Ronaldo

It wasn’t settled though. Bruno was missing so you surely put him where Anderson played. I find it hard to be critical of Howe but I think we’re become incredibly predictable in the final third. Gordon at least has the ability to make something happen.

Yeah we need to find a striker badly this summer. A Demba Ba type with the nous and execution to finish half chances and hold the ball in isolation would be ideal.

I think we’d have a far better chance, yeah. It elevates the club and everyone in it playing at that level. Makes it so much easier to attract your top targets and keep your top players happy.

Think what you want. We had a great chance to build upon a very flattering brilliant first half of the season and we didn’t despite it being glaring obvious how poor we are in depth. I don’t want to negative but I just don’t see us having the same opportunity next season. We’ve made fantastic strides assisted hugely by Almiron’s purple patch but anyone defending that abysmal transfer window is the one embarrassing themselves.

Our terrible form in front of goal aside I’d only question him on not playing Gordon from the start. Absolutely baffling.

That doesn’t mean making negligent mistakes like leaving us with 3 midfielders and 1 and a 1/2 strikers for the final 5 months of the season.

Not rocket science. Brilliant counterattacking player.

It is when your strength in depth is nonexistent.

Botman, Guimaraes etc are better than a club delighted to finish 7th. We need to have more ambition than that to keep our best players.

I feel very sorry for him. He deserves better tbh.

It’s not as simple as that though. I’ve said this before - the few top quality players we have are better than being happy with 7th. They want CL football or at least a club desperately trying to achieve it.

I just don’t see where the goals are coming from. There’s literally not one player who I can see getting a decent amount between now and the end of the season.

All of them have 3 players capable of playing as a striker except us. We’ve got a perennially crocked Callum and Isak who is brand new to English football. We’re woefully light compared to our competitors and you know it.

And folk will defend our transfer business. There’s just no need for us to be this light in numbers.

Well yeah, because even with omissions and fallacies you’re completely validating my point.

Our set pieces are abject, especially given the height we have. Doing everything possible for a Maddison type is a must.

One who is fully fit half the time and another brand new to the league? Team’s with a realistic (and probably rare chance) of getting CL football don’t do that.

I don’t think it’s ungrateful to question why we have 2 strikers in the squad - I like both but neither can be relied upon for different reasons. In CM we have 3 players genuinely up to it at this level. We’ve done this to ourselves.

I said immediately after the window closed that it was negligent. My opinion hasn’t changed, and why would it?

Reaping exactly what we deserve for the last window.

Which would be fine if we weren’t struggling to score even against relegation candidates atm.

That midfield.

There’s no hatred. Just haven’t seen a player remotely close to the level required. More a criticism of the club than him.

Anderson ffs. As if we let Shelvey go for a few hundred thousand when that’s our cover.

I despised Pardew but I have to admit looking back he did OK at times given some of the shit he had to play. A lot of the players we had genuinely played the best football of their careers here in that short stretch. Poor to average manager. Bruce was just shit. Shit manager, shit person.