Tiresias

Willock is decent mind when fit, which he never fucking is. He also seems to have to play himself into confidence so has a shakey few games and if he isn't dropped then delivers which is not ideal for someone so often in and out a team

Can't wait till he signs a new contract to stay at PSG again

I don't imagine he will be made to wait till 2026 to start work (and indeed Man U will look elsewhere if that is the case one would think), some amount will get paid to ease it through but making him wait till after summer transfer window at least feels sensible. There is no need to be either overly vindictive by refusing any amount of money in lieu of seeing out contract (that I guess could have some repercussions with future hires), he is after all perfectly entitled to want to go work for his mate at Man U, especially if things haven't worked out here quite how he hoped. The noise seems to imply a little that he and Howe aren't quite aligned with Howe having more say and power than him in areas of Ashworth's remit. Who knows if true. It's just disappointing for someone who is meant to be dealing with the long term to allow Howe to focus short term has lasted nowhere near as long as hoped I imagine. We can't be rollovers either, they want him soon they need to pay. They think price is silly they can give a counter offer and we'll see hardly rocket science. Not that bothered, our backroom set up leaves a lot to be desired still but we'll get that whomever is in post.

Man U fan, London, lines up

He's also friends and worked with Dave Brailsford in the past, so it's not like Man U are signing someone on a punt (like Chelsea seem to) in fairness, they know what they are getting and rate him, now cough up

I mean this is just the old life of brian haggling sketch, We've said £20m they've said £20m you're having a laugh £5m and then in two weeks time we will have ended up on £15m and he starts in September

Not sure if this has been posted already? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyxd7vq0lxyo?fbclid=IwAR0w0JmyzDbtQ2ah9BtbfKI4F9ftk5DM-cBJ0ipXhh0QyNaT52XNXwWbVjk

Something wrong about sitting on an office chair on a pitch

Well it's a good job brexit happened cos imagine how bad Sunderland would be by now...

As with most things most places have pros and cons. I would love to live in London for a lot of the culture etc, but that is part of the problem it's all there and making the short trek outside London beyond beyond that is really annoying. It's a tiresome attitude but equally i am not going to totally condemn someone as a bad person just for an awkward bad joke out of context on a US chatshow, may be bad day bad phrasing, but it is an attitude that should be called out.

You can almost feel the hasty media training there though, it's an american talk show right? "right americans only know london, go on and make a joke to ease things up, oh and they love the scouse accent' and she goes on with this shit joke with sunderland as the punchline but it's so ill thought out she hasn't got anything to say about places other than how they compare to london. Bad joke, maybe should expect her to think it through more about coming off so snobbishly london centric (albeit not very surprising sigh), but also if sunderland fans want to help stop their city being the butt of every meanspirited joke they really should take RTG off the internet...

If joelinton wasn't injured I'd be more positive but we're not resilient enough imo

Is anyone else slightly baffled by the reaction to blue cards? I'm not saying good idea or bad idea in all honesty I am not sure and can see both sides but it was like sin-bins have been mooted as a solution to some issues for a while, and never heard much outrage about the idea at all, and yet as soon as a blue card is mooted that seems to be the straw that breaks the camels back, like the colour blue is going to ruin football

I remember seeing him go in two footed on one of our forgettable players for Palace from the stands and being incensed didn't get sent off. Mate wasn't so sure till we saw replay and it was a ludicrous tackle and was out of nowhere. Weird one. Loved Cabaye for us, never looked like much for Palace, but maybe their fans saw more of him being good for them?

Outfield player in goal more often? I am all in on the blue card

I for one hope Blue cards interact with these maths somehow in a fun and incomprehensible way

Sorry yes got that mixed up somewhere but not than anything we need someone reliably there when we get turned over further up to stop the breaks

Oh yeah burn wouldn't be equivalent more in terms of just as an old fashioned midfield destroyer. Again this is also not a good solution to any problem apart from our lack of defensive mid and howes reliance on burn

So we briefly tried Trippier coming into a box midfield with miley and trippier in front of botman and schar. Problem was still space on left under burn. Wonder if Howe is so absolutely detirmined for Burn to play he could come inside and could maybe swap out Miley who looks a bit burned out for Livramento so it's more 3-4-3 with livramento wing back and burn left sided cb but in posession burn steps into midfield mainly as a destroyer but he's ok technically...feels a push but if we're going to be playing around with inside full backs why not the one who doesn't contribute going forward as much as Trippier?

There are innate benefits to keeping a manager in long term, even if said manager has flaws. The squad gets to know their methods, its built around the manager he will be able to implement the systems he want. There was a feeling I think in the league that unless you were ferguson or wenger you had a life span as a manager (this maybe mourinho's fault as the clearest example of a manager who burns out in a 3 year cycle) you were brought in, expect to deliver a decent first season then the second season was meant to be when you 'peaked' and then after that the squad would get bored and predictable. Burnout definitely happens still, Dyche at Burnley seemed to be running out of steam in their last season. I think staying long term relies on good dressing room management, if the results are bad AND the players stop listening or respecting the manager that's really hard to turn around as players know manager will likely be replaced. But if the players know the manager is staying no matter what that gives somewhat more authority. All this to say, I think a lot of clubs have looked at Arteta's shakey first few seasons and what's happening now, and thought, oh that's a sensible cost effective way of running a club (what a shock!) you don't have to swap and change managers in hope of short term boosts. They look at Chelsea and think oh god we don't want to be that. I very much doubt that as long as the dressing room is behind Howe his job is in any trouble. I would reckon even if we miss Europe we will stick with Howe, but I imagine patience would start to be tested if half way through next season there isn't any improvement, but that feels unlikely.

He's having a bad patch but nor is he brilliant at everything else. I do think he is clearly hugely valued for all the ineffable leadership qualities but a rotation out to protect him for a bit would surely be understandable and tino deserves a chance.

Fair but i would have hoped would help when they turned us over but it felt they had so much space behind our midfield

Trippier was sitting deeper coming into midfield that inverted full back thing and bruno was playing more as a no 10. Bruno thing worked not sold on the trippier thing as we never looked much in control and in fact our defence was opened up way too easily with pace.

I was sure var would overturn. It's one of those ref probably entitled to give pen based on letter of law but there wasn't a huge amount of contract player made most of it when chance had already passed rather than being deliberately clattered preventing a goal I know though in reverse situation I'd be pissed at no pen for that

With noting Gordon won player of tournament in the u21s euros playing as striker did he not? I personally think he's a handy different option there to have as a false 9 with Barnes and miggy (well hopefully new rw) running into space that makes. I don't think third choice is the issue more maybe can we get anything for Wilson and replace as feels like he's just not able to play enough any more. Maybe next season without europe will be better but he's just unfortunately too easily injured