Novocastrian

They are good, they huffed and puffed a little today though.

A fully fit and rested NUFC, with the squad all available, makes light work of both of these teams IMO. That’s both a heartening and disheartening thought.

I’d be looking at a hungry young striker from Europe. ‘Best in class’ in their age group. This signing doesn’t engender much enthusiasm from me, not for the money talked about. Almost 100% bollocks anyway.

Bruno is the flag carrier for this team. The embodiment of the post-Ashley club. We should be doing everything we possibly can to keep hold of him. I’d let anyone go before him, including Isak, as I think his attitude and determination would be harder to replace.

These are a poor team, let’s see if we can actually see out a second half for a change.

Was nowt in it tbh. Liverpool would have got a one though.

Let’s get stuck into these MILFS!

If he’d be happy at PSG then he’s not the bloke I thought he was. I get the release clause and I also get the fact we aren’t mature enough as a bona fide elite team to fend off those type of requests from players and/or their agents.

Has Mike Ashley come back. I know FFP is constraining us to a degree but surely we aren’t selling our best players?

Need to get that red carpet up before Saturday too.

Outside of Busby and Ferguson Man Utd have only won 2 league titles - both in the early 1900s.

PIF are the only owners who can conceivably challenge the status quo. They’ll spend up to FFP every season whilst gradually raising the ceiling with improved commercial contacts and increased revenue. It’s going to take a while to breach the gap though. Definitely frustrating. When Man City first qualified for the CL they became a top 4 fixture, they’ve been in every season since. That’s the type of performance the Liverpool’s et al couldn’t countenance with us.

Joe Cole based on his reputation, he had a decent career but was never the player he was built up to be.

If Howe matches up Burn at LB with Salah I give up.

Circa 150-180m. No chance. Much better value abroad.

1-1 or 2-2 no doubt we’ll be on the end of some VAR fuckery or 19 minutes of additional time to give the Micky Mousers time to equalise.

Just found out Joao Pedro plays for Italy

Maybe a bit dramatic but watching football for the last few days we look like one of the worst teams in the league at the moment.

I think Howe survives this season, a bad start to next season, after being backed extensively in the transfer market, would be the coup de grâce. I think things get worse in the short term. We won’t get the intensity that Howe’s game plan requires until these players are rested after the January break and some of the injured players return.

Yeah the jury is still massively out on Tonali, I’m not sure he really improved us before his ban.

The World Cup did us a big favour last year IMO, we headed into it looking very tired. Even though we didn’t have anywhere near the injuries we’ve had this season it gave Howe the time to regroup and gave most of the squad a rest.

Gordon needs protecting from himself, I’m sure he’s telling Howe he’s fit and ready for every game but he looks totally knackered.

Tino starts the next game then?

Howe has been incredible but if you’ve got players that can barley run you have to replace them even if it’s just fresh legs and not someone who is going to influence the game or allow sone tactical pivot. My only criticism of Howe is he’s run these players into the ground. Gordon played nearly 100 mins and Almiron over 80, both possibly carrying knocks/already fatigued. He lost the game anyway and has to go again in 2 days.

We go again in 4 days and Gordon, who was probably carrying a knock, and Almiron have just played another 180 mins. What’s the answer? I would have lined Gordon to have been rested midweek. The wide players have the hardest job in Howe’s system. We are breaking them at the moment.