Andy

We've won three games on the spin, it's no mystery why he's reluctant to change the spine of the team.

Makes sense to put a winger in for ASM rather than causing further upheaval by changing the midfield three.

Does seem poorly organised, like. The winds haven't exactly come as a surprise.

I don't think that's the case, like. Even without Trippier, the momentum we've already got takes a lot of pressure off the lads coming in.

He's shite in the box, but the rest of that post is way off the mark in my opinion, like. His breakup play is excellent and he rarely gives the ball away in midfield, usually passing the ball forward too. He probably won't be part of the long term future of the club, but he's been exactly what we've needed in recent months. He's canny far down the list of first team players I'd be looking to replace.

They've been listless, but our organisation (to this point) has been fantastic.

People said the same about Leeds and Everton. Similar to when Rafa was here and we frequently made teams look shit even without playing particularly well ourselves.

Howe's hesitancy to make tactical subs will end up costing him sooner or later like, our midfield have been non-existent this half, it's clear we need a switch.

Harsh as fuck that offside like major warning sign, would get Bruno on asap to get some structure back.

Bit of pressure taken off tomorrow, not sure if that's a good thing or not. I think we'll be okay now, like, injuries permitting. Over the last 10 games our form is 12th best in the league, and the level of improvement under Howe is only increasing by the match. Just can't see the three teams beneath us keeping pace.

People thought that about Matt Ritchie too, to be fair.

23 goals/assists in 48 starts isn't to be sniffed at, like. Max is still nowhere near that level of end product.

Thought he had another good game, desperate to see him hammer in one of these chances like, but fuck me, his composure is non existent He's getting into the right positions in the box from midfield more often than he was when he was up front though, funnily enough. I think he'll start chipping in a few once he bags his next one.

Fair play like, I thought he'd dropped a bollock tonight but it turns out I know fuck all

Needs a goal sharpish for his own confidence, he looks shot.

I get what you're saying, but one alternative is he starts him, he plays well and we don't get overran in midfield like we have in almost every other game this season. We don't have the time to slowly integrate players. Especially when it's physically impossible for him to play any worse than Willock and Longstaff have for most of this season.

First impressions are that it's a really poor decision from Howe that, like. The kind of thing you'd expect from Pardew or any other PFM. Don't agree with the "ballsy decision" take, it's the opposite IMO. Hopefully we'll eat our words.

The situation hasn't really drastically changed, like. Wilson was always realistically only going to be returning mid March, and probably only fully fit by April anyway, wasn't he? I get the frustration with the striker situation, but it's not like we just downed tools and didn't try to bring a striker in, it's just not particularly easy to convince clubs to sell their best strikers in Jan and it's even more difficult when most players also don't want to join a relegation scrap. People will point to the likes of Weghurst moving to Burnley, but I'm far from convinced that he's any better than Wood at this level.

It was an incredibly daft tweet from someone even moderately in the public eye like, essentially using a victim of sexual assault as a political weapon. Most of the tweets I've seen from our fans were related to that, not defending the Saudi virtues as you put it. Tarring all of our owners with the same brush wasn't a particularly smart move either, it's not like we're exclusively owned by Saudis.

Nothing against Hendrick tbh, he just should never have been signed. Can't remember ever thinking he was unprofessional or even lacked effort, the game just went around him due to his lack of ability and mobility. Think he'll do reasonably well with QPR and hopefully get a move there.

I've read some hyperbolic nonsense about Chris Wood over the last few weeks, but the current Diego Costa being a better option than him (who has a similar return in Brazil this season to Wood in the premier league, btw) is the worst take yet I think

There's no guarantee he will, like. Scoring goals in Holland and Germany is rarely a great indicator of how strikers will perform over here.

8 or 9 relative to previous years. Probably a 6 in terms of what we need in the circumstances. There was probably just too many holes that needed plugging unfortunately.

Don't get baited lads, be extremely surprised if anyone else came in at this stage. If players like zapata were available they'd already be here.

Frustrating. Not sure how to feel about the transfer window as a whole. 10/10 for effort, but we need a major overhaul of the recruitment team between now and the end of the season IMO. Too much time spent chasing clubs who didn't want to sell and players who didn't want to come.