HaydnNUFC

Christ almighty. If he was a race horse he'd have been put down by now. Hindsight but selling him after finishing 4th and he was fit and on the back of 18 goals would've been ideal. Could've got decent money for him then as well. He'll leave for nowt, now.

Is there a source for that?

The bit with the bairn at the end of that vid. He's such a good egg.

It seems to be a league wide issue. It's multifaceted; games nowadays needing the right circumstances for a crowd to be up for it a la kick off day and time, pattern of the game, refereeing of the game etc. The increase of corporatisation of stadia, increasing ticket prices: a lot of those who'd be amongst a hypothetical new Toon Ultras group are now priced out. It's £45 for a ticket in Level 7 now against non big 6 opposition and even more expensive in the rest of the ground. Helps PSR though, I've heard.

It limits him at being brilliant further forward more often which can give us another dimension in our attacking play (as seen on Saturday with the pass for Isak's 1v1 amongst others) but it doesn't happen as often as it could/should. A DM would unlock him more to be able to do that whilst simultaneously providing defensive cover. The most ideal midfield 3 imo would be a DM at the base with Bruno and Tonali as the 8s*. They would then be able to interchange with Willock and Miley when they are back up to speed. It's a road of playstyle evolution we could've went down which would've improved us imo, but chose not to. *football hipster wanker term, but you know what I mean

Howay Ian, man. It's more than that and you know it.

He was shafted but I also don't think that he's totally blameless for it. Also, he was backed in summer 2023 with a lot of money and that window is looking ever more like a missed opportunity at best and a poor window at worst as the signings made then haven't evolved us. With only Hall looking like he's genuinely improving.

Can’t make a post regarding this without making an attempt to be HTT’s replacement, but I posted the below on my personal feelings on the whole situation after the draw and performance at Bournemouth in August. Apologies for the negativity but I can’t shy away from how I feel. I feel exactly the same, if nothing else those feelings are more elevated now. It isn’t just 8 games, nor have the slight improvements we’ve seen over 3 league matches which are yet to yield a goal from open play given me much uplift, this stems back across nearly 18 months. A lack of tactical evolution through poor decisions made in the summer just gone and in summer 2023, a lack of ruthlessness in moving players out, a continuation into this season of poor away showings even if our trip to Goodison was better than what we are used to against an Everton side on the day with a 39 year old at LB and a midfielder RB and a loss of any identity particularly in possession wherever we play. It’s the same 4-3-3 set up with a flat midfield that seems to lack balance and a totally ineffective right hand side offensively. Nigh on every week. So we end up lopsided and predictable, asking Gordon to do almost all of our positive attacking play. It results in disjointedness and a lack of real identity with the ball; there are next to no clear patterns of play in the latter 2 thirds going forward when in possession of the ball. Which in turn has led to an evaporation in our goal scoring which was the one thing we were good at last season and we continue to fail to get the best striker we’ve had in 20 years involved in most matches (despite how poor he was on Saturday). So what are we actually good at now? What are we able to rely on when the chips are down? When we finished 4th it was our defence; we currently have 5 league clean sheets in 29 games. It’s not our set pieces either, as ours have been pitiful for a while now. We don't look like a particularly well coached team; these things are the manager’s remit. Reading this back as I’m writing it it seems that I’m being overtly negative even to myself but I think the primary reason for that is I can’t see a way out as it is. When the going got tough under Howe in the past I was always positive on here; when Watford scored that late equaliser at SJP in January 2022 and 25% of this forum wanted him sacked even though he only had 10 games in charge, we just had to sign the CM and CB to execute the tactical improvements he’d made up to that point. We did. When the goals dried up in January-February 2023 he just had to bring Isak in for Wilson. He did. Last season when it got really bad with the injuries December-January we just had to get the injured players back. We (sort of) did. What’s that tweak on the horizon we can make now? We’ve been mostly crap away from home for 18 months with no sign of that changing in that time injuries or not, Botman coming back may won’t change it imo as he wasn’t able to when he came back from injury the first time (Jan-March last season) and Burn has actually been superb at CB. It feels like we’re labouring from one game to the next just hoping blindly that ‘we might not be shit this week’. It’s so stale. In my post Bournemouth post, I ended it with “If come this season’s end we fail to achieve Europe or we’re at a point where we look adrift from it, as sacrilegious as it feels to type out, I think I’ll want a change of manager. And I think the club will too. I’m praying that it doesn’t come to that.” We’re not mathematically adrift by any means due to the season’s youth, but I don’t see us getting European football this season based on what I’ve already seen from us, those around us and what we have seen over this calendar year on and off the pitch. I posted after the match on Saturday (after a few beers admittedly) that I’d lost almost all faith in Howe. Perhaps hyperbolic, but considering everything I’ve said I don’t think I believe that he’s the man to take us forward into this next stage under PIF anymore atm. And I’m fucking devastated about it.

