jonny1403

He's been saying that for 18 months. Remember the little digs at Rafa about how he would improve the style of play and attacking? Why in his press conferences is nobody flagging this and noting that we've got noticeably worse in that department?

To those people who think we'll have enough - where's our next goal coming from, let alone point?

We're not just going to lose every game from now till the end of the season, football just doesn't work like that.

 

For everyone who is praising Fulham, and even I have been impressed with their recent form they're still on 12 points with 1 game left to play before we're halfway through the season.

 

If Bruce doesn't go I think there's a reasonable chance we'll go down, but I wouldn't think it's a certainty as the teams in the bottom 3 don't win enough games for me.

 

I'm still interested to know where our next goal is coming from? We have 2 shots on target per game (3 against Sheff united admittedly). Wilson averages 0.75 shots on target per game, the next highest is Jacob Murphy

 

I get that we're going to get the odd point, maybe a few 0-0's will be enough. I'm asking where the goals are going to come from for those confident of picking up some wins. Dodgy penalties?

 

Do you seriously think we won't win again until the end of the season? As has been said, we are a terrible team but football doesn't work like that. We've had similar horrendous performances under Bruce and then stepped it up slightly in subsequent games. We'll do so again. We weren't great against Liverpool and Arsenal (FA cup) and yet if one of our strikers had put their chances away we'd have won both.

 

That's right, I don't think we'll win again this season. I think we'll get 5 draws and the rest losses.

Not a chance. There'll be one or two teams that have an off day against us. If we haven't won in the next 6 games Bruce will be gone anyway.

It's a shambles. Made a point of highlighting Tiote's stats vs Hendrick last week. You have the impression Tiote went around chasing and kicking people, but a by product of that was he could get on the ball, and pass. Generally make it hard for opposition to play through our midfield. Tiote/Cabaye and Kante at Leicester was a perfect example, he gave the whole side energy. Roy Keane, Patrick Veira, Steffan Effenburg, Gattuso 

 

There is no energy within whatever XI Stinkbum Steve decides to field. Energy in transition going forward, or energy in defensive transition. A part of defensive transition is tactical fouling.

 

We have no strong personalities, or individual leaders in our team any more. Not a single arsehole... A player that'll do anything it takes to win that little battle by not letting your midfielder run past you, or win that tackle etc. A player that'll make a that tactical foul, bollocks people and make them switch on just to win the next 10mins.  Andy Carroll is the closest, but he can't actually play PL football any more, and even this season it's visible from his appearances he's not leading or rallying anyone.

This is absolutely spot on. I'm not going to judge any of our centre backs (even though I think they have again been consistently reliable this season) when they have the likes of Shelvey leaving them massively exposed every week.

I hope not and actually doubt  it because he doesn’t like us very much

Sherwood, Howe or Shola? 

At this stage Eddie Howe would be an absolute dream appointment.

To those people who think we'll have enough - where's our next goal coming from, let alone point?

We're not just going to lose every game from now till the end of the season, football just doesn't work like that.

 

For everyone who is praising Fulham, and even I have been impressed with their recent form they're still on 12 points with 1 game left to play before we're halfway through the season.

 

If Bruce doesn't go I think there's a reasonable chance we'll go down, but I wouldn't think it's a certainty as the teams in the bottom 3 don't win enough games for me.

 

I'm still interested to know where our next goal is coming from? We have 2 shots on target per game (3 against Sheff united admittedly). Wilson averages 0.75 shots on target per game, the next highest is Jacob Murphy

 

I get that we're going to get the odd point, maybe a few 0-0's will be enough. I'm asking where the goals are going to come from for those confident of picking up some wins. Dodgy penalties?

Do you seriously think we won't win again until the end of the season? As has been said, we are a terrible team but football doesn't work like that. We've had similar horrendous performances under Bruce and then stepped it up slightly in subsequent games. We'll do so again. We weren't great against Liverpool and Arsenal (FA cup) and yet if one of our strikers had put their chances away we'd have won both.

