've already pre-written, in many cases. Might as well say "just talk about MIguel Almiron for a bit, I'm writing something about him and I need something from the manager, thanks" I would always try to save my actual questions for situations in which I could speak individually to the coach or player, if at all possible, because I didn't want anyone else to know what I was working on, nor did I want them to get the quote I deserved. Many times that's impossible, so you do the best you can. I love Howe in these press conferences, he's an expert at saying actual things while not saying anything that would be problematic for his team. That is very difficult to consistently achieve. He knows the aims of the press, he tries to give them interesting quotes, but he's not going to do their jobs for them by creating a headline.

I can tell you over here 'pantsed' is definitely a term...it literally means to pull someone's trousers (and pants possibly) down forcibly to embarrass them but it also means to demolish/embarrass an opponent as well. Anyway yes let's sign Tielemans please thank you

It's fun to speculate but at the end of the day it's most likely that any deal or deals will emerge, mostly fully formed, out of nowhere. Just like the Isak deal did. Had been in the works for a while and then was rekindled in 48 hours without any media reporting. Pretty exciting, honestly.

Hardly seems real. We signed Alexander Isak. He's Newcastle's number 14. He wanted to come because of the way we play football and our ambition to win things and grow as a club. Doesn't make sense. What a beautiful moment.

Seems to me that Edwards tries to overstep his actual information. He may well be reliably told that we're not going to bid for Joao Pedro any more, fine, but then to extend that to assume that our spending is done is pure speculation. Especially after seeing the last 48 hours. Just as he did with the budget info and with the takeover info. A grain of truth he's trying to then stretch into a full meal, using couched language like "it appears" or "should be" or "seems like" so there's an out in case he's wrong.

Similar to Bruno in the sense that this was probably a next season move in the minds of the owners/Howe, but they have had the plan changed by Wilson's injury. It was a bit risky to go into the season with Wilson as the main man, but perhaps the owners wanted to be sure there was nothing left in the Chris Wood investment. They can have no doubts that we need to get much better there now, and I suspect they pushed the plans forward quickly as a result.

This Twitter thread on our pressing vs Manchester City is hugely impressive and shows just how brave and well-drilled we were in the press and how it unnerved City to unusual levels. Howe is doing a truly excellent job.

There's a lot of semantics to all of this nonsense. Remember the motivations of everyone involved as you look through transfer stories. Romano is a international transfer specialist, that's what he does, he has developed connections for years with agents and players who want to get their story out. Clubs certainly don't always want that information out quickly - or at all. Local/regional journalists get most of their information from club sources, who have their own motivations not to reveal certain bits of information. Often those two things clash and you end up with this type of situation, where both Romano and Edwards could technically be right. That's the risk of reporting on things in progress. The likeliest thing to me is that there is a framework of a roughly 30m deal agreed with Watford but they're pushing us to include more of it guaranteed rather than as add-ons. It seems likely the deal is going to be done soon but this pissing contest amongst journalists makes the whole thing tiresome.

Also - City had won 30 and drawn 1 of their last 31 Premier League matches when scoring first. No mean feat for us to hold them.

That was a magnificent performance. We played with such belief, such confidence, such effort. Obviously some of the players could have done a few things better and all but my God they gave every ounce of effort and played with no shortage of quality.

I cannot believe how well we responded. We carried such a threat and truly had belief. We play with enormous character and enormous teamwork. Whatever happens from here this is a proof of concept that we are moving in the right direction.

This is incredible. Incredible.

This ASM is a £80m player.

This is inspiring stuff from us. Whatever happens from here we are proving we can boss the game against the best in the world. What a response. Team has unbelievable character.

Seems to me like, as hard as it is, patience is really important. As urgent as it seems for us on the outside, it appears that the club is pretty satisfied with the current direction and is unwilling to spend more than their valuation to change that. And I can't really see any reason to doubt their judgment at this stage; they've gotten us back on solid footing and are building a long-term project. We've got 4 points out of 6 to start the season, unlikely to pick up any in 2 of the next 3 PL matches, I can see how the ownership group would be more than willing to wait until the very end of the window to try to get the deals they want. We're unaccustomed to having professionals doing their jobs around here so I think all of us assume the very worst when things don't progress as expected. In this case, I dunno, I'm not concerned; I think we'll continue to progress as a club and as a squad and I expect us to do more business as we approach the end of the window and teams become more desperate to sell.