Amir_9

An all time NUFC legend - the brightest spark this season. His biggest weakness is how prone he can be to losing the ball in our half but compared to the what he offers in every other area in leadership and play - has been exceptional overall and especially phenomenal this year.

The fucking talent on this boy. What a versatile player with a huge ceiling.

Bruno, Miley, Joelinton, Tino and Barnes Take a fucking bow Wow.

GK and CB has to be priority signings. With an aging Schar and Burn not convincing anyone Botman is what we need to be a consistent European places challenger.

Sort of feel for Nuno. West Ham do remind of me of us during the Ashley era mind.

Loan Willock was class. I wish him nothing but the best when he leaves, he scored some important goals for us and seems a decent human being. Injuries have really not helped him and I don't know if he ever fully got over the homesickness.

I've not bailed on him completely but I have my doubts of him being the one to take us to the next level (I appreciate this isn't all on him and needs competent and smart people behind the scenes). Some on here saying to give him all of next season as well. If there are no clear and obvious positive changes then that is ridiculous stance to have.

Unless our new transfer policy works wonders then I don't see him to be the man to be able to turn things around next season if we don't qualify for any sort of European football. Purely because of the amount of players that turned us down last summer and his inability to have a plan 'B' or change the game when things aren't working which has been the case for a while now. For me he deserves to see the season out but there would need to be serious discussions over his future in the summer if we don't qualify for Europe.

Just can't get a consistent tune out of them. What a stinker of a summer transfer window, but some of the recent/previous ones have also been dogshit. Our transfer policy and PSR have both fucked us more than anything but more so the former in the last window. Can't see him staying in the job if we finish anything under 7th.

Lol @ Willock still playing here

We deserve nothing more than a midtable finish this year - we're so just not consistent enough at all.

Merry Christmas lads and lasses! Best wishes and health to yourselves and your family.

Would have preferred to play City at Wembley to be honest but any draw would have been difficult from these remaining sides

Probably get pelters for this but he's not been the same since the original 4th place finish season - either injured or mediocre with the very occasional solid game. Can't be relied on to be a starter CB if we are to push forward. If there's someone better on the market next summer and PSR allowing then we have to go for a new CB given how old Schar and Burn are now.

Isak's Da

There was a poll before start of the season on how optimistic each club's fans were before first kick off and I think we were 18th or 19th City, Chelsea and Arsenal are still in the League cup and can see one of these knocking us out in the semis or final if we go through. CL for us will be done by playoff round or first elimination round after it in my opinion. Need to seriously prioritise the league because the ramifications of not finishing in at least Europa league is going to set us 1-2 seasons back. Depending on how January goes I see us finishing anywhere from 7th to 9th. Otherwise 6th if second half of the season sees us improve dramatically (extremely optimistic case).

Should start vs Fulham if he's fully fit. Let's get his career here up and running.

Willock getting game time over this guy is an embarrassment for everyone concerned aside from Villa who must be buzzing with the money received

Unfortunately this point just won't ever land here. You're either loyal or a bed wetter.

He's still adapting to a new league, when you consider other major striker signings for other teams this year he is above average with a very high potential and ceiling. Today was his worst game for us but those around him with more experience in this league and his coach that has absolutely no plan 'B' are more to blame for me.

Feel sorry for him, he has been such a spark in a shit season. Hope we continue to build around him and diversify our patterns of play.

He is going to need a change of play around him to make the most of him. I feel he has been sussed and our current gameplan for him just makes him look really bad. I wonder if we can incorporate him and Wissa together.

He's taken us to new levels and won us a trophy - he is a club legend through and through but you can't just can't excuse the absolutely clear as day lack of progress in his coaching game The summer signings (Woltemade and Thiaw aside) have been shit. His lack of plan 'B' is nothing new and not exclusive to this season. Our away form is clearly nowhere near being fixed. He is not the elite manager that is going to take us to the next level, I just don't see it. No amount of loyalty and deserved applauding of his achievements will change what a mess we are this season.

You've got to put aside what he has done for us so far to really talk about what is going on this season and how much of it is Howe's responsibility to ensure it isn't this bad. The summer signings, the Isak debacle (if it was clear he was off should have acted quicker), the lack of plan 'B', the subs, the away form. Just bad. If we finish midtable this year it has to be time to consider a change to see who else is available.

Stinker of a display unfortunately, his worst one for us yet.