Geordie Ahmed

3 hours ago, Holmesy said:

Peak Dortmund Sancho would improve any team, but i'm pretty sure he'd fail our background and personality check within the first two minutes. By all accounts he's a total c**t. 

Olise on the other hand would be worth breaking the bank for. What would he likely cost? £60m?

His release clause in the summer which Chelsea activated was £35m, he signed a new contract but no reports stating how much the new release clause is

Being heavily linked with Man U but he would be an ideal signing for RW

34 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

So odd how he’s changed his tune. 

Tbf I'm sure he wrote an article a good while back slating FFP 

43 minutes ago, Wullie said:

This is a bizarre clarification

 

 

I'm guessing if you try to stop an attack but don't do it in a dangerous way and the advantage/play continues then you shouldn't be booked? 

You only get booked if it was dangerous, so a bad tackle etc

However in last night's scenario I'm sure I've pretty much always seen players get booked for it

4 minutes ago, huss9 said:

hayden hendrick lewis and fraser alone are costing us around £10m a year in wages. 

of those only lewis might get us a transfer fee.

Maybe Fraser, he's seemingly doing well on loan at Southampton 

But at least Hendrick will finally be leaving in the summer

I think for the summer hopefully we have a budget that's within FFP that isn't reliant upon sales

However, if possible then Miggy and Wilson to be sold to increase our budget

Can see us looking to renew Schar, Lascelles and Krafth, anyone else whose contract expires in the summer needs to be let go

8 minutes ago, huss9 said:

their mistake then.

flashed up 8 when he got booked tonight.

I could be mistaken, Premier League site has him on 8, as does livescore and whoscored 

Whereas nufc.com as well as FPL has him on 7 

3 minutes ago, Stifler said:

What, you mean like Miley 2 months ago?

Miley played PL2 football last season and stood out, as a result he was training with the first team and didn't look out of place (this follows the season before where he played over 20 times for the U18's, at the age of 15)

Hence, he was given his debut last season away to Chelsea and then taken to the US where he got decent minutes and then Howe told everyone he isn't going out on loan as he's very much part of the first team squad 

So, no not like Miley 2 months ago 

33 minutes ago, huss9 said:

sounds ridiculous but 2 more yellows means a 2 game ban?

Aye, it counts up to the 32nd fixture, which means it's absolutely nailed on like

Edit: He's on 7 at the moment, so 3 more yellows before 32nd fixture (Fulham away on April 6th)

11 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

If Burn stays, I think Lascelles has to be let go as well. Need to start getting ruthless I think. Burn 4th choice CB, 3rd choice LB pretty much replacing Dummett's role.

 

 

 

I think both Lascelles and Burn will stay 

It will end up being

RB - Trippier, Livramento, possibly Krafth too

CB - Botman, Schar, Lascelles, Burn

LB - Targett, Hall

2 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

We've just given him a new contract as well haven't we? Don't know if it's down to FFP meaning we're having to do it or not, but renewals to the likes of him, Ritchie, Dummett, etc seem weird.

His contract was due to end this summer, it's effectively been extended by a year. It made sense and at the time most would have agreed with it, though can understand why recent form might make it seem weird 

In theory he should be 4th choice CB and 2nd/3rd choice LB so giving him an extra year makes sense, the FFP benefit isn't necessarily huge in terms of extension but if there is an opportunity to sell him in the summer then it could help but I suspect he isn't going anywhere and he'll be here next season too

Ritchie/Dummett should not under any circumstances be given contract extensions, thank them for their services in the summer and say goodbye to them 

1 minute ago, Zero said:

Then change the approach to plan B. I am fine with that. Just don’t continue the plan A when we don’t have the fresh players to carry it out anymore

I think that's a reasonable ask, I personally can understand why Howe is sticking with his primary way of playing and feel long term it's the best approach

I just don't think saying we should chuck kids that are clearly not ready just to give some players a rest is the right solution, it won't help the team and it will just damage any of these kids development

When these youngsters are ready, they'll be given their opportunity, just like Miley was (though he's no doubt ended up having to play way more than expected)

Just now, Zero said:

I would go further and say he should play youngsters like Alex Murphy or Sanusi, if he still prefers the team to play high intensity pressing football. You need fresh players to carry out your tactics.

