Yorkie

Last season:

Blows my mind that Arteta presumably doesn't annoy the living shite out of his players

Rafa

I think when a key player is departing, you're making concessions one way or another; it's never going to be perfect. In the Isak case we got an absolutely astronomical fee but at the cost of a damaging summer and everything associated with that. In the Gordon case we've got a nice early sale and an amicable departure, but at the cost of him being stood down for the last games (and maybe a bit of a lower fee than we could otherwise have achieved if he'd had an amazing WC). It's just a relief that we appear to have retained some genuine agency in the situation. That's where it's chalk and cheese with Isak.

Don't want to get into the habit of celebrating sales, but if this whole thing is anything to go by it would suggest we're running a much slicker operation compared to last summer. It really couldn't be more different to the Isak situation, though the key difference is probably in the character of the departing player. Gordon is a good lad who respects the club whereas Isak was apparently the opposite. Still, it's a brilliant sale so fair play to those on our side; a very good fee and a very good example of what can be achieved by new signings if things go well here. As for AG10 himself; wish him nowt but the best of luck for the rest of career. At NUFC there was a lot of good, a little bad, and a lot of in-between. Absolutely deserves his place in folklore as a member of that amazing squad who delivered Champions League football and silverware. Onwards and upwards. 🫡

Best ever season statistically and back in the England squad for the first time in six years. Please! Someone save poor Harvey from the evil Eddie Howe!

How did he get on in the Champions League that season? Can't remember. Decent showing in the cup?

Install Blocksite Block N-O Install AppLock Make Blocksite PIN access (Ask significant other to create PIN) Just waiting for my moment. Gonna see if I can stick it out until the World Cup. Bet I don't.

Single stripe on the socks is a bit shit mind. Otherwise the blue piping is growing on me too.

I'm a fan. Think those images have that same 'milky' filter from the Woltemade leak too, though. Would hope the black is actually black and not smoky grey.

When I'm feeling weary about the mood on this place, it's useful to get a reminder of the creatures who inhabit Twitter. Some absolutely staggering comments in response to that. Times like these I long for the days when I didn't give a shit.

I love Barnes and my baseline position is that I'd hate to see him sold. He's streaky but by and large I think he's always been wildly underrated given what he's contributed. Twenty years ago he's probably a legend - scores shitloads of goals and has provided absolutely loads of massive moments - but in this age where most fans see every second of every game, he's inconsistent and/or limited. However, I can definitely see the argument about selling well and if we're actually considering 'revolution rather than evolution' - selling all of Gordon, Barnes and Murphy would be a serious commitment to that approach. I'm up for revolution but hope we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. One thing's for sure is that it would be painful seeing him tear it up for Villa if they finished ahead of us again.

What do we reckon? Wum?

Very pleased with this. Hope he's one of the first names on the teamsheet next season. Dearly hope he can get past these continuous injuries, though.

Been a while since there's been a braindead slagging of 2023/24. Aka one of our best seasons outside the Keegan title challenger days, with literally the highest goals return we've ever produced in the Premier League. Not to mention it was another season where we overperformed relative to our competitors' budgets. If you want him out on the basis of this season, fair enough. But bringing that season's performance into it is risible.

Well yeah but that's Woltemade; a rookie who wasn't designed to be the replacement. I personally don't believe it's a fair criticism to say "yeah we sold Isak but Howe got it all wrong by signing Woltemade so he's reaping what he's sown." He's a project player. The replacement was Wissa. We spent an entire summer trying to buy a striker worthy of lacing Isak's boots but were blocked by the cartel clubs and the impacts of PSR. Miraculously, by the time Isak went, there was still a very good striker available who had an excellent track record at this level, and was desperate to come here (plus Woltemade). Wissa was too expensive but anyone who predicted this scale of a disaster is lying. Look back at the Brentford forum and he was a perfectly suitable replacement for Isak; a high-conversion workhorse with plenty left in the tank on account of his relatively low appearance numbers. The summer was a nightmare but I'll die on the hill that Eddie Howe didn't do a lot wrong. Elanga, fine. But the striker situation: we got absolutely fucked by Isak and the cartel, followed by some stinking luck that after finally getting a reprieve, the replacement got injured before stinking the place out. The impact of that on our season has been immense and personally I think it really tips the scales when you're assessing Howe's performance.

