Minhosa

Definitely his best game for us imho. Deserves credit today.

Nice of him to turn up today. If he could just confirm which other 3-4 games he'll fancy then that would be just dandy.

Yeah. He will be though, sadly.

Or a straight red meaning he'll miss the derby.

Jokers

No question, this is a must win.

Gave your son his special helmet and you still like him, eh?

If (and it's a big if) we get rid of Schteve, he'll bring Harry Redknapp in on a short term contract in a last ditch attempt to galvanise our feckless squad.

We lose against them and we're done for.

Sad news. RIP.

Gameweek 9 Spurs 2-3 Liverpool Chelsea 3-1 Aston Villa Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham Everton 1-2 Man Utd Man City 2-0 Bournemouth Southampton 2-1 Leicester West Brom 1-1 Sunderland Watford 1-2 Arsenal Newcastle 1-2 Norwich Swansea 3-0 Stoke

Can't believe West Ham didn't know about this extended pre-season and made all of that effort to beat Liverpool (a), Arsenal (a) and Man City (a). Losers!

Tend to agree that this is the decision for Ashley whether now or in the medium term. Ultimately, he'll be held to account for his spiel at the end of last season, and the only chance of delivering that is with a manager of gravitas, charisma and stature.

Fancy 1-2 for this.

Norway winning Kaiz.

Out of interest, what is the balloon payment, nowadays?

Mitrovic would stay.

Looking at the 'Do you want NUFC relegated?' thread there's much discussion about whether the 'R' word would lead to Ashley's departure. Self-made Billionaires, like him, don't recognise failure. It will not be a word in his vocabulary. He's only really known success and that's not a coincidence. So, the question as I see it, is what would MA define as a 'success' here at NUFC? I think there are only three responses to that; 1) To win something of meaning (obviously not the Championship). 2) To be universally popular within the fanbase (He'll have a massive ego and he'll want to think he's liked hence the original 'man of the people' act back in the day). 3) To sell the club at a significant profit to verify that billionaire 'acumen', to get the headlines of being one of the few owners to make a profit where others fail etc etc. The Sky interview at the end of last season (and I'd encourage you to watch it again with the benefit of hindsight) effectively covers 1 & 2 which, at this stage, are one and the same and hugely unlikely. To go with option 3, would be a recognition that the first two are not going to happen. After what appears to be another error (the appointment of SMc/the faith in Charnley) I just wonder how far off the final option he can be. He's never been shying of selling up brands/assets before. He buys and sells on a huge scale every day. You only have to look at the press to see how often he's investing in other businesses and causing unrest in many more. He'll not want to relive the experiences of last season with, effectively, tail wagging dog in the fans pressuring AP out and then turning to him. He really won't like that AND he'll see it coming this year. He didn't last year. When I think about it, the only times he's come out publically are when things have gone disastrously wrong (last seasons Sky interview after the Carver implosion) and the big tabloid article he did when we went down last time (Can't remember - was it the Mirror or Mail?) basically saying about threats etc etc. He's never been one for going public, as it were, and he's clearly uncomfortable in doing so. He'll know that if we have another bad month (hardly unthinkable) he's going to be put in that position again very soon and a Billionaire boxed into a corner is not going to be a pretty sight. I'm banking on some tremors soon and I wouldn't want to be Lee Charnley right now.

Kane looking very sharp tonight.

Agree with this. He clearly felt the pressure at the end of last season and that's without a full season's build up to it. If we don't start winning, and very soon, the winter of discontent will be very real and the volume will be deafening come the end of the season.

The fact that they won't even entertain the idea of sacking him is a major concern in itself. With Advocaat gone, Sherwood on the brink at least those clubs will enjoy some form of reaction/change. When you then look at the form of the newly promoted sides and the fact that we enjoy no leadership whatsoever then I just can't see how we don't end up one of the three worst teams in the league. The demise from Pardew leaving a squad in mid-table to the current malaise, especially after having spent money, is quite frankly staggering. The squad needs a total overhaul. I'd be giving SMc no more than the next three weeks to prove he can get results out of them before shipping him out completely for a man capable of generating a total change of culture. When the head coach is the only focal point of the club, he needs to be a big character with serious charisma and an ability to sell the club to not only potential players but also to the fans who want to believe again. Schteve will never be that imho.

Darlow is apparently still in plaster.

It's 'do you want?', not 'are we going to?' Ah. My mistake.

Actually surprised how close the vote is. When you look at the start we've had, the gaping gaps in the squad, the injuries, the constant shipping of goals and the fact we've only got one forward capable of playing in SMc's system then I think you can stick a fork in us. Edit - out of interest, what makes the 'No' voters think we can pick up 35 points over the rest of the season? Genuine question.