Minhosa

I think we’ll beat Arsenal. I’ll opt for a minimum of 12 points from that. 1 game per week NUFC are an entirely different animal. The only caveat to that would be if the players check out on Howe or save themselves for the WC.

Having been pro-Howe and resolute in my defence of him throughout all the blips of this season, I'll be honest and say he lost a bit of me on Sunday. I'd also suggest he lost quite a few of the SJP faithful too. It was something I called back in early Feb (above). There is NO shame in losing to Barca or Man City. I expect it. I'm not that arsed. When these things happen, I can very quickly go about my normal routine and move forward. There is HUGE shame in losing to them tramps. I'm still fucking fuming with them all now. The Manager, coaches and players. It took me ages to get over the away derby defeat and I felt, at the time, that Howe and Co didn't get it. By the reaction then, they should have been in no doubt about its importance for the home derby. If they really were hurting after the away 'performance' they'd have fucking prioritised the home derby over everything else. And if they say they did prioritise it then that squad have a major mentality/heart problem. I don't give a fuck what the suits and bean counters want for NUFC, I don't give a shite about income from the CL, I want to beat those cunts every time we play them. That's what matters to me the most. I assume most match going fans felt the same, hence they didn't get booed off at Barca and they did after the derby. With the dust starting to settle (yet there hasn't been any subsiding of my fucking anger at the pricks) I find myself really torn on Howe now. Whatever happens, I feel firmly that he's earned the right to go on his own accord and his terms. I don't think you sack a manager who's delivered our first trophy in forever. I think you have a conversation, during which, he'd probably agree this year has been a clusterfuck. It can obviously be traced back to last summer where we spaffed a fortune on, mostly, dogshite and blew a huge opportunity to lose a world class individual but emerge a stronger, more robust squad, with an improvement in depth and quality everywhere else albeit probably a touch weaker up top. Not that the end of last season version of Isak would have taken that much replacing in all honesty. I've written before about the mitigation (in my mind, at least) for Eddie. There's tonnes of it. He's been badly let down by the clubs hierarchy pretty much throughout. Having said that, we can say with almost certainty, he'd have had at the very least final sign off on all of the deals done last summer. He's therefore got to assume responsibility for a lot of it. Bringing us to now, I'm now open to the idea of a change. On an entirely personal level, I don't give a shite about qualifying for the shite versions of Europe and I can't get excited about finishing 8th even if that is par. I feel badly let down after Sunday. Badly. I genuinely cannot wait for the season to be over. It's been a slog and I feel like I've been at SJP every fucking two minutes, mainly to be uninspired or let down. I'd also say, this feels like one of those years where we just haven't caught a break. Early on in the season, we started so well in playing Villa off the park but had no competent forward, to the first home game against Liverpool where we got robbed at the death having played so well. I also can't remember many refeering performances giving us the rub of the green either, though I'm sure someone will correct me on that. Whilst not excuses, I do feel the early 'upsets' set a tone for how the season has panned out and when you then add two/three games per week on top, it's just been a relentless slog of misery for the most part. Howe is an intelligent bloke. We endured a very tough league campaign the last time we were in the CL. This has felt worse imho. He simply cannot be happy with that given the budget he spent last summer. I can't say Howe has lost me completely but his massive credit levels have certainly declined and I just wish someone in his inner circle (Graeme Jones perhaps?) had told him to prioritise the derby because hes now getting shite from all angles and the one thing he does not deserve is abuse from dickheads like True Geordie and all these other social media/podcast mongs like Alex Hurst defaming his character or questioning his integrity. He's a bloody good bloke who might just feel it's time for a change anyway and, if he does, I wouldn't begrudge him it. I'd have liked to finish by saying I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed but thats just simply not true. I'm fuming with the bastards and still fully expect to see laughs, smiles and general joviality from all of the international players whilst we're all left to rue that fucking capitulation on Sunday for another fortnight. Get fucked man.

More pelters than he’s due? He’s our third highest signing of all time, he’s contributed nowt all season and the fans were still singing his name last night. He’s gotten off lightly tbh. He hasn’t shown the ability of a £5m signing to date. When he actually turns up and delivers consistently what a £55m winger should, he’ll then actually deserve the backing he’s had to date. Until then, he’ll continue to be judged by those of us on the isle of common sense and not the sunshine bus you’re driving…

Said exactly the same before the game KO’d. Crazy decision to play him there against them. He looked lost, dazed and confused the entire night. This experiment is not working.

