TheInfiniteOdyssey

Seems like Arthur Melo’s proposed loan move to Arsenal has collapsed, if Juventus bring in Zakaria, they will need to move him on. Unlikely possibility, but perhaps we could make an offer.

If a club is wanting to shift a high-value player in the next few days and / or agent looking to get a big payday, we would be the club everyone would be calling up. I’d expect the board to be presented with a lot of new opportunities this weekend, players that weren’t interested but now are; teams that are now looking to sell who weren’t before. Perhaps I’m too optimistic, but I think we’ll get another ‘statement’ signing after Guimaraes

Liverpool would extract as disproportionate a fee as they can get from us for Origi, but he's the type of player I would pay over the odds for to get him in now. Think he would do very well.

Liverpool looking to offload Origi and Minamino, would take them both.

Just my view, but if Alli signs I think he’d really reignite his career here, he’s got (or rather had) the perfect blend of guile and nastiness in his game. Think he’d really enjoy playing up here as well.

Hopefully such a positive result will swing things a bit in our negotiations for players like Lingard.

No doubt they’re trying hard, but can’t help but think that’s another game thrown away if no new signings in for Leeds.

I mean, yeah that wasn’t great either was it? Here’s hoping Howe gets the team clicking in the coming weeks with the results to boot. Perhaps the Saudi camp after Leeds will get the squad up to a fluid understanding of what he wants to set out.

The squad isn’t strong, but to not win against Brentford, Norwich, Watford all at home represents a poor return. When Howe was appointed, I’m sure we all looked at those fixtures as ideal opportunities to accumulate points. I never would have expected to not win a single one of them. We need massive improvement in all aspects of the squad but I still think the manager has to take some responsibility for results. The Cambridge result also was just horrific. To criticise the manager do I need to hold a UEFA Pro Licence now? I want him to succeed but it’s a results business at the end of the day and I have doubts he can ultimately turn it around.

I think he should have had better results with the 10 games he’s had regardless though

Wasn’t he supposed to have delivered a very convincing presentation at his interview on the squad’s strengths, weaknesses, how to get them to play a different way etc? I doubt he went to the interview and said actually “I need Botman, Carlos, Van De Beek and Trippier” to get any results.

You know how many games he’s managed, I don’t think he’s met expectations regardless. Patience isn't necessarily something that’s even rewarded in this sport either. I’m not advocating for him to go anytime soon, but as mentioned earlier, I can understand with another negative result to a similar side like Leeds, why some fans will feel like this appointment hasn’t worked out. Fundamentally, I don’t think it’s wrong for fans to expect more than this.

Patience isn’t limitless though. This is competitive sport and you’ll be judged on results regardless. That’s the reality and the results unfortunately haven’t been good enough. We all want Howe to succeed, but there has to be a point where you question if he’s the right man for the job. All fans will have a different threshold for when that point is for them. People can be happy with his initial appointment and now be unhappy with how things have gone since. That’s not an inherently contradictory stance to adopt. He’s had 10 games, we’ve been inconsistent, there’s been little sustained encouragement against sides of varying calibre and we haven’t got the points we expected to accumulate. Another negative result against Leeds and I’d find it hard to disagree with people who would be open to a change in manager.

Don’t see the value in bringing him back, unfortunately most of the players he had last time are still here and some of the more influential voices seemed delighted when he walked away. Don’t think he’d have any positive impact

Sorry like but there has to be a more nuanced middle-ground than “expecting perfection” to dismiss concerns on recent form such as getting 0 wins from Brentford, Norwich and Watford in the league and being eliminated from the cup at home to league one opposition. The fans have been very patient and supportive, more so than many other clubs I’d expect.

Personally, if we get relegated, I don’t think Howe should be kept on to get us promoted. I’d be reluctant to have confidence in a manager who would have at that point completely failed in his original ask to keep us up.

Some of the key decisions can be viewed as questionable and deserve criticism. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reaching that evaluation

Would love to be proven wrong, but genuinely don’t think Howe is capable of turning this around.

Have to agree with every point The DOF strategy is crazy, they’ve been outsourcing the recruitment to some agency and apparently won’t be concluded until well after end of January.

They’ve had months to be prepared for this window, I don’t understand why they haven’t pursued players of that profile. The squad needed extensive improvement.

I get that, but think even with that considered, you absolutely have to get a win out of Brentford, Norwich and Watford at home Not to mention one of the worst results in our modern history getting beat off Cambridge

I just don’t buy into the idea we can’t judge Howe on the squad he is working with now.

Absolutely agree and it’s easy to say in hindsight but a pragmatic appointment keeps us up. Such a shame that the Emery deal was torpedoed Even Dean Smith would have been a better appointment as I think he could have got more out of this dressing room.

In fairness Watford are a unique situation in that they can transfer players between their affiliated teams (Udinese) so easily. But doesn’t excuse how terrible our recruitment operation is.

No idea why a few are struggling with such a simple concept. We all want Howe to succeed, but it hasn’t worked out.