KaKa

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

Didn't think Bellingham was all that good and took longer than normal on the ball, but that was one of those big player moments like.

Yeah, think Onana made things difficult for him. Thought he had a really good game defensively, covering the gaps just in front of the defence.

Good persistence by Jude to steal that one at the end though. Great mentality.

Really appreciate Doku's awareness to pick out a pass off the back of his runs. Really good performance.

What a ball from Romelu. My goodness.

23 minutes ago, lovejoy said:

Interesting read on Edwards and Hughes and their respective approaches.

 

Also interesting to read why Hughes was brought in to Bournemouth and how that affected Howe.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68654523

 

 

Looks like he has some serious contacts and connections in the game. Even close with Alonso's agent.

Liverpool look like they may have struck gold with both Edwards and Hughes joining them. Damn.

4 hours ago, mondonewc said:

Very interesting way you have of communicating with people, would suggest a slightly less arrogant approach rather than factually stating someone's opinion that differs to your own is plain wrong, but you do you!

 

Anyways... Yes, we could sign another unproven Striker who has potential, similar to what we did with Isak, I fully understand that, BUT, it's extremely unlikely they'll be remotely close to his level, as one of the best Strikers in the league.

 

Arsenal want a Striker, Chelsea want a Striker, possibly Man U want another Striker, to name just a few. It's my opinion, just an opinion, that we'll find it extremely difficult, bordering impossible, to replace Isak suitably, but sure we can gamble £80m on an unproven Striker when we are handcuffed already by FFP and hope it works out, it may well do so, but it's not an approach I'm a fan of and would do everything possible to avoid. 

It wasn't meant to be rude.

The point I was making is that all these things you are saying were still true back then when we got Isak.

Ultimately Bruno, Botman and Isak were all gambles that paid off. It's deemed a gamble from our side if the player isn't as well known or hasn't been as consistent as we would like, but ultimately that's where the recruitment and scouting comes in. Typically if their information and analysis is very good it tends to pay off.

Bruno, Isak, Botman, Gordon ... have all exceeded expectations, and so we seem to do a good job in that area.

If we stuck to proven commodities previously, that would have likely meant spending even more money and perhaps not getting players as good as who we did get. As an example, there was some talk of Calvert Lewin at the time we got Isak.

47 minutes ago, mondonewc said:

Well the discussion I'm having is who would be viable candidates to replace Isak should he be sold, and outside of Haaland, Isak is arguably the best Striker in the league right now with significantly higher potential, in my opinion. You're suggesting that there are hundreds of candidates on a database, albeit with risk, and I think that's a very questionable statement. I think suggesting it would be a risk to find a like for like replacement for Isak who's of similar ability with 100's of other players is inaccurate, I think that number is much, much lower for realistic targets who are even close to the level that he's at, and those who fit the bill will all be targets for bigger clubs than us, and that's the point of concern for me, thus my suggestion he's arguably irreplaceable. 

 

 

 

You're not getting it.

Were you saying all this about him when we went in for Isak?

According to your argument we should never have been able to sign him in the first place then.

1 hour ago, mondonewc said:

Can you give a few examples then of who we could sign that could replace Isak?

No, that's the recruitment teams job.

Sure, I could mention some strikers I like, but it will be easy for people to simply reply they are not good enough, as is the typical response. Isak was deemed an unreliable goal scorer and a big risk when we signed him for £60 million. It has since worked out very differently though.

30 minutes ago, Ikon said:

Bruno is easily a better player than Isak overall. Isak’s ceiling is unlimited. But like I’ve always said, he is inconsistent and always has been. He’s very up and down and that is what is keeping him away from being proper proper world class at the biggest stage on a regular basis. Like many over here say, he is so so talented and good at times tans despite admitting he has done very well he can/should be even better overall. That’s how talented he is. Injuries haven’t helped of course, but it’s mostly mentality that is “holding him back” from what he can truly be. Having said that, strikers might be more difficult to replace. We won’t see Bruno’s real level until he plays for a side like City for example. That is when he will take that last step and everyone will be even more in awe. 

Even with all of his great attributes as a player, the best thing about Bruno is his durability and fitness. Mostly always available and plays with high energy.

18 hours ago, mondonewc said:

Strikers are just so rare though these days that I think Isak has to be the most irreplaceable player we have, Bruno would be very tough to replace, Isak I think is literally impossible, there's nobody even close to his level that would consider signing for us, too few top class Strikers and too many teams looking for one. Bruno's likely our most important player, but not most irreplaceable for me. 

