Ash

Pep was really worried about this game and you could see by his actions on the touchline early on with his over-the-top encouragement/praise towards his defenders. The last thing they needed was to face a decently-rested NUFC side that went full-throttle at them and pressed them off the park. And we’ve turned up to park the bus and offer nothing going forward with Murphy at RB and Trippier at CB. Absolutely baffling how we’ve set up here. They’ve been so bad at the back for the past few months, so vulnerable, and we’ve rocked up and allowed them to run us ragged without laying a glove on them.

So disappointed in Howe today. Set us up to fail.

Very reassuring to have someone as astute as Mitchell leading the way on the football side of things. This window was extremely telling and although people won’t want to hear it, he’s done a great job of ensuring we are in a stronger position in the medium to long term thanks to shifting two fringe players. I’ve no doubt we’ll see more outgoings in the summer too and not just the out of contract players either which should allow us to have a big window. It would have been very easy for him to get twitchy fingers and push the button on a signing this window but he’s held his nerve and by all accounts, never had any intention of wavering which really highlights how much belief he has in his strategy to move us forward.

And this is ultimately what Mitchell was getting at but people took it the wrong way.

Plenty to go at in that letter sent by Man City but this snippet in particular is very telling on where they stand... "The tribunal has declared the APT rules to be unlawful. MCFC’s [Manchester City’s] position is that this means all of the APT rules are void, and have been since 2021."

Really hope we try and get him signed in the next year, he’s going to the very top.

I’d hazard a guess that he’s pretty much the perfect profile of what Howe would want from a winger, other than lacking a bit of height. He’d be a brilliant signing for us.

Their injury issues were about on par with us last season, if not worse. Massive amount of players missing as well as several key players out with long-term injuries too.

I’m not sure you do considering you’ve failed to name the main reason why he’s favourite.

Jesus H Christ.

Haven’t seen enough of Huijsen specifically to be able to comment but he may not be the positional profile we’re looking for. I also think we’ll go bigger on the CB, someone a bit more first team ready who can come in immediately and make an impact whereas I think Huijsen, simply because of his lack of experience, would be viewed as more of a project over the next few years. We still have more pressing concerns in the first team squad that we have to fill before looking at this type of signing. Bournemouth have recruited very smartly over recent years so I’m sure he’ll be a good signing for them and he may turn into an excellent player in time but I’ll back our recruitment team to get our CB signing right. We probably only have the budget for one CB and we need someone who can hit the ground running (in Howe terms).

Being perfectionist (or as close to it as possible) is exactly how we should be operating and how we have to operate. Just bringing in players to simply improve on what we have now doesn’t work as we’re then in the same situation a year or two down the line when they then need replacing and we can’t shift them on because of the salary they’re on or the price we want to improve our PSR position. If PSR wasn’t a thing then bringing in Huijsen (if he matches the positional profile we’re looking for) maybe happens at that price point but he might not tick enough boxes. If he did, I’m sure we would have made a move for him at that price but I’m guessing we have someone more suited and more transformational lined up. For what it’s worth I’d like to see us sign some younger players in that kind of price range to pad the squad out, especially next year when we’re likely to lose several players. At the minute, though, it simply isn’t possible because of our PSR restrictions. Every penny we spend has to be accounted for and needs to represent value for us in not just the short-term but also medium to long-term. Using Chiesa as an example is actually ironic as that is exactly the type of deal we should be avoiding. His wages are probably on the high side of what we want to be paying and there’s also huge doubts about his fitness and quality these days. If we sign him on a four-year deal and he flops, that’s an expense we cannot afford to carry year-on-year.

This season’s PL handbook has been released here. Anyone fancy trying to find any mention of the APT rules?

Based on what?

This is about where I’m at too. There are so many contradictions floating around, even solely within Waugh’s piece this morning. Something doesn’t add up and it feels like there is still a game at play. Not quite sure what it is or even to what end but hopefully it’s ultimately about clearing the decks to allow us to go big this summer.

Sky Bet isn’t owned by Sky.

No, they aren’t.

Maresca tends to play with a 4-3-3 so it’ll be interesting to see what they plan on doing with Palmer should Olise sign for them. Hopefully the latter decides they’re a basket case.

Sounds like we're going to be extremely aggressive with our academy recruitment this year. We made some impressive moves last season and it wouldn't be a surprise to see us top it this time around, in terms of both quality and quantity. Not just at U18 level either but further down the age groups too.

How many times have you watched him play?

Apart from not being good enough, as has already been mentioned, we do not have unlimited squad places. As things stand, we’re already at 25 players that need to be registered next season. 1. Pope 2. Dubravka 3. Gillespie 4. Livramento 5. Trippier 6. Krafth 7. Ashby 8. Schar 9. Lascelles 10. Botman 11. Burn 12. Targett 13. Tonali 14. Longstaff 15. White 16. Bruno 17. Joelinton 18. Willock 19. Anderson 20. Almiron 21. J. Murphy 22. Isak 23. Wilson 24. Gordon 25. Barnes Ashby and White probably get loaned out but the above shows we will need to sell a few players to create space for new signings, or sign younger players that don’t require registering.

Archie Gray would be a no-brainer and certainly ticks the opportunistic box for us.

Right wing target for the academy.