What's been said? That the Isak situation has had a huge impact on our season? How is that wrong? At what point did it become irrelevant? Tbf it's the combination of the Isak sale + his replacement being a disaster rather than solely Isak. There's been other contributing factors but deleting most of our goals has been pivotal, certainly. Everything goes back to that.

Who or what is this actually gotcha-ing?

It's even worse when all the draws are defeats too.

I think the whole premise of us improving thanks to the relaxed schedule was undermined by the defeat at Palace. I don't think any reasonable spectator would've expected us to suddenly be mint after the international break; we just needed to get the mini-season off to a good start. Instead we capitulated yet again and - if the following Bournemouth performance was anything to go by - the players had lost belief in us achieving anything this season. Against that context I think it was probably wishful thinking to assume things were ever going to get much better. Brighton/Forest/West Ham was pretty good but just far too little, too late. I was hopeful that things would change in the run-in too, and I think the theory was pretty valid given how farcical the schedule was prior to the break. But it hinged on us starting well but we started horribly.

I've no issue in confessing that it does do. I doubt I'm the only football fan who feels that way about certain people who've represented their club. And I'm saying this as someone who's open to change in the dugout (though ultimately pleased he's being given another chance).

I've been harping on about ending the season with positive vibes for the last four weeks, and I think the reaction after today sums up why. Last week was a good day for the club and, today, anything other than a miserable defeat would've sent us into the summer with nothing worse than weary relief that the season is over. However, they delivered an abject performance and one last morale-sapping defeat, thus re-sharpening the knives and denying us the ability to calmly just draw a line under it. Very disappointing and frustrating. I think the season is quite easy to sum up: it's been hugely disappointing with it's many lows far outstripping it's infrequent and unmemorable highs. There's been a conveyor belt of negativity ever since the Celtic friendly and it's been a season of consequences and knock-on effects. Losing Isak in the manner we did and Wissa being a complete disaster are the two things which I consider to be the biggest reasons for why the season has panned out the way it has. Bad goalkeepers comes next, plus we've had a shit-ton of injuries and a very unforgiving schedule. But most things stem from the striker situation imo. In terms of the manager's performance; I'm quite forgiving of him because I think he's had a difficult job this season, trying to withstand gutpunch after gutpunch. I certainly don't blame him for the way the summer panned out and there's only really Elanga where I'd really question his judgement. However, there's no getting away from the fact that, by and large, he's not helped us enough this season. If he'd paid for it with his job, I'd have been bitterly disappointed but I wouldn't have had too many complaints. All that said, on the 19th March, we'd just had brilliant back-to-back wins against Man Utd and Chelsea and were fantastic at home to Barcelona. We were six points from sixth and looking at the bracket to see a route to the Champions League final. At that point, you call it an imperfect season with a lot to do if we're going to achieve anything, but there was hope, and the mood was very good. The season turned on a dime that night in Barcelona, where the manager got it horribly wrong. It was a humbling, painful defeat, and the mackem game was hugely influenced by it. Suddenly the entire season is on the ropes. I think we might have rescued it if we'd won at Palace but we lost late again, and we were truly cooked from that point. From there it was basically damage limitation, with everyone to a man seemingly desperate for the season to end. This is where conclusions about the manager based on the run from Palace to Fulham are, imo, not really worth making. The season was full of near-fatal bullet holes after the Sunderland game; blood poring from it's torso. Mateta's 94th minute penalty was the headshot which finished us as any meaningful outfit this year. Which takes me back to the top; we've been playing for vibes for weeks now and sadly we've ended it with bad ones. 4/10

Disappointing and brutal season. Isak, 58 games, Wissa, terrible goalkeepers - plus a manager who couldn't find a solution. The result being a very mixed bag with some highs and a lot of painful lows. Personally won't put too much weight into anything that happened after the Nou Camp. Prior to then, everything was in our hands but that night was a wrecking ball to the season. He isn't going anywhere (rightly so, imo, though that's not a military-grade position), so all we can do is look forward to a reshuffle and a fresh start. Hopefully he can find his mojo again with a refreshed squad. Hopefully people won't be complete cunts about a man who has delivered more than we could've realistically dreamed of, just for having the gall to deliver a sub-par league performance. But I won't hold my breath.

Yet more wins than the team who finished 6th. Weird season.