 

Another approach is to change to plan B, if any

 

Sanusi is 16 years old and has pretty much just played youth football, he isn't going to just get chucked in and rightly so 

When he got that ball I didn't even get remotely excited as I knew it would end in nothing, he's predictably toothless 

8 minutes ago, TRC said:

Being tired is fair enough but you have to adapt and try something different at some point

Potentially a fair question but I'd argue we don't tend to see top managers generally deviate from their playing style, even when they are missing players

I think having a plan B or another way of playing is certainly useful but don't think the core way of playing ever changes, Pep played that way when he first came to the league, I remember people saying his style needed to change as it won't last here but he stuck with it and it's been more subtle tweaks over the years but the primary way of playing hasn't changed, same for Klopp as well

So I can understand why Howe has stuck with his primary style of pressing (in recent games we can see the intensity of this is way off) and I believe it's the better approach to take long term

6 minutes ago, Smal said:

 

these are *extremely* bad numbers, like

 

 

 

These are all mostly in December, had a quick glance at the games prior and the xG against was nowhere near as bad

So, it's either we changed something tactically in a drastic way, the opposition suddenly found us out or the brutal injury crisis has well and truly caught up?

1 minute ago, Stifler said:

This season the minimum target would have been European football, that would have been without what we did last season or not. The club and owners have a 5 year plan, this would have been where the club needed to be this year. If we had won a cup then you maybe forgiven for not achieving it. Right now we are below that target and in the backpeddle in the fight for the European slots.

If we lose on Saturday then bang goes any half chance of a cup victory, and another route to Europe. We also lose a game against our rivals who when we were taken over, were 2 divisions apart from.

It was alright losing that game for Ashley, this ownership group will not accept it. There is no leeway for Howe in losing the derby if we are not achieving what we need too elsewhere. For us now, that’s European football, under Ashley that was 17th, hence why losing the derby was no big deal for Pardew, Carver, and McClaren.

 

As others have said, we are not going through just a bad spell. We have only won 1 away league game all season. We have lost 2 recent games to relegation candidates, and face a month playing against teams going for the title.

Out it down to injuries/fatigue all you like, but our performances have been way off, even in games that we have won. Also when you are manager and come out in press conferences and say playing so many games isn’t an excuse, then all you are doing is taking that off the table, be it you agree with him or not.

I still think injuries are a big factor in our situation, but the press and possibly the ownership group are not going to take what Howe says and allow him the leeway he’s talking himself out of.

 

At the end of the day, if we lose on Saturday then our season is effectively over in the first week of January, and I don’t see that sitting well with the owners, and with fans.

 

No one is expecting a top 4 finish, but I think everyone is expecting to finish in the European places.

You've said the target is a European spot so how on earth is the season over if we lose on Saturday? 

Fwiw I still love the bloke and I fully back him

Not surprised some are talking about him losing the Derby and that's him done, sadly far too many people have short memories and have absolutely no patience 

I don't understand how people can't look at this season up to this point and not have sympathy for the injury situation or not realise what a devastating effect it has had on our season

Of course people can analyse formations, tactics, subs etc but I'd much rather judge those things when he has a decent set of players available to him

Also, I've said previously but it also seems like people have this naive expectation on what progress looks like, it isn't always linear and if you take a step back it doesn't and shouldn't mean the manager needs to be sacked

This season will not be as good as last season, that much is clear but I believe it could end up being a valuable season and benefit us in the long term but we need to be patient and back the manager 

Not sure how it's still 0-0 but I'll take it 

Though Liverpool scoring seems inevitable 

Gibbs-White is the signing you make for £40-45m, he'd cost £60m+ to get now and whilst he's good he's not that good 

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

Paulinha was brilliant in that like, textbook 10/10 performance for that position 

Aye, he was class, just winning ball after ball

Really feel like we could do with someone like that 

Also, was really impressed with Robinson, he was quality 

Spurs only being a point behind Arsenal is a shock

Gabriel is such a dick

Let's see how generous they'll be with the added time

Is Saliba lucky with that decision? 

Arsenal still have time to turn it around and I still think they'll end up getting something from this game but they've been terrible in the second half, especially since losing

Absolutely no urgency from them