Tiresias

yes because if someone in football administration says something is totally above board it is definitely totally above board. The premier league would never let anything happen just because it makes them richer, never! Just go google who the chairman of PIF is. That's all you need to do to see through that particular complicated well disguised chirade.

Refuses to disrespect Steve Bruce, get rid

the people calling for Potter to England don't understand football I mean and I do not mean this at all in a bad way about Potter. Potter at brighton built a brick and mortar system with players all signed to fit the system and all understanding fairly complex tactical demands. You quite simply a) do not get the time to do this with players at international level and b) you are on a hiding for nothing picking players for a specialized system for England as you will get torn apart the first time you don't play the next big thing(tm) who may be in excellent form but doesn't want to press high and recycle possession. Unless we say ok for the next 10 years England play potterball, if you can't play potterball you won't make the england team it makes little sense. And after all that does anyone know if potterball would work at knockout international tournaments? I do want a manager with some level of identity, but I don't think you can have someone who is very very wedded to a particular style, or whose identity is too different than that most players are playing under. I think Howe (and no I don't think he is interested in managing international football) is much better suited, he has not got quite that distinct a style of play and is more about getting intensity out of the players and seems open to changing formation/style. Honestly though, I think you would struggle to find a manager doing well in the premier league who would be hugely interested in the job, international footy management is not going to replace the thrill of taking over a team week in week out. it will go to Potter, the team will have glimpses of good play but be a soft touch and we'll be back to square one and Potter's reputation will be unfairly tarnished. I may be very wrong on Potter, Brighton fans feel free to correct me, I rate him but he feels a guy who needs a while go get going and needs a lot of time to build what he wants.

Thats a load of crap, here are mine Pope - 7 Trippier - 8 Schar - 9 Botman - 9 Burn - 7 Bruno - 7 Longstaff - 8 Willock - 8 Joelinton - 9 Wood - 6 Almiron - 8

Yeah they rave about him

Absolutely dreading Gerrard getting the England job

Howe: Pissing the league like it's a stroll Bruce; Cry wanking to a sausage roll

Arsenal Fan TV has a lot to answer for, I blame them for the standard internet pundit style is screaming in rage. We've all been there of course but still. If I was less self conscious I would set a fan channel up to be super chill to the point of parody

its almost like bruce didnt do his fucking job

I don't think Howe is secretly a super disciplinarian behind the scenes, he's clearly no pushover at all and he has spoken that he isn't as 'nice' as he was when he started coaching probably having to deal with players taking advantage etc, but he has got everyone buying in completely. I would be surprised if he was having to lay down the law much, he spoke on that podcast about explaining very succintly and clearly that he expects very high level of effort from all the players. When we are winning of course it is easy to keep that up. He can point at results and say we are winning because you are doing this. It will be interesting to see what happens when we have a blip. One thing is though even pre takeover we have good characters in the team. Howe spoke about this too, that when he came in he worried that players may all think dont need coaching we all know what we do but said they were all open to help (all i am sure very fucking aware what 2 years of no coaching what doing). Lascelles, Ritchie, Shelvey all have demonstrated excellent character (Ritchie shoving bruce and still being undroppable will always endear me to him). Lascelles still being club captain despite being peripheral, Howe has made a point of how important the full team is and made sure to buy good characters. Trippier was brought in cos he has been under Simeone, he has spoken about wanting to possibly coach in future, he's clealry very smart and engaged and has high standards, is clearly Howe's general on pitch. All the other signings they all seem good eggs. It is crazy, surely some cracks will appear sometime...

and fucking benched for 2 years. Absolutely criminal what cabbagehead did to 2 of the prime years of this guys career.

Say we achieve a miraculous result and end up in champions league places, what are peoples thoughts on the repercussions of that. I imagine it will bring forward spending plans, the champions league income will help us with ffp, but also the significant extra workload on the players. How would this affect peoples expectations. Look at West Ham, they are really struggling this season partially because last season they got to european final and it exhausted the squad (from a west ham fan I know's explanation at least) and now competing on too many fronts. I would anticipate going out in group stages and ending up in europa league in first season, even with boosting squad would think managing a bigger squad which rotates more, i think we could have a little tougher of a season. I wouldn't be upset, even if we do that well this year does not mean will always be the case and will be steady going before we are consistently pushing for top 3 spaces. I do worry though, what happens if Howe really struggles first european campaign and out league form suffers too because of it? I hope owners and fans will be patient, but...will they?

I should have some comment beyond looking at that I really miss living in newcastle

think Partey is more important for them, kind of think they're mostly poor when he's injured and then good again when he's back

No no i think we're 3rd on merit, I just am naturally skeptical that we won't have a bit of a slump at some point and i think it's true liverpool and chelsea have been unusually poor this season. I'm not saying we aren't good.

They're good this arsenal so far (this season, not this game which seems a bad example), good defensively and more creative attacking then they have been, they're much better than the team we beat end of last season, but they do look ragged and tired this game. Still think we'd certainly run them close, few teams press as effectively as we do

I would draw the line at the surrounding the ref constantly thing that Man U in particular do. (or did, not sure anymore). I feel it somewhat contributes to teh toxic atmosphere there is around refs up and down the leagues

I also want to see what happens now everyone is doubling up on Miggy, if they double up on ASM too, I mean who is going to be marking Isak/Wilson

Yeah I do agree but we lack penetrative left wingers to compete with him on that mind (Joelinton is many things now but not penetrative). I would absolutely be happy for a player to come in to compete and do better when we are pinning teams back and have him as option when chasing. But we do need more sparks of creativity in the team and he can provide that. I think it's healthy though, when we are reliant on him his inconsistency is infuriating but if we are playing well without him he can a brilliant option. No doubt he will want to leave if he isn't an automatic starter but again all players should be desperate to start.

I partially agree mind in that Chelsea and Liverpool have been sub par, but arsenal have been way above par. Man City are...doing man city things of not actually being that good right now but kind of still with feeling they are going to win 10 in a row at any moment. Man United aren't underperforming though, where they are is where they belong for quality in that squad I feel, they always have the capacity to vastly improve as they have resources but are a clown show. This season is I feel Arsenal's big chance, but hmmm still not sure they can see it through. It is too soon for us to likely finish even 3rd realistically. Spurs are just going to spurs and will forever be oscillating between champions league and and europa league places. I don't think it's crazy to say the quality in the league isn't as high as it has been though, I think liverpool and even City are both in transition a bit (City just adapting to hoof it to haaland ball), and West Ham and Everton who would traditionally be providing the competition are also shit this season. it's a very meh season for quality I feel tbh. It's just we're way ahead of schedule for where we are, we are going to improve as the league improves regardless

It's on him to prove he does but think that's a wild overreaction for a player not coming on who is on his way back from injury, played midweek further limiting how much he could play and lastly not suited to the job needed of the substitutes at the time I agree he is an odd fit, but at his best he would be a brilliant asset, and Howe is clearly fucking brilliant at getting the best out of players

I'm still so angry about the liverpool game

Didn't score. Worrying.

I have really come to the conclusion that the reason players are costing way more than they should across the board is premier league clubs for all their data and extensive scouting departments are actually full of shit and end up spewing money waaaay too much on total mediocrity based on favors for shit powerful agents.

There was a fair amount of rolling around on the floor pretending to be injured in the last 10 minutes to disrupt the flow of the game. I would have a problem if we are doing this in 5 years time with all the superstars and are 10 points clear in the league but we play the position we are in ffs.