Fulham have also had some rotten fixtures (like us to be fair), but you get the impression Fulham will start picking up points. I’m not confident we’ll do the same unless things change.

While true, they still haven't won since the start of November (WBA). There's a big difference between looking solid-ish and drawing a few to going on a winning run.

Although their next two games are WBA and Brighton so that could change quickly 

Christ man I looked at the table there thinking there’s maybe 12 games or so left so the likes of Fulham might just run out of games but we’re just at the halfway stage.

As horrendous as our form has been, and as 'good' as Fulham are playing, they've only gained two points on us in the last 5 games. Unless we completely implode I still can't see us going down, the standard is so low this year.

Great news tbh. Has never let us down.

Downie linking us with Choudhury on loan again. Think he’s going to be as good as we get isn’t he?

 

He's a pretty awful player like, I can only assume we are looking at him because he can actually run and close down a player. Can't do much else mind.

We won't be creating much for the rest of the season. At least someone with energy could potentially give us more control and get ASM on the ball more.

We need to act quickly, like. We left it too late last time. McClaren had Bournemouth last, then two of Rafa’s early games were Norwich & Sunderland. I’ve no doubt in my mind that if we’d acted even a fortnight earlier, we’d have survived and got the points we needed particularly home to Sunderland and at Norwich. On paper the run-in was a mix of top clubs and the teams around us.

In terms of games played we are only in mid December, so we have a bit more time than we think.

I struggle to understand this signing even more than Joelinton. We had two right backs at the club who aren't great but were doing a job, we sign this guy who isn't even up to their standard 

Bet that article has been in the pipeline for a few weeks. Only scuppered by the fact Marcus Rashford has been playing quite well. Could have scored one in off his arse last night, and he'd have had to put delay for another week.

 

Aye, he must be careful. Don't see that he isn't anyway. Every footballer/working professional has to be careful to strike the right balance between work/life.

 

It's not even if he's playing badly, one of the first names on teamsheet of a side that's just gone top of the league.

 

Personal and petty drivel.

Didn't he set up the winner last night 

Bring Almiron on you fucking useless prick

Didn’t Dummet play 120 mins two days ago?

Assuming that is 5-2-2-1 he has actively chosen Jeff Hendrick as a right winger over Almiron. Against the team bottom of the league.

Matty Longstaff has played well recently. Sean has not. Sean played 120 mins in the cup 48 hours ago. Sean starts.

Insane.

Jonny, how long can we expect this arbitration to take in total? Obviously don't know when it started. Not that it means "green light" (I assume).

The arbitration hearing itself again mirrors a court case - so anything from a day to a week to two weeks. This will involve all parties attending the hearing and the arbitrator presiding over it (will probably be done virtually).

The preparation for the hearing itself can take months and I imagine that's where we are currently at.

Let's say for instance the PL lawyers look at all this and the feedback to masters is "we're fucked, they have damming evidence against us" would they still bother with arbitration?

 

If masters woke up this morning and thought to himself I'm gonna let the takeover go through, wouldn't he just allow them to re-do the test or pass the current one stuck in limbo? Why waste time with arbitration? Is he now binded to an arbitration agreement perhaps?

 

It just feels the PL are still willing to fight which is where I am confused as to where all the confidence is coming from on our side.

 

Why would the NUFC legal team show their lawyers all their evidence beforehand?

It is quite common for there to be a disclosure process - again if this was a court case the court would set exactly what does and does not need to be disclosed. The aim being to speed up proceedings so each party knows what they are dealing with. If you don't disclose, you can't rely on it in court. Otherwise there would be constant adjournments and delays while each party requests time to deal with whatever new evidence is introduced at short notice by the other side.

Arbitration aims to mirror a court case so the same process could be followed but again, the parties, not the court set the rules in arbitration so who knows what the arbitrator is requiring.

