alexf

Makes Forest sound bad in that interview. But to fair it looked that way from the outside when they were signing all those players. It helped them have a great year last season but Probably contributed to their down fall since. Shelvey was pretty honest and gave a few insights to his Newcastle years. Revealed what I can imagine we all assumed which was that Mike couldn't give a shot about progressing the club and just wanted to have a drink with the lads whilst Rafa was trying to talk football with him and make us better. Likewise he reveals what was kinda assumed about the players back then that for some of them they were content with being shit and having days off and easy training with Steve Bruce and 6 year deals of Mike because if the club was ambitious they would lose their place. Which is exactly what happened to Shelvey once the likes of Bruno came in etc. Contrast that to people like Schar who clearly despised Bruce and wanted what was best for the club and backed himself to grow with the club rather than just exist like alot of them did.

It's like the Isak/Wissa Vs Gueye shite. Two players got rewarded for being unprofessional, meanwhile Gueye didn't get his move because he didn't kick up a fuss. So if Barnes threw his toys out the pram and refused to play on the right aswell then would he be rewarded with more games on the left? What if Miley had refused to play right back, Dan Burn refused to play left back when he'd been playing great at centre back and got himself into the England squad. Joelinton in all the variety of positions we ask him to play. This is poor from Eddie if it's true and it's the first time I have ever felt disappointed in his stance on something. Gordon should not be being rewarded for being selfish and putting himself ahead of the team. Especially if he's not even pulling up trees in his preferred position.

So as I was theorising before, Barnes is just a quieter lad who gets his head down and does as he's told and Gordon is like a sulky teenager. Howe shouldn't be rewarding that and should probably put him to play there because of that stance. You do what the team needs of you.

Rosenior talks abit like Scott Parker. Hope he's just as shite.

Would love them to have another dud manager and another 18 months of misery. However I think it would take severe, Steve Bruce levels of useless, to fuck up the bounce they will get from abit of basic structure and return to a more suitable formation.

Going to be thinking about our recent loss there for awhile as such a missed opportunity. Especially if a decent manager comes in and sorts them out. Really won't be hard to improve on how they have been for awhile. As soon as someone scraps that formation there will be an obvious upturn in performance.

Looks like he keeps taking a pill of some sort at the start of games / half time lately. Not sure what that's about but he doesn't half put a shift in and work hard for the team. He remains our only source of unlocking defences. We are crying out for another prayer with abit of vision and creativity to help him out. Also kudos to him for the goal return. Is this his best scoring season to date? Plenty of games left to bag some more aswell, but it does show up our other attacking players poor numbers.

Another win that was needed but again not quite the performance for me. I'm just looking for evidence in our matches, signs that we can click into gear and push on in the remainder of the season and also give Man City a proper game in that semi final. It was better in parts. But certainly we seem to have lost something this year. I never get that same feeling like we can just turn it on and run over teams for spells like we have in recent seasons. Wissa feels like a more natural fit, but that's mainly down to the fact we haven't really changed or adapted much to Woltemade, so naturally a player closer to Isak style will suit us more. We still only really have Bruno who can thread a pass. Maybe Miley when he can step back into midfield perhaps but we do lack ideas against a low block and the only time we really look decent is when we go full speed chaos if we win the ball high or get a counter. Return of key defenders may help shore up the leaky defense lately (which was improved today and obviously got a clean sheet). Changes at this point feel obvious but remains to be seen if Eddie will want to change it. I'd want Barnes left and Gordon right, to get our best players on the pitch from the start. I think Miley has earned his spot back in midfield if Tino is ready to start again. Also think Nick and Wissa need to be tried together if we are chasing a goal.

He looks lively when he got on the ball but it wasn't often enough and without real impact. Unlucky not to get a goal from the tight margins (not convinced it was off imo from the image we saw) But yeah he flatters to deceive and for all his perceived ability, he doesn't take games by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. He drifts in and out and hist end product is poor. Been banging the same drum for a long time but gonna have to keep saying it. He needs to move to the right wing or start on the bench for me until he can produce more goals or assists.

I think what's happened is the semi automated looks to have paused a few frames early, which is why wirtz hasn't planted his foot yet. But that's wrong as clearly they ball hadn't been played yet according to the real image. So if it matched up to the image shown above then it's pretty clear wirtz foot is ahead. Either the system malfunctioned or someone manipulated it to tell it to freeze 1-2 frames too early to the benefit of Liverpool. Just relieved they didn't get the full benefit of it like they have in the past. Hell of a a strike from the Fulham lad.

There has to be some reason Howe is unwilling to even try it. It feels like it makes so much sense. That being said if he is adamant not to try Gordon on the right then he needs to be benched for Barnes. He gives us more threat than Gordon and has done for a long time.

