Tiresias

Is it? I don't imagine anyone will get that squad of players challenging for anything without a fair few transfer windows in between, 2 years sounds right to get the club from relegation fight to safe mid table club. We were a bit of a a freak in that regard.

Don't agree he seems a systems manager whom needs time with players you don't get at international level. Or Indeed with West ham whom will sack him and replace him with moyes in a few weeks. That said, don't feel i really know if he's actually any good or not...

I would find one on Dan Burn funny mind (not a diss of Burn)

It's a wonderful riposte to the current vogue of managers playing certain ways and refusing to make any change even mid game as if there's valour in dropping points, we score a lot of goals, good to the eye but not going to make anything easy for the other team. He has made me look a fool for pondering if he'd taken us as far as he could, appoint him for life

What's pleasing me is that even in the 4th place season our away performances felt significantly less intense than at home. We seem to have got on top of that at last

At the time I thought they'd done what fulham had done a few seasons earlier and there was no way changing so many players would result in a cohesive team that would stay up even if the talent was there. They did struggle but cooper got them over the line. I thought way to stay up was keep core of team that got promoted and try and bring in a quality spine to the team. However considering how well it has gone for forest, and how all the teams coming up have kept their squads together and really struggled i am questioning my own reasoning on this, maybe complete overhaul is the way.

Get in!!!

Yeah no don't disagree i am just managing my expectations down as it looks like will get a deal if we can find one but not sticking our neck too far our. Hope we can grab someone, I even look forward to maybe some young prospects perhaps, but I am not sure a 'star' signing feels on the cards. Could be wrong.

Yeah but just if you're adding a 25% tax for buying in january hard to commit to any big moves. Sure if there's a good deal, someone out of contract soon who can be pursuaded who is really good maybe

I doubt we'll spend now. If you want a 'gamechanging' player you generally have to pay over the odds this window and Howe may think the squad is fine and no need to make changes. May use PSR as an excuse to save up till summer. I would be minded if there's room to try for a RW player to bring some goals almost as much in case of Isak getting injured than to fill that role. I also doubt if we do plan on spending anything we would be advertising it and saying as such

General consensus still seems to be he's a boring bad coach. I agree with you.

I dunno they have been fairly consistent in style for a while now, solid Moyes ball, not as negative as all that with lot of directness and some really good players at times, Moyes got them into europe, focused on that and did well in europe but diminished them in the league. They lost Rice, squad seemed bit diminished but Paqueta and Bowen have kept them with some threat. My defense of Moyes ends a bit there as did seem just to be slowly winding down somewhat regardless but Lopetgui hasn't really changed that, so I don't know if the players really have struggled to adapt or they're just a midtable team with midtable players who can have a good season but will rarely string them together. You're absolutely right, Potter given time could change their style and that could be positive, or they could continue with lucky dip transfer policy and end up with a very confused squad. They're still the team most likely to buy some extremely average player based on doing alright at the euros, see Fulkrug, and call that a transfer window.

May be controversial but thought Moyes did a good job at West Ham. If they wanted to get away from that style Lopetegui seemed the signing of someone who has heard spanish and not actually checked what kind of football he played. He's probably better than what he has showed there though, it always seems team assembled with muddled thinking.

I mean i've been guilty of frustration when things bit rough have to admit. He can be stubborn with players staying in the team etc...

Howe never gets any credit for being adaptable tactically. Howe has a style of play that he likes and we play but he tweaks and changes where and when needed. Not sure why not bothering to do this counts as principled.

Hmmm i think it'll go ahead, or possibly get postponed

Hmmm maybe. I do find i am more lenient on keepers than some. My partner always thinks its keepers fault it seems and i'm not sure. I often think the keepers people rave at are often given an easy time by a defence that doesnt let people shoot very easily so always making spectacular looking saves from long shots that actually they will save those 9 times out of 10 regardless

I'm really not sure why dubs was written off by so many in here, no he's not greatest keeper but he's rarely been terrible for us, steady Eddie of a keeper.

The narrative should have been Newcastle were clinical in first half spurs got goal but not much else, second half spurs played better but ultimately blunt up top. Instead we get all this nonsense. Imagine if big ange had come out and said "we need to be better at putting away our chances, we can't be shipping soft goals and not converting in that second half when we played how i want us to" would that really have hurt so bad?

We're all guilty of bias wanting ref calls for our own team but this has been ridiculous a) not only was the first handball absolutely clearly correctly ignored by the ref according to the law, on any other day 99% of their fanbase would be entirely in favour of ignoring completely obviously accidental handballs in the buildup to goals. b) the dan burn thing, yes he got a big lucky with that but its amazing how football fans suddenly want incredibly pedantic refs throwing yellow cards around for every incident when it would benefit their team. Right so all you want is consistency right? Lets just have constant yellow cards and several red cards a game? No actually most fans (and feel free to correct me on this) want the ref to get involved as little as possible, to protect players from injury and punish cheating. The dan ball 'hand ball; was the kind of minor crap that should never cause a player to be sent off. I hate it when a whole game is ruined for a nothing infraction. c) The only time there is a case is the joelinton foul. I saw it and thought could be a red. I think there was a case. Just as there was a case for a red for the shove on Gordon. The game was better for the ref giving benefit of the doubt to be honest. Never a game goes by though when an opposition player fails to get red carded for something fans see. Embarassing for a manager to be acting in this myopic a manner. I didnt like it when Mourinho was like this, didnt like it when klopp was like this or now when arteta and postecoglu are like it. Act like the adults in the room not like a screaming moron fan.

Is it just me or does Lopetegui look a bit like if Neil Morrissey had slept rough for a few years?

Yeah all the handball rules etc are attempts that swing between trying to punish every handball or only punish those actually deliberate ones. The issue with handballs is often the punshment is waaaay over the top compared to the offence. You try and legislate for every handball, welcome to penalties that decide games based on players accidently brushing the ball with their hands in the corner of the box that was not leading up to a goal scoring opportunity. You try and be lenient and goals are scored because it bounced off someone hands, either way people are very angry because their entirely biased opinion of course has swung a match.

As everton mate says why not add a few more wins could be top of the league

Oh yeah. I dont think theyll win the league playing like they are unless everyone has a scrappy year.

im not sure sacking him would achieve much, if a really great manager was available. Tbh if they want to seriously challenge for the league they could drop over £200m for Isak who would double their goals and that Robinson left back from Fulham who would add a lot more left sided threat and then maybe its a title winning side. But i dunno if even with that could get the players...