So Masters confirms arbitration has begun.

 

What happened to NUFCs legal position being so strong, so certain that it would never even get to court?

 

I thought the PL were so backed into a corner, there's no chance they'd want to go through arbitration?

 

The PL seem pretty confident of their legal position like, regardless of the 'supreme confidence' of the buyers.

 

The fact its gone to arbitration doesnt fill me with any sort of confidence like, nor does it suggest that the piracy dealings had anything to do with the decision either.

 

I was thinking along these lines earlier. I mean if the PL are willing to get this done then why go ahead with arbitration?

 

I absolutely love and appreciate the leaks or itks the people post on here but it's all confidence from the club/buyers side. The crucial info would be from how the PL are seeing things. I mean if they are confident an agreement can be reached then its takeover bath time, but I haven't seen a single leak regarding the PL's stance.

 

That being said, I'm getting excited day by day and it's looking positive, however we need to remember that it was "days not weeks" in the summer and it crashed.

They have to go through arbitration before it goes to court.

Just because Masters want’s it concluded soon, it doesn’t mean he wants to accept it.

Even if piracy is an issue, the top 6 are still going to be an issue and we have already seen how willing to accommodate them he is.

 

I love how matter of fact your posts are. When in reality you know nowt about anything.

Ignore me, replied to the wrong post 

I'm buying a now tv pass for £9.99 to watch tonight. What is wrong with me 

So Masters confirms arbitration has begun.

 

What happened to NUFCs legal position being so strong, so certain that it would never even get to court?

 

I thought the PL were so backed into a corner, there's no chance they'd want to go through arbitration?

 

The PL seem pretty confident of their legal position like, regardless of the 'supreme confidence' of the buyers.

 

The fact its gone to arbitration doesnt fill me with any sort of confidence like, nor does it suggest that the piracy dealings had anything to do with the decision either.

 

I was thinking along these lines earlier. I mean if the PL are willing to get this done then why go ahead with arbitration?

 

I absolutely love and appreciate the leaks or itks the people post on here but it's all confidence from the club/buyers side. The crucial info would be from how the PL are seeing things. I mean if they are confident an agreement can be reached then its takeover bath time, but I haven't seen a single leak regarding the PL's stance.

 

That being said, I'm getting excited day by day and it's looking positive, however we need to remember that it was "days not weeks" in the summer and it crashed.

They have to go through arbitration before it goes to court.

Just because Masters want’s it concluded soon, it doesn’t mean he wants to accept it.

Even if piracy is an issue, the top 6 are still going to be an issue and we have already seen how willing to accommodate them he is.

That's not really right, it is usually arbitration or court for the reasons I mention above.

I don’t know much about it but isn’t arbitration the thing that comes before the court case. All parties trying to work it out out of court so a judge doesn’t have to?

Typically it is arbitration OR court, not one than the other. Typically the decision of the arbitrator is final and binding on both parties - both parties sign up to the 'rules of the game' before arbitration commences.

This is different to mediation, where an informal mediator is appointed to try and resolve the differences between the parties before the situation escalates. So there will be a final decision on this, one way or the other. Of course, what we don't know is exactly what the arbitration is deciding. The question might not be 'is the takeover permitted or not' but rather 'has the premier league acted properly or not'. Even if Newcastle 'win' it still doesn't necessarily mean the takeover is given a green light.

When you think in Scotland that Motherwell were handed two 3-0 wins because their opponents weren’t able to fulfil fixtures due to Covid, we’re very lucky.

Not really comparable, Motherwell's opponents had deliberately breached self-isolation guidelines.

The rules are that game must go ahead as long as we have a GK and 14 players.

 

Shortstaff, Vilca, Scott, O’Connor all count as players due to playing elsewhere so we need 15 in isolation or all three keepers for the postponement to be permitted

They aren't the rules.

Great from Clark.