Wallsendmag

They are struggling badly with injuries so it's definitely a good time to play them. They have 4 attacking players missing. Plea, Van Bommel, Saibari and Pepi. Tbf they've been without Plea and Van Bommel for most of the season but Saibari missing is massive for them. Got to say my mates over there aren't particularly confident and the general feeling is that their 10 month unbeaten run away from home may well come to an end.

Champions League nights were occasions we could only have dreamed of during Mike Ashleys 14 year tenure. They need to be savoured because we aren't an Arsenal, Man City or a Liverpool. We don't get there season in, season out. After this it could be a very long time before we get another crack at it.

Yep pretty much this. He worked a miracle in keeping us up when he arrived as the situation looked desperate. He worked a miracle the following season when we finished 4th and got to a Cup Final for the first time in 25 years. He did an incredible job last year in securing a 5th placed finish and delivering us our first domestic trophy in 70 years but I wouldn't necessarily say that was more impressive than what he achieved in 21/22 and 22/23, even though it does on paper as we ended with a nice shiny pot. This season is the first that I can say where criticism is valid. I'm very much still in the "Howe In" camp but his summer signings have generally been poor and our style of play has regressed massively. He has looked out of ideas at times, no getting away from it. In saying that we've made it to another Cup Semi Final, still in the FA Cup, fairly well positioned in the CL and 8th in the league. Annoyingly if we'd beaten them by 2 goals yesterday we'd have been 5th. This coming summer is massive for him. The mistakes made last summer can not be repeated. As a football club we simply can't absorb the financial issues it would cause us like a Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc can. Recruitment needs to be spot on and he also needs to move the right players on as well. Players like Gordon should be allowed to move on to help finance the rebuild that I think the squad will need.

Aye he's a huge miss. Massive player for them. Arguably the player of the season. He'll likely be sold in the summer for upwards of £50m I expect. Considering they've played most the season with both strikers out injured and have been using a CM as CF, as will be the case on Wednesday to have racked up 116 goals so far is nothing short of astonishing really. Van Bommel is another great attacking player (plays out wide) and he's been out most of the season as well. The coach Peter Bosz has done a remarkable job really.

For people complaining that many games have been boring this season, well this game definitely shouldn't be that. In the 19 league games PSV have played this season there's been 82 goals. 2 games in the Dutch Cup have seen 8 goals. In their 6 Champions League games there's been 26 goals (obviously putting a combined 10 goals past Napoli and Liverpool has boosted that) but goals are pretty much guaranteed. So that's 116 goals so far in matches involving PSV this season and we're only into January. They rarely keep clean sheets and despite being 16 points clear at the top of the league they still concede more than a goal a game. Their strength is definitely in attack. Defensively they are very weak. On the transition though they are genuinely as good as anything in Europe. They can go from defending their own box to scoring a goal in the blink of an eye. They break at lightning speed. I was fortunate to be at Anfield for the 4-1 game in November and Liverpool just couldn't get to grips with it at all and were caught out time and time again, and in the end it could have been more than 4. It definitely won't finish 0-0. I can pretty much guarantee that!

He's got absolutely no shame like I've got to give him that

PSV haven't lost an away game in any competition for 10 months. 3 away games in this seasons CL have seen draws at Olympiakos and Bayer Leverkusen and a 4-1 thumping of Liverpool at Anfield. Both the strikers are out injured for this so expect Midfielder Gus Til to play CF.

Agree. It's absolutely criminal that Barnes has been shunted out to the right to make room for Gordon on the left. Barnes needs to play on the left regardless but I wouldn't be against doing that and giving Elanga a run on the right. He did ok today when he came on. Probably better than Gordon did.

I watched the Rotterdam Derby which was very entertaining (Feyenoord 3-4 Sparta Rotterdam). Sparta were 3-1 up then Van Persie brought his own son on from the bench. He went on to score in the 87th and 88th minute (overhead kick for his 2nd one) to level at 3-3 only for Sparta to win it in the 93rd minute.

Aye I think it's an easy excuse to hide behind, especially when we've been playing pretty much like this all season.

PSG isn't until the week after that mate. And I don't like them!

Stop twisting and moaning man

Probably as good as he's looked since we signed him. Hopefully that's boosted his confidence and given him something to build on. With that in mind maybe Howe should start him on Wednesday and move Barnes over to the left where he looks far better. Sticking him back on the bench isn't doing him any favours.

8 points by late January puts them up there like.

I found that rather boring tbh.

It's obviously cos he's an Eric.

Got the feel of a training ground match.

I look at our next set of fixtures after today and there's not one of them I'd feel comfortable with him starting. Just think Wolves would have been an opportunity for him to start to build some confidence. Suppose he might not be fully fit but hopefully he'll feature at some point.

I think blaming the "environment" for this so far disastrous signing is stretching it a bit. It was all positive at the start for him and he hasn't exactly been pulling up any trees away from home where he hasn't got fans groaning at him. Aside from that, clubs don't want "supporters" any more. They want customers who will spend more, and if you are a customer paying 60 quid to watch a game of football you're probably within your rights to expect the people you're paying to watch perform to be able to do the basics, like control a ball, pass to a team mate, attempt a dribble etc. Let's not forget that the reason clubs want "customers" and not supporters in the ground is because they feel can charge the customer 60 quid and upwards for tickets. The reason they justify charging so much is because they pay the type of money up front for the likes of Elanga, then his agent, and his monthly salary, that the average person in the street would find hard to comprehend. You can't have it all ways. I've certainly got less sympathy for Elanga on his reported £100,000 a week getting groaned at by people paying a fortune to watch him, than the likes of Wayne Fereday or George Reilly who used to get far more stick than he does for their 500 quid a week. I actually think Howe should have started him today. Away from home and these being shite seems the perfect ingredients to get him up and running. Mind I've never booed a NUFC player in my life. I don't see the point in it as it won't make him play any better, but I kind of understand the frustration with this lad given he has shown precisely nothing since he arrived. Just got to hope he can turn things around at some point, as unlikely as it looks at the moment.

Different class today. In their faces from the off and they didn't know how to handle it. 5 or 6-0 wouldn't have flattered you.

We press nowhere near as effectively as we used to. Teams play through us much more easily than they used to. And that's going back to the start of the season,.not just Tuesday night.

Bizarre thing to get yourself worked up about because we have a difference of opinion on a football forum We aren't pressing teams in the same way we used to. Stevie Wonder could see that ffs! If my "twisting amd moaning" offends you so much just stick me on ignore sweet cheeks x

Best I've seen these play in years.

Did we shite Howe was visibily furious at our lack of pressing from the front and remonstrated with a couple of the players about it as well. The tiredness excuse would hold more water if we hadn't been playing with a lack of press and intensity since August. Other than Liverpool (H) I haven't seen it. I also disagree with it being a tight game. They strolled through it. Other than Wissas chance and a 5 minute flurry just after HT we never laid a glove on them.

It is. Play with intensity like what we used to do when we were better than we are now! Give good players time and space and they'll punish you. Football is actually a simple game.