The Prophet

It would be nice for us to come into the season off the back of a stress free summer. The last couple have been bin fires and put us on the back foot from the off.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but getting stuck into players at the match doesn't scream "supporter".

What I can't get my head around is that we've watched how Howe operates for the best part of four years now and yet some are still absolutely gagging to write players off circa four months in. Gluttons for punishment.

It was wildly accepted that the summer was a mess. It doesn't follow that all of the signings are average because of that.

Worth remembering many were questioning our summer business in 23/24. Tonali was banned, Hall couldn't get a game and Barnes was injured/on the shit list.

Bruno is an emotional guy, I don't think it's that deep.

It feels like there's a few things at play with Elanga. 1) He looks like a rabbit in the headlights. Whether it's confidence or confusion over his role, nothing is coming natural to him. At Forest, he was full of confidence, knew his role and put in good numbers. 2) I don't think we're utilisesing his strengths at all. When he picks up the ball he's usually too deep or too wide. The few times he's got close to Nick, he's actually looked dangerous. 3) I actually think he's been erratic rather than constantly terrible (he has had some really poor games though). He's in the cross hairs though so his decent or passable performances are ignored and every misstep gets jumped on. I've watched games where he's been alright, but he's still got loads of stick.

Seems a bit early to be talking about selling him like.

He said that we can't do it every game due to the schedule and need to protect certain players.

If we put any stock into what Chris Waugh and George Caulkin write, the squad came into this season in good spirits, as opposed to the start of last season.

I was quite happy with him starting. He was coming off a couple of half decent showings v Burnley and Everton. He was woeful yesterday, but he isn't helped by our tactics, we aren't utilising our front three well at all.

I'm delighted we missed out on Sesko.

Who we thinking?

Hard to disagree with the points made in this particular post. I wish I was fly on the wall and knew what the plan we're trying to execute is.

Semenyo rightfully furious. It's a cunts trick from Dalot, those challenges should be an automatic red.

Some good points made in this thread.

He's an absolute meat head. Tonali is a superb player who's had a handful of poor games this season. Who knows why that is, but to call him a fraud is laughable.

Fwiw, we've finished above Villa in two of the last three seasons and won a trophy, while they haven't. They're very well managed and without doubt one of our competitors, but the only thing NO may love more than piping off Elliot Anderson is downplaying our own achievements v other clubs.

Chronic issue with modern football that, the young lads who'll come in half cut and sing like their lives depend on it have been priced out. It's become a middle class affair for the most part.

23/24 was an absolute write off (in terms of learning potential) due to the sheer volume of injuries we had. You can't really develop patterns of play when you have a revolving door of injuries. This season is a learning curve for him. He's an exceptional coach, but he needs to learn how to effectively communicate his ideas factoring in reduced training time. There's been some green shoots of late, but he'll need patience.

Howe is still learning how to manage a schedule with European football because he's new to it, whereas someone like Emery is seasoned in that regard. He'll crack it, it's just a case of how long it takes.