Tiresias

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

I don't think it's outrageous to ponder if howe can be upgraded it's just i think the are huge benefits to sticking to a manager and building club around their vision, see the benefits arsenal have got from sticking with the lego cunt when could easily have been sacked first few seasons. Continuity in how we play and team spirit are rewards. Howe very clearly still has huge buy in from the dressing room and that's important and shouldn't be taken for granted. What impressed me about howe was he had changed things from his Bournemouth time, and what i want from him is evident he is learning and gets more proactive with in game management. I too want to win things but also feel last season got everyone dreaming that maybe it wasn't such a long term plan that the owners set out that we can build rome in a day. We can't, we've paid a heavy price for last season's exertions and even then we have had some fabulous results and games even if they haven't strung together into an impressive campaign. I think there's plenty of life in Howe yet, i do wonder if there will be a ceiling and we have to get a pep style superstar genius manager in to make final steps but i don't think that's yet and i don't think there's any need for vitriol even if the Dan burn obsession is annoying.

Also Joelinton is fucking everywhere when he plays. Just can't replace that easily.

we super miss Joelinton in the middle. He was fucking everywhere so many times and ultimately can't easily replace that energy.

Kompany spewing motivational talk in interviews. They are desperately poor miles off it, clearly got promoted too quick in the grand scheme and appreciate keeping Kompany on to build it long term and will walk championship i am sure next season but 7 points behind Luton is embarassing for such a feted and highly rated side when they came up. their build up play and attacking is good but just long way short of good enough.

Feels a bit of whole defense not quite functioning midfield backwards, exposed too much

I too am finding it hard to go through the match threads, but i am also not at all immune of getting really annoyed and posting as such, but it is winding me up how incredibly negative some get.

Sigh really getting hard to understand now

I like Richards sometimes but sometimes its too jokey and sometimes his analysis is utter bs but some of the stories are great. It is interesting to hear richards talk candidly about how he didn't really get good attitude right until it was too late and his body wasn't up to it anymore

Where did the 10 minutes come from? Genuinely can't remember any extended stoppages? Even for the new regime of more time on feels a lot for not much