LionOfGosforth

Aye but Miggy is everything that's wrong with us atm

I see catlover and a couple of the other serial whingers have fucked off, strange that

Shut the fuck up and enjoy the game man

He's not a fan of Biffa Bacon anymore!

Bunch of cunts that Derby side as well, especially the mackem goblin and Tommy Johnson, Geordie my arse. Glad we exposed them the following season as the overpriced shite they were, being at the Baseball Ground to see us beat them was one of my favorite away days of that season.

Leeds have barely been in it as an attacking force but just went 1-0 up

Fuck FFP, hope this lad never leaves

This is the part I wonder about. Not the ploughing in of the money, no doubts about that. It's how do you go about replacing the gigantic hole in the squad? Bruno brings character, quality and personality, he makes the entire team tick really. He's a massive influence on Joelinton and others. How do you go about replacing this level of quality and class? You're talking 2-3 times what we paid for him in the first place probably (always assuming a player like this exists and can be persuaded to join us) and even then, no guarantees the new lad will bring what Bruno has brought to us. I want to fire FFP into the fucking sun.

I'm aware of all of that and I don't think i've ever stated that we can stop a player leaving if he wants to or that we won't be tested for our best players either. I may be of a more romantic ilk but i'm sick to the back teeth of reading about FFP, FMV and all the other esoteric shite that the modern game inflicts on us. Maybe just maybe, we have a player who has seen what is possible from ground zero, has seen the warmth him and his family have been receiving and isn't in a hurry to jump ship at the first sign of slight regression to play for a club and fanbase who won't treat him with the love we have. We have a sizeable squad, if we need to be pragmatic and trade to alleviate our financial position, yeah I get it. I don't think it HAS to be him and I really hope it isn't. That said, if it turns out he wants to leave, it stinks but there's not much we can do. I just wouldn't ever welcome it or think it's fine. Losing a key and proven player to reinvest in others that may not work out is an outcome nobody wants and could set us back a while. There's no guarantees players we replace will out-perform those that leave.

All true but none of those points make losing Bruno "good for all parties". What about NUFC? One, he hasn't indicated that he wants to leave yet, why manifest it in the first place? Two, you don't improve by getting rid of your best players. We tried it in the 80s with Waddle, Beardsley and Gazza and we were worse for it every time. Different times completely but i'm a firm believer you build around your best, not cash in on them. So unless one of the 3-4 clubs in the world who could afford him pay the RC, and he is banging on the exit door, we don't even have to discuss it. If and when that happens, and it might be this summer, then it's worth talking about but I don't see a good reason to go on about it when we have half a season to play and plenty of games to try and win. He came to us when we were rock bottom, he can stay through a few minor bumps in the road as we build towards the success that players like him deserve to enjoy with us, not playing for someone else.

Aye fair, though I highly doubt he'd be into going back to France.

How'd you work that one out like? We lose our best player, and he goes back to France to play for that circus. Sounds shite to me, not good for all parties.

Back when I was a kid and well before the very best players the world has to offer played in England, I thought Dalian Atkinson (RIP) was going to be special. Recall him scoring an outrageous hat-trick against Boro around 87 or 88 and the Toon were supposed to be buying him in 89. I was beside myself and then he went to Sheff Wed and later, Villa. With hindsight, he was a bit like Yeboah in that he flashed amazing talent briefly, but had a solid career anyway. Into the 90s, Gianluigi Lentini was fantastic but then got his world record move to Milan, crashed his Porsche and was never the same. What could have been, he was a wizard with the ball around 92. Also from that same era, Toto Schillaci lit up Italia 90' but had a pretty unremarkable career. Denilson one of the best comments i've seen, cost a fortune and did nowt. Alvaro Recoba maybe should have had a better career?

Exactly. Where this narrative of "turning things around" comes from I do not know. Turn around what? Rock-bottom to top 4 and still in the top 7 now. Poor form and results granted, especially away but now affecting our home fortress, the genesis of which is injuries and nuclear-level fatigue leading to low confidence and those poor results. I'll criticize him for a bit of naivety when it comes to the lack of rotation earlier which could be part of the overall shit recipe aye. Maybe he needs to evolve again but it's hard to judge without a full squad to work with. The bloke has worked tirelessly to create an amazing culture and a squad unity rarely seen at the club. Don't managers get to have blips and bumps in the road anymore?

He'll be the next one Man Utd or (more likely) Chelsea throw a fortune at to recruit before chewing him up, spitting him out and sacking him 9-12 months later. They love the latest toys. FWIW, he seems class and I hope he at least doesn't end up at either of those.

Maybe i'm being a bit too positive and optimistic but it's surprising to me that a few people seem to think the trajectory we're on will be linear and upwards only. Adversity is inevitable and will only make the growth and good times sweeter.

If there's one thing that i've seen from EH and I think it's one of his best qualities, it's that he learns from mistakes and rarely repeats them. Compare that to the mugs we've had managing us down the years. I think he realizes better than anyone that mistakes have been made, certain things came a bit early for us and we will learn and be better for it.

Rational and I appreciate it. I get as frustrated as anyone. Who the fuck enjoys losing to Luton? It's a bit shit at the moment but as the years have gone on, i've learned to rein it in a bit and not let sporting disappointment ruin my day. I was at Blackpool in 1987 and watched us lose to a Tony Cunningham goal when they were 3 divisions below us. I suppose i've learned to not let it get to me and see the wider picture most of the time. Howe, if i'm going to criticize him at all, could perhaps have rotated better and earlier but nobody has a crystal ball to see what's coming. I love the bloke but doesn't mean he's beyond criticism. I just think today was inevitable and all part of the learning curve we're on as a club.

Thought I did basically

Christ mate, howay. I didn't just say "they're tired". It's obvious that low energy and confidence begets poor performances and increasingly low confidence. It's a spiral and a very obvious mitigation point. Hoying your toys out the pram the split second a game has ended with a poor result, just illustrates too many are operating on emotion (understandable, we're all football fans and humans), rather than a clear thought process.

Watched most of it and simply don't agree they were "lazy". Out of energy, low on confidence and making poor decisions aye. Lazy? Not at all. Hard to look like you care when you can barely run. We're in a rut, definitely and it's not easy to see a way out until the fixture congestion eases and the injuries improve to the point players can actually recover and get the intensity and confidence back.

It wasn't good today, and the away form is poor but it doesn't take much critical thinking to see why it's like this. I've seen "woeful, clueless and pathetic" and "disgusting, lazy and a disgrace" hoyed around in here. Fuck me people, do you even think for a moment before posting

I doubt anyone thinks today has been good or owt but honestly, the gleeful negativity and utter fucking drivel being posted by some of the usuals as some kind of meaningful analysis, rather than just accepting the squad is out on it's feet is mind boggling like

Micey in here like

nufcnick ffs