Chris_R

That's in his book, so it only applies to him. I don't have to live by someone else's made up nonsense.

Well, yes. If he believes an entirely fictitious magic sky man from an ancient fairytale has told him to deny actual, real human beings their fundamental rights then yes, he can and absolutely should be judged on this. In my opinion it reflects poorly on him as a human being on several levels, and whilst he's free to have his opinions, I'm equally free to judge him on them. In return, of course you're all free to judge me on that. Edit: I've just read he didn't refuse to wear the armband, just wrote something secular on it. So maybe he doesn't want to deny anyone any rights at all, I don't know. But my point stands that everyone has the right to judge the actions of everyone else, that's the consequence of using your right to free speech to say it do something negative.

Absolutely. But they should be judged on that stance. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences.

This country voted for Brexit. America has just voted in Trump, for a second time. We gave the Tories 14 years. Forgive me for not giving a shit what a poll says.

Absolutely embarrassing lack of fret. Desperately need to sort this out because it's becoming regular.

Love Howe so I'm a long long way from calling for anything drastic but I've absolutely no interest in watching us play like this. Absolute waste of an afternoon. Think I'll watch the snooker instead.

I mean they're probably right, buying a £40m+ striker would definitely help them. All they've got to do now is identify him, find over £40m, meet his wage demands and convince him to spend the best years of his career at a backwards, racist village full of Tommy Robinson loving Neanderthals. Oh and they can't sign him until January. Aside from that it's a masterplan.

For me it's at least as much about what he can create for others. We've looked our best in previous seasons when he's been allowed to get further forward. But I'll agree to disagree, we've both made our points so I'll leave it there.

Yes but it isn't working. If we were banging the goals in then fair enough, but we're not. Something fundamental needs to change further up the pitch because we're toothless. We're one of the lowest scoring sides in the league.

He plays way deeper now. Here's his heat map from last night... I wanted to find the same one for West Ham 2 seasons ago but he didn't play that match. so I've found Chelsea at home which was around the same time of year 2 years ago instead... Much higher up. That's where he used to play all the time, mainly in the opposition half rather than mainly in our half getting the ball off the central defenders all the time. Because where he is now, all he's doing is passing it to Joelinton or Longstaff who then immediately lose it. He barely ever has a shot these days unless it's a long-range hit and hope borne out of frustration. You never see him in the box. Remember vs Leicester, him scoring a header from a cross? Just never happens now. In fact here's the heatmap from that Leicester game, barely ever in his own half: Look at his goals highlights from that season, he's never in those positions anymore. It's stifling us.

He doesn't have to be a 10 just to not be a 4. Who do you think our "10" is now? We don't have one. We have a 4 in Bruno (Or a 6 if you're younger, maybe) and two central midfielders ahead of him. I'm not proposing he plays just behind the striker, I'm suggesting he simply swaps with one of the other 2 immediately ahead of him.

As I say, I don't care. I don't want Bruno there any longer though.

This. I'm sick of seeing us play Bruno, our most creative player, as a defensive midfielder whilst Sean Longstaff, who is the polar opposite, is further forward. Joelinton too. I've no idea if Longstaff or Big Joe can play as a DM, and tbh I don't really care. But I don't want Bruno there any longer. Our best times under Howe - the season and a half after he joined - had Bruno further up the field weighing in with goals and assists. We need that back.

4-4-fucking-2?

Sick of seeing Bruno at DM, I'm desperate for him to play a bit further up the pitch where his passing will help unlock teams and he can get shots in. Just seems wasted where he is.

Not willing to write someone off so quickly but seems to have been a rancid, insipid display from him tonight. Needs to be a lot better than this if he's to offer anything at all going forward.

Yeah we will. 2nd half we have to shoot up hill.

Perfectly normal behaviour to go out of your way to say how little you care about something.

Would love a Tonali thunderbastard from outside the box to complete his redemption arc, ideally in off the bar. Absolutely love a long range effort that goes in off the woodwork.

Probably because he knows that soon he'll not be able to kick his ban down the road much further, and will never play again.

Possibly because he wasn't?

Such chemistry. /S

We'll have Lascelles and Botman back soon after the window opens, our desperation from the summer has gone and Guehi has a lot less left on his contract. Can't imagine for one minute we go back in for him with any kind of big offer. Add in his deep in form too. If we do make an offer it'll be a hell of a lot less than the last one. Shoe's on the other foot this time.

Loved Rafa, nationality isn't relevant. He just got the club , the area, the people, and he was good at his job. And we took to him like he did to us. Likewise, loads of my favourite players have been foreign - Ginola, Ben Arfa, Robert, Nobby Solano, David Kelly, now Isak, loads of them over the years. It's like when people said we hated Pardew because he was a cockney, that was laughable. No, we hated him because he was inept, spineless and a toadying lackey for Ashley. His birthplace wasn't even under consideration. I don't think 95% of us care where a player or manager is from, even if that's Newcastle. We adored Shearer, but Steven Taylor was an idiot and quite often a liability. We admired Shola for who he was as a person, but hated seeing him play.

This. Someone breaking the cartel as a one-off is celebrated as a carrot to dangle in front of all of us. "Look, it IS possible under the existing rules!", it's the price the big boys have to pay to keep us believing. Last thing they want is for it to happen regularly though.