Consortium of one

All these guys had their last best days under Rafa, 18-24 months ago! Not only have they been coached down but their legs are going. Clark was a canny player here. We talked about Lascelles for England. Schar, Fede, Radgie, Hayden all shined under Rafa and some before. That was a long fucking time ago. Fuck Mike Ashley and fuck anyone who doubts he fucked his own team over.

I love his effort but all his effort doesn't translate to much of value

Let's be real: because of age and lack of talent this whole roster is going to be turned over in the next few windows.

Maybe Ashley is running the trust now? Or one of his lackeys?

It might be a good idea to allow clubs to register 30 players instead of 25? It would favor the bigger clubs, obviously, but a five player buffer would help everyone.

1 penalty conceded every 2.7 games as a team. They were discussing it on Pod on the Tyne.

Think about the mammoth job in front of them. Never mind football for now. How many people in marketing? How many people in accounting? What about groundskeepers and custodial staff? What kind of software are they running? How old are the servers? Are there any IT people? What is the level of training? Any cross training? They have to build a fully functional business operation from the ground up. What do people expect after two months. If you walk into the wilderness for fourteen years you can't expect to turn around and walk out in two months.

Play 433 Trippier, Botman, Manq can provide cover for LB & RB A proper holding MF A Cabaye clone back up CF

I can only think the consortium will look at it on a case by case basis. What we do know is they are aware this is not the ideal window to be buying players. We also know that the club has desperate needs, needs that could be used against us to inflate prices. For example, if the club looks at Botman and sees a player that can be a cornerstone piece and concludes that his price tag is relative to his actual value, they will buy him. If they suddenly ask 60M for Botman, we would likely say no and reassess a deal in the summer and look elsewhere for now; Tarkowsky for example. As for Trippier, I can't see them paying 25M for him. He ticks a lot of boxes but I think they'd be looking to get him for less. Maybe he wants out, maybe they don't want to carry his wages? I just don't think it is realistic to say anything is cut and dried and I would hope that their thinking is flexible and fluid. I'm sure they have a ceiling for spending that they won't cross at all but I think there is a lot of latitude to make smart moves.

a little sarcasm on my part. We have no idea what the the budget is.

Lol. No way we spend 25m on Trippier. if Botman is 40M we can only spend 10m more!

That's Victoria's Secret.

Willock is never going to produce what he did last year. Still, he could score some goals, help create offense and link up play, provide defense and bring energy to the MF.

Schar, Fede and Lascelles are all too flawed to be in a CB pairing. All 3 can only be moderately successful in a back three.

Changed mine to 7 but still don't think we'll go down. There are a lot of shit teams.

He needs to learn how to take what the defense gives him. If he can break the line do it. If the converge, he has to know where Wilson is.

Dubs Manq Schar Fede Lewis Hayden Shelvey Joe Almiron ASM Wilson Willock's strength last year was ghosting into the box and finishing. After his success last year, no one is going to let that happen again. However Willock needs the vision to see where his cover is coming from and who (if anyone) moves into that space. Shelvey has shown improvement but rather than being a net negative in the squad I think he's made himself a net zero. He's picking out the longer pass a bit better but like most of the players is uncomfortable on the ball, has a dodgy first touch and his close range passing is poor. As a whole the players lack vision, anticipation and a good feel for the ball. Pretty damning I'd say. I'm convinced that most of the players we have come to appreciate (simply because the club has a dearth of talent) will be forced to the bench or off the squad entirely as we move forward. Manq, Schar, Fede, Hayden, and Almiron are players I've really rooted for but won't have a place. Dubs, Lewis, Joe (can you believe it???!!!), ASM, Willock and Wilson are the only players that really have a future here. The rest are dreck. We need a CB, a RB, a CM and a back up CF, at least, in January.

He was loaned to a level where he could boss the game and get his confidence back. He's failed miserably. He shouldn't be allowed any excuses.

I remember watching Siem try to shoot once. His leg fell off.

I thought Sissoko was better off as a box to box midfielder. He looked lost on the wing.

The club had already decided it was not going to be making long-term, high impact purchases during this window. It was looking to shore up key areas of weakness and to help bolster the squad for the relegation scrap. Howe and Nickson are more than capable of that. They've decided that the DoF would be more critical for the summer window and beyond so it is not as big a priority for them atm.

Mike probably wants the signs back. Will expect the consortium to cover the freight.

Central defense and midfield is crying for more athleticism. Willock is good at making runs from deep but outside of him everybody else runs like they have pianos on their back.

I hope "the other 14" clubs jam it down the "the big 6" thoats. It's amazing how they keep trying to divide themselves from the other clubs.

Howe is definitely creating healthy competition for places in the team. Fortunately we have a good set of attacking options even though Fraser is a permacrock.