Again, this just isn't true.

It only seems to be the case because we're either not as familiar with potential replacements, or their abilities are being underrated, similar to how Isak was when we signed him, and a bunch of people were claiming he wasn't a goal scorer due to his record the season before in Spain.

23 hours ago, Barnes23 said:

 

You simply aren't getting a midfielder of that quality in the market right now, with FFP strings loosened or not. 

This is never true.

Just like when we signed him for £30 million when we were looking like getting relegated there will be others out there.

Tha hard bit is being good enough to identify them.

Watched him a good few times this season, and he's still quite raw and inconsistent, so would make sense as a secondary option initially.

Also a lot less convinced there will be much competition for him from any bigger clubs as he still needs development, so shouldn't bee too difficult to get if we are really interested.

So, Edwards, Hughes and then maybe ... Howe next?

Not too dissimilar stylistically to Klopp and all.

Imagine having to watch Howe go over there and excel alongside his 'mates' that weren't good enough for Newcastle.

After all the noise this season, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we suffered such a terrible fate.

There's that apparently 'shit' footballer, Scott McTominay again.

Just now, Wolfcastle said:

Ange, hammered 3-0 at Fulham and Gary O'Neill, outplayed and beaten at home by a lower league side today must be horrifically shite if Howe cant lose at Man City.

They're all good managers if you're reasonable about it.

Ange destroyed Emery just the other week too.

16 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

He also scored in another and Howe just seemed to push that out of his mind.

He sees the guy everyday in training, unlike any of us on here. 

Must be really satisfying for Fulham to see this Muniz come good like this. Has taken his chance of a run in the team.

2 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

Howes anguish all game has been unlike him. First time this season where he looks proper desperate at the result. Does he know he needs to qualify for Europe and that’s why?

Howe will easily get another really decent job in time. He's got nothing to worry about.

We'd be far more likely to end up worse off.

Just now, Miggys First Goal said:

I think if Eddie starts Burn next game when Hall is there, then fans start to turn. 

Based on the last 5 mins?! My goodness ...

9 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Hall playing well here.  Which just adds to the confusion re why he hasn’t had minutes tbh

Probably because he wasn't ready previously. Didn't he look really shaky in one of his first appearances at left back, and it was being mentioned in here at the time.

Isak man ...

3 minutes ago, worthy said:

One of my biggest irks was when he dropped Tino as soon as the big oaf burn was back from injury, then he gets fucking run ring around as expected again and just stays in, would also love to know what the reason is for keeping Trippier on when he was screaming for a rest in his gifting goals for fun stage. What kind of evil doing has Hall done to not get any sniff. Why not just give the youngsters some minutes when its clear that some players are running on fumes and literally cant almost walk. And whats with the damn space between midfield and defense that hasn't been fixed since he took over, it was exploited back then as well, but Pope and our CBs decided to play like gods. And he might not be a dullard, but when idiots like me can spot the problems, shouldn't the man getting paid huge amounts of money manage to spot the same thing and perhaps address it?

Well there must be a method to his madness, because with the 'oaf' Burn and the midfield gap, we had the best defence in the league last season. Pretty certain that without so much disruption this season, we would have seen similar again this year.

9 minutes ago, worthy said:

Its more so the way Howe approaches games, and abundance of loyalty to out of form players. And of course that god forsaken midfield pocket that has been open since he took over. We are letting in soft goals left right and center, fair enough some freak injuries has been ruining the season, but he is so fucking stubborn to change, its like we have plan A and that's it. If plan A fails, then the whole damn house of cards blow over. And the "we played really well" after Chelsea match was like an insult.

Who are these amazing alternative options he is not making use of that are going to turn things around?

Also, why speak as though the man is some sort of dullard, when his methods already have us at least a few years further on than most expected?

5 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I never thought of writing positive or negative comments on the internet as being ‘support’ or not.  Actually being at the ground was usually how that was defined.  I’m old fashioned like that, though.  

But you guys always mock the tourists at the likes of Man Utd that are there on match days, so which is it? Also, good luck to any team trying to compete at the top that doesn't figure out how to grow their global support outside of their immediate match day attendance.

With every passing game the hole Joelinton has left in this team is more and more evident.

His absence feels like it has taken two people out of the team. The press has suffered and our general defensive solidity.

Some people think he shouldn't be in our midfield and I really couldn't disagree more.

Please pay that man.

2 minutes ago, Unbelievable said:

Isak knocking down Willock. It’s comical this

The ball to him from Willock was terrible ... and after the miscontrol Willock runs right into his space.