He's not been that effective there for us and he's coming off the back of a season of 10 goals and 10 assists from the LW. Moving him to accommodate Barnes who has yet to show signs when starting games hasn't bore that much fruit the few times we've done it.

Wilson's injury record has always been as it is since 2015, most of which under Howe himself. If they couldn't see that then, bliddy hell. With Almirón, again on naff squad planning, lack of ruthlessness/boldness etc, he shouldn't have been given a new contract in February 2023. We should've cashed in after that form he just wouldn't have replicated as his value would never have been higher and he was still under 30. Its that sort of outgoing we've deliberately seemed to avoid outside of selling Chris Wood. As I said in the Howe thread also, I'd have (the potentially unpopular opinion of) not renewing Joelinton's contract summer just gone and selling him for a younger, more designated DM. I'm not suggesting us signing a RW instead of Gordon. It was putting the £40m we spent on Barnes on a RW and we'd likely have had a decent pool to pick from given we had the pull of CL football.

Last summer was a disaster/failure, whatever way you want to put it, but summer 2023 has put question marks over the what the strategy was that window given our lack of tactical evolution following it. We signed good players but Howe hasn't found a way to best implement them yet, we've just put them into the system that got us 4th 2 seasons ago. Same again this season. RW has been a outstanding weakness for a while imo. We haven't signed a recognised one in 7(!) years. Could become 8 if we don't get one in January. Almiron's goalscoring run in October '22 he never looked likely to replicate, and the season prior to it most of which was under Howe he achieved 1 goal and 0 assists in 30 appearances. Benitez had sent Murphy out on loan 5 years ago due to being surplus to requirements. Just looking like poor medium-long term squad planning and it's a big part of why we've looked unbalanced for a while.

Its not an error per se, but baffling? I'd say it's looking like it is. Our right hand side is an absolute mess. Because of the lack of evolution in our tactical set up going forward we are still reliant on Trippier, who's 34 and has had the vice captaincy took off him, as we still look more balanced when he plays even now. Tino, as promising as he is, has a different game to Trippier; his game is not overlapping and sticking crosses in. It's his ball carrying and dribbling, and still I'd argue he's more of a defensive RB than an offensive one. So when Tino plays, we have a defensive RB and two ineffective RWs, as we have neglected to improve that position for so long. Whilst we have an £80m outlay on two LWs, both of whom Howe can't get starting together and playing we'll together. Perhaps it's hindsight, but Mitchell is looking all the more spot on when he says there was little strategy in our signings. Summer 2023 is looking ever more a watershed to me.

Bruno being used as the base of the midfield 3 stops him getting forward more often. He shouldn't be our DM/base, we should've signed one. Leads onto my (one of my ) unpopular NUFC opinions that I never thought I'd disclose; I wouldn't have renewed Joelinton's contract in the summer. I love him and he's the personification of the club since the takeover, but I'd have thought about selling him in the summer and bringing a more designated DM in. Whether it affects squad harmony or not, these sort of decisions in terms of outgoings we've avoided. And Howe has never really played a DM, arguably one of our and his shortfalls.

It's looking more and more like an opportunistic buy. He's a good finisher with good PL output and we had the chance to get him cheaper than usual due to Leicester going down rather than him being a piece of a jigsaw to a bigger picture. Hence Howe's present confusion of what do with him.

Yep. Villa, Man City, Liverpool, Brighton last season. Man City, Everton and Brighton this season.

True, but I don't think that midfield 3 is balanced. I wasn't convinced it was truly working before Tonali's ban either. I love Tonali, think he's a top class footballer, but the profile(s) of midfielder(s) we needed are still probably need are different to his. But I think that's more down to Howe and his reluctance/refusal to play or sign a more designated DM.

Won 1 game out of 7 where they've started as the midfield 3.

I'd still have sold Wood for the fee we were offered at the time, but we definitely haven't replaced him. Am aware his goalscoring return for us was poor but he offered something different and the ability to be a focal point; give us a different way of playing. Was key for that reason in that run that kept us up and in those few games around when Wilson and Isak were crocked when we finished 4th; Southampton away, Chelsea home, Leicester away. And his goal return for Forest has been very good as they play in a way to get the best out of him. We don't for our striker and haven't for too long.

Feel whenever I watch Anderson at the City Ground he's class. The one time I was really impressed with him playing for us was the last minute Isak penalty game when he come on at HT.

A very fair post, but from what's been out there across the summer up to now I don't think Howe is totally blameless for the summer. And it's looking increasingly like summer 2023 wasn't a great window either. Mainly in regard to not signing what we needed and regarding Barnes: I don't think Howe knows what do with Barnes particularly with getting him and Gordon in the same side and playing well together. Starting him or bringing him off the bench. He's a good finisher, but it's looking increasingly like an opportunistic buy imo. Made all the more odd by our galling situation at RW.

Slot and Nunez there

Non story. The hold up was about TV piracy and only ever was.

First time I've seen a ref stick with his decision after going to the screen. Good.

Dawned on me that we've lost the toss in 5 consecutive home league games.