Memphis

FUCKING HOLY FUCK YOU BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL MAN

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Howe is such a perfect fit for us. His steadiness and understatement is vital to our success imo. What has impressed me most is his willingness - more accurately, his determination - to make himself better as a manager every single day. I don't think there are very many managers out there, and I would include some of the biggest names in this group, who are constantly improving themselves year on year. His attention to detail is second to none, and that is most notable in his own improvement. He was considered merely an offensive-minded coach when he arrived, within a year he was marshaling one of the meanest defensive units in the Premier League. He's improved our set pieces dramatically, he's improved our ability to control games and play from ahead. And just look at the difference between our cup final performances in 2023 and this year. Overcoming the psychological hurdle of our drought was remarkable. He's navigated a very difficult stretch without significant first team investment and with a massive overhaul behind the scenes - and changed our captain, in a move that was pretty ballsy - while never wavering publicly and never blaming anyone or anything for our trouble. He has a real air of authority without being a pompous prick. He's led the club with such class and dignity; I'm always appreciative of how well he speaks and how he's able to communicate effectively. I'm not going to compare him to Sir Bobby or Keegan because those two are emotionally connected in their own special ways. But for me, I've never been more confident about our future under anyone else than I am with Howe.

https://streamable.com/1f3mc7 Was hoping I could embed this clip but oh well. I cut this from the EFL behind the scenes video. Incredible moment. Short but so worth a watch and if anyone can figure out how to embed it, that'd be even better.

What the fuck happened to him today - that was an incredible performance!

Started sobbing at the final whistle out of nowhere. Can’t believe it. We absolutely dominated them start to finish. One of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. We won a cup. We finally won something. Every one of them a hero.

The reaction to this from some people is a bit bizarre to me. We know nothing official, so all of this is largely speculation, but we have a seemingly very bright and well-regarded commercial team now who will have consulted with some of the finest architectural firms in the world so I’m going to guess that they have a very solid rationale for whatever capacity choice they make. The specific design itself is going to make some people angry, whatever it is. Architecture is a subjective art. I’m more concerned with how they’re going to preserve and enhance the atmosphere and fan experience. Whatever the exterior is, there are huge decisions about the interior seating - placement, angle, proximity to the pitch, etc - that they’ve got to get right or risk losing atmosphere.

We've been OK over the last 20 minutes but to me, it just seems that Liverpool have taken themselves down a few levels rather than us elevating our game. They seem very content to expel minimal energy to get through this match and we look similar. I think they've got many levels more to find whereas I'm not so sure we have much more to offer tonight.

Feels like we've lulled them into not really giving a shit. Rope a dope.

Our older players all seem to have aged 5 years in the last month. Pope, Wilson, Schar, Burn all way off it.

Normally I don't mind these TNT commentators but they're annoying the piss out of me tonight. Wanking themselves raw each and every time Liverpool do anything remotely decent.

A drop off of unbelievable proportions. We surely cannot keep playing him.

Pope stamping his mark on the action already

What the fuck happened to Pope?? Didn't he used to be a decent keeper?

Now THIS is the Paul Mitchell I know

This interview on Sky is brilliant. He's such a great talker and you can see how calm he is and how much sense he makes.

Said it in the match thread but absolutely spot fucking on from Eddie. He's just perfect for us. I get annoyed with a few of his decisions here and there but he fucking showed me and everyone else again just how good he is. Players love playing for him and improve under him, he understands our club and his even-keeled nature helps so much when we can get a little manic as a club and a fanbase. I love the man.

What a fucking performance over the two legs. Absolutely awesome. Howe got it fucking spot fucking on.

Amazing highlight reel of his time here

I think that's fair but it's a distinction without a difference. We're only capable of truly improving our squad by signing players of a pretty high level, and they're always going to be unavailable or too expensive for our lack of "headroom" in January imo.

Feels like a lot of people are just living in a state of denial about how the PSR situation is unfolding. It's definitely frustrating and it's completely anti-competitive but the irritation has to remain with the Premier League for this asinine set of rules designed to keep the top teams at the top. Throw all the vitriol their way, they deserve all of it. The truth is that there doesn't really exist a viable incoming transfer that can be done within our severely restricted set of circumstances. I can only assume Howe will have known all of that and will have to accept it in the short term. If not, there is a bigger communication issue than we know. The only way forward is to continue making incremental progress in squad building until we are able to have a major increase in revenues - new stadium, perhaps - or until there are needed changes in PSR. I hope it's the latter but it's probably going to be the former. We can complain all we want but the reality is what it is.

Phenomenal bit of business by itself but within the larger context of keeping a level of competitive squad depth it's concerning. I suppose you have to do a deal like this if it presents itself. Feels like we're missing a few chapters of the book though. Hope we start to see them soon. As of now it's all a bit irritating to see outgoings and no incomings.

Just seemed like the nicest guy in the world. Sweetheart of a fella. Respected his effort and his commitment a great deal and he had some very very special moments. If we have grown past the need for him as a club, it's in part because of the work he put in. Gracias y vaya con dios Miggy.

Whatever any of our strikers in the past have done, Isak could have done as well or better. That’s not meant to disrespect any of them. If you replace any of our previous forwards with Isak, our record either stays the same or improves imo. He is the best.

Played a first time ball deep in our half when we were under pressure that was world class. Ball came to him so quickly and he just tapped it out wide while surrounded by three players like it was nothing. He's so good man