Wish we would try Gordon right and Barnes left just once, could be our best line up and we refuse to even trial it. Murphy is 90% useless in open play as usual but always a chance he will play the killer cross for a goal.

They signed him for about £50m from Forest no? Him and Elanga are very similar. Lots of pace but very little else in their locker. We would probably see a similar loss if not bigger if we sell Elanga in the next year or so. Still hold out hope Elanga might be much improved next season perhaps.

I know it's unlikely but wouldn't mind another leftie in the squad for the attacking roles. I know almiron had his flaws but he still gave us something different from time to time.

Any news on the injured players? Completely forgot Osula exists. He was just starting to make impacts in games before the injury. Likes of Burn, Tino, Trippier, Krafth, Elanga, Botman. Any from the list would be nice to have back as options as soon as possible.

I've seen him have a decent game at right wing when we played arsenal at home in the league last season. So he can do it and he put in a great cross for the winning goal in that game. There are probably other examples aswell. But irrelevant to that, I think Barnes' strengths on the left out way the strengths of Gordon for me based on the last 12 months. He also links with Hall far better than Gordon does. There is some weird seniority about Gordon, the way he demands the penalties and even taking control of that free kick last night. It's probably to do with his character compared to Barnes and probably refuses to do what he is asked on the right whereas Barnes seems more timid and just does what he is told by Howe.

I have no idea what anyone is talking about as the original tweet is missing

Echo some of the comments. He's had a few good moments recently where he helps win the ball back high up and also crossing the ball in with intent. However...the lack of effort going backwards at times was pretty poor. Losing his man for the the goal and for that chance where he lost the ball and just lay on the floor for ages whilst we cleared it off the line. Also going down and staying down every time Walker breathed on him. His finishing is atrocious now and I don't understand how he's gone so backwards in that regard. Every shot now is skied or scuffed. As others said, his style is knock and run so I don't understand why he can't be switched with Barnes who is proven at cutting in and scoring great goals from the left. All Gordon can do is run down the line and scuff a cross on his left, he would be better running down the right and crossing with his stronger foot. Eddie needs to be asked why he won't consider this option. We are taking away a potent attacking option by nullifying Barnes threat.

This is embarrassing. Fucking do something. We are sleep walking to the usual bullshit dropped points here.

Fuck off Gordon. Learn to shoot and while your at it please swap with Barnes.

Walkers got Gordon's number here. He's got him mentally beaten. Just overpowering him every time he's near him now.

Yeah feels like he longer the game is going we are dropping to their level. We started fast and sharp with our passing and movement. But then slowed down and gave them the initiative and they scored to make it nervy now. Needs a couple more goals to be certain. Why can't we swap Barnes over from time to time?

I don't believe any of our signings in the summer were our first choices. It felt like we were down to 4th/5th choice every time when it came to signings. There was enough media noise over the last few windows to make you believe that we wanted people like Cunha, Mbeumo, Kudus, Ekitike, Gueye, Trafford, etc etc. ahead of the players we eventually got in. There was a desperation about our transfer business. Brought about by the handling of the Isak shit show and the fact that teams were able to exaggerated their asking prices because they knew we were about to come in to money and were also desperate. Not to mention the classic "top 6" seemed to hoover up all the best talent and we were left with whatever scraps were left. Not deflecting any blame from current performances not being good enough and in-game management could do with a big improvement. But there is no doubt the team went backwards in terms of recruitment and we always seem to struggle when Howe doesn't have time on the training ground like we did in the last season we were in CL.

Said in the other thread and feel like on repeat for over a year now but it baffles me how Barnes is always either benched or shunted to the right for Gordon. Gordon has done nothing in two years to lay claim to that spot. Scoring penalties doesn't sound if you haven't scored or assisted from open play in nearly a year in the league. The fact we don't even swap them over mid game when we are chasing a goal is even stranger. Barnes is probably our biggest threat of a goal outside the strikers and even if he's quiet he is capable. I have no confidence in Gordon scoring goals from open play. He's all fart and no shit.

That was a tough watch. It's happened to often now to not be obvious that we have been figured out, atleast away from home. Tonight exposed all our weaknesses. We lack creativity to break down a low block. We struggle against counter attack pace, we are poor at attacking from corners and we are good for conceding a goal currently, as Ramsdale isn't keeping any out that aren't straight at him. Think there is a reason most of his career has been in teams flirting relegation. Really feels time to try something new from Howe atleast on the road because it's the same story over and over. Hall was our only stand out. Again losing patience with Gordon being ahead of Barnes all the time for left wing. Makes zero sense to me that we don't even try and switch Gordon over when we are struggling.