Would want a big salary too. Big fat NO from me and very much hope it’s the media putting 2 and 2 together and getting 334.

We can’t just forget about the fee man. You continuously appeal for people to overlook the fee but that is just not how things work. He will ALWAYS be judged against the fee. People still talk about Schars fee 100 years after we signed him and he’s judged accordingly. Do you think he’d be held in such high esteem if we’d signed him for £80m? The fee is where expectations are set. It’s where you look at the market and compare him against his peers, signed for similar prices….. The price you pay for anything is the bar upon which you judge value. You simply cannot just say ‘let’s overlook the fee because he’ll probably never justify it’ man . What about would you need to see next season from him for you to be happy? What does good look like for a £55m winger, stats wise? We can all agree 25 PL games and one assist is bad. So, tell me, what’s good? What’s, bare minimum, acceptable in your view?

Define good.

Aye - 100% agree - wish the smelly cunts were still in L1 tbh.

I get very frustrated with Barnes generally tbh. He’s a centre forwards profile but playing out wide. He’s a super finisher but can’t beat a man, hasn’t got a trick and leaves Hall exposed more often than not. He's weak in the challenge too. When he’s scoring he’s effective but when he’s not he’s a passenger. I won’t pollute another thread with Elanga talk but he’s just as bad off the ball imho. Rarely ‘gets’ to a challenge, is slow as fuck to close people down and when he does he never has any intention of winning the ball. It’s performative defending imho. I take the point that he’s closer to Trippier in that he’s actually there but he’s only there as a body, his actual defensive contribution is generally shite.

Aye, we walked out with loads of people slagging him off and saying it’s time for a change. I love the bloke but, I’ll be honest, that away defeat at their place still hurts. I’m not sure how I’ll feel if we don’t turn them over at SJP. Whilst I’d not be calling for his head, it would take a lot of getting over for me. And it’s a big result for local fans. The ones he absolutely can’t afford to lose.

Very true. I just thought there were times, first half particularly, where Barnes could’ve dropped in and doubled up a bit more. Mind, that’s where I was sitting so I was perhaps a bit too close to it all to see the Wolte impact. The game completely passed Woltemade by in general terms though. We were lucky Bernardo Silva didn’t play as he’d have absolutely killed us with all the gaps in midfield.

To be fair, I thought Barnes did Hall no favours tonight in terms of protection. Savinho was a threat all night though.

Best NUFC LB of my lifetime. He’s fucking elite. Our best player along with Bruno.

Really putting your neck on the line with that prediction….

I’ve said it for ages, even in this thread I think, there’s no shame in losing to Man City, Barca or struggling in the league with such a hectic schedule and an awful window behind us, but the big issue for him is going to be the derby at home. Lose that and he’ll lose a large proportion of the home crowd which hasn’t happened under his reign. That might be the point of no return imho.

Oh aye, I’m delighted we wasted so much money on utter dross. Really made my year that. Never mind, I’m sure the useless cunt will contribute something at some point for you to continue to blindly support him. All aboard the good ship ‘Blind Optimism’, no need for eyes here and take your brains out when you board…. It’ll all be alright next year lads.

Am I allowed to mention the transfer fee yet Rawkie? Don’t worry about saving me a seat on the sunshine bus with the other Elanga happy clappers, I’m happy to walk, safe in the knowledge that he’s fucking shite.

The game just completely passes him by in midfield and he must have the least presence of anyone close to 7ft tall in history when he plays up front. Fuck only knows how you solve a problem like Woltemade but there doesn’t appear much light at the end of the tunnel for him.

Felt we got that badly wrong in the midfield selection. Gaps alllllll over the shop. Too many passengers tonight. Too many not good enough and it was fucking bizarre, after the positive start, that we scored and then sat off completely conceding the initiative. City were levels above us tonight but that’s not even a great city side. The summer bites us on the arse yet again. £170m down the drain.

Just don't mention the price............it went to 42mph the other day so STOP mentioning the fucking price!!!!!!!

Really interesting that. Blown my mind a bit tbh because I've always been frustrated with how long he takes to get the ball moving again when we're chasing a game or have the chance to break following an opposition set piece. I'd have guessed he'd have been much closer to the opposite end of the table tbh.

Calm down Gordon Gekko.

Archie Gray

I haven’t seen anything to suggest that yet tbh.