Chicken Dancer

My gut feeling is that if the season goes out with a whimper then there’d be a mutual parting of ways. If we only end up winning 1 of our final 12 or whatever I think that’s pretty unacceptable. Let’s hope we win a couple to lighten the mood.

Any club - certainly in England. People still laugh now at how Spurs spaffed the Bale money. That's probably going to be us for the forseeable. The only one you could consider a good buy/value for money is Thiaw, and I believe even he's a tad overrated by our fans (just a tad though).

That’s ridiculous that. I thought any given slot was capped at 5.

I’d be starting him next season in midfield in as many games as possible. He’s the most talented player to come through the academy in some time and there really isn’t much better than a local lad in the team - especially when they’re actually good. He’s ready for more football for sure.

No score would shock me except any that involve us keeping a clean sheet. Score draw would feel nice but I think we’ll lose a tight game relatively late on. 1-2.

Certainly not overrating him. I don’t think he’ll ever really work in the PL, I’m just pointing out we’ve won more points with him as a forward than anybody else. I think it’s without question if the club could do last summer again they’d never go near him. He’s probably as far away from an Eddie Howe player as you could get. I’m not demanding to ‘Free Nick’ or out like that, just the decision to play him midfield - in my opinion- cost us points.

Aye , he would be viewed a lot differently if he was 5’9 or something I reckon. He’s a giant so I think the assumption is he’s gonna be a brute but he’s a silky technician. I don’t reckon he will ever hit his full potential in England fwiw, he’s probably more suited to Italy or Germany.

It was pretty much universally agreed that he was playing like shit in midfield and the experiment was dead, yet we persisted with it a good few more times which led to nought. Aside from Villa (over half the game vs 10) and Qarabag (worst team I can remember us playing in a long time) did we ever win when he played midfield? Genuine question - I don’t know the answer. We’ve won comfortably more points with him upfront than anybody else (at home, probably won’t be too dissimilar away), so I don’t think it’s outrageous to say we’d have a few more points on board if we’d kept him upfront or at the very least played someone else in CM instead of him. Obviously hypothetical and we don’t know for sure, but there is evidence that backs it up. The Everton game springs to mind, and I’m sure there was another when he was brought off shortly after half time when we were losing. So whilst by definition him playing CM might not have been a ‘disaster’ (I still think it was), not playing him there could have contributed to us having a few more points and thus the season itself not being seen as the disaster it currently is.

Yeah hence the *forward*. It’s all a bit pointless anyway, we all know it’ll likely be 4-3-3 with Joelinton, Tonali and Bruno in midfield.

Apologies lad. Play him as a *forward* or not at all. Not as a central midfielder.

He was absolutely awful there, a complete passenger and it got to the point where I actually felt sorry for him. Sure a few nice touches here and there but he was never a central midfielder in a million years.

Playing him midfield was a disaster not sure how it can be dressed up. The fact we persisted with it even more so. He was actually doing canny up until Wissa came back and it became clear Howe was going to rotate or preferred others. That’s fine, it’s the manager’s call - but play him upfront or not at all imo. I say this as someone who rates him but can concede it probably won’t work in England for him (I do think he will have a canny career though). I also think his signing would be viewed a lot differently if his early goals were spread out rather than in a cluster.

I don’t rate Osula tbf but would perhaps be harsh to drop him when he’s got 2 in 3. I’m just thinking more of actually getting the summer signings on the pitch at the same time. Whether by design or having no choice (injury, suspension etc) they can’t have played together much at all.

Just stick Bruno and Tonali as the midfield 2 and at least give him a shot in the hole. We literally have nothing to lose - we’re not going down and we’re not getting Europe. Ramsey left, Elanga right and Wissa up top. Try get the summer signings some confidence and cohesion going into the summer, especially the ones going to the World Cup.

Exactly the reason why assists carry too much weight. The one he put on a plate for Wissa on Saturday should have been an assist. I don’t disagree btw, but he was never a midfielder the first time he played there let alone then.

Maybe it was worth a try but it definitely wasn’t worth persisting with. We all could see it wasn’t working. I couldn’t believe when the team came out on derby day and he was midfield. Was a disgrace.

It’s definitely not crazier than Bayern appointing Kompany I’ll give you that, but if it was this summer that Bayern were looking for a manager I don’t think they’d be taking Scott Parker. Kompany’s name in football was likely a big reason for them appointing him, and from memory didn’t they court others only to be knocked back a fair bit? Sure it got pretty embarrassing. Slot to Liverpool is actually a decent example as he wasn’t a ‘big’ name (though had just won the Dutch title, though not much global standing granted). I could see Man Utd and Chelsea going in for Howe (he wouldn’t touch Chelsea IMO) just couldn’t see it at Liverpool. Not a slight on Howe just can’t picture it. Maybe I’m wrong. I think Liverpool 10 years ago would have FWIW.

I take your point but I still don’t think Liverpool would appoint Eddie Howe. I guess we won’t have too long to find out, given Slot is probably on borrowed time (ish).

They wouldn’t, especially on the back of this season.

Fair enough. I mean we have played over 60 games without him like.

This isn’t a passive aggressive question but a genuine one; at what point is Isak not going to be the reason we’re shit now? Next season?

No I do agree. The bloke is a legend and gave us all our best day following Newcastle. But lots of the evidence shows that we aren’t a good side and haven’t been all season, and people are questioning whether he’s the man to lead us forward. I think given the choice, 99.9999% of NUFC fans would much rather it was Howe to lead us forward, but people’s belief in him has wavered based on the evidence this season. Just because someone has a different opinion to someone else doesn’t make them wrong and you right, whichever way you look at it. I’ve found most arguments for both sides to be well considered and articulated well - plenty evidence and facts from both parties. Folk will form their own opinions whether we like it or not, and whether they take on board some of the points that were raised by others is up to them. Name calling and telling people to fuck off and the like is when it starts to get silly.

There were people calling out what they were seeing in November but were met with comments such as ‘Wissa is back soon’ or ‘we’ll figure it out’ or ‘that pesky Isak’s fault’ We’re 4 games removed from season ending (thank God) having lost as many games in a season than Bruce ever did, and I’m still seeing the same things in defence of Howe. It’s unbelievable. I would say I’m on the fence, but the fence is now tilting quite heavily towards ‘out’. Call it 65/35, but I don’t think I could ever outright say ‘Get him sacked’ because of what he’s given me, and the comment from someone saying ‘fuck off asap’ or whatever last night was a tad much… BUT I see far more aggressive comments from the other side tbh. Certainly a lot more condescending. I said the other day it’s a forum on the internet. It’s really not worth getting yourself too riled about somebody else’s opinion because it’s different to yours.

I do think folk tend to overrate him a tad but I definitely believe he deserves more of a chance in the position I assume he’s played his full life. Feel he’s been hung out to dry and the evidence pretty much backs up the fact we’ve got more points with him as a forward. We’re absolutely fucking shit - statistically the worst side in the league in 2026 (alongside spurs and Burnley) just give him a shot up front and try and see something. Hell, even give the player a bit confidence heading into the World Cup. Really poor management.

My biggest fear all along was that it turns nasty for him and I’m sorry to say that I think that fear will be realised next Saturday. For what it’s worth I think we were areet last night, a decent performance without really creating much. I suppose what I’m trying to say is I expected a lot worse. A rested Brighton who seemingly always save their best for us will be coming smelling blood, with Champions League qualification a real possibility for them. If we go down early it’ll turn imo.