HaydnNUFC

I don't think Barnes was a mistake as I think he's a good r̶e̶a̶l̶ e̶s̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ m̶a̶g̶n̶a̶t̶e̶ player, but it's puzzling at best that he can't get starts ahead of Jacob Murphy when he's been fit since February/March. Hindsight and all that but I'd personally have rather spent the £40m we paid for Barnes on a RW last summer when we also had the pull of CL football.

Which is true, but we have a £80m outlay on 2 LWs who the manager chooses to hardly ever start together when we've needed a RW for years.

I'm begging Tonali can help us play in different ways or at least help with the bold as it looks like atm we're trying to play a way we just can't do. We could've signed players (mainly last summer) to aid us doing that but didn't.

Trippier's started 1 match since 2nd March. He's also going to turn 34 this season and is one of our highest earners, plus we'll not get more than the alleged £12m Bayern were offering in January now. He also may well have asked to leave this window. He is important to how we play (a downside of the system but that's another matter) but that's testament to our ineffective our main RW options are, and why they need upgrading. As without Trippier, that right side is poor offensively. I personally would have sold Trippier in January and got to the end of season (we arguably did anyway, given his lack of starts since early March), kept Tino and Krafth as RBs and go for a RW who can actually get a good level of goal involvements in tandem with what a club who 'expects to be in Europe' should probably have on that side.

We just need to get better at squad management and being ruthless. If an opportunity arises where we can move first teamers who are not playing/starting much on at an optimum value due to their ages we need to be taking them; Trippier in January, Almirón this summer.

Because our valuation of him is too high. No one will pay over £10m for him and his value is only going to decrease.

Charlotte FC offered close to the absolute maximum we'd get for a soon to be 31 year old attacker with the same amount of goal involvements last season as Dan Burn tbf.

I tried to remember what you said back then but but just couldn't do it so I pinched most of it. Shameless, I'm aware, but absolutely think it all.

So much for the pre match thread at the bottom of the home page.

I really think Pope being out for so long is the biggest factor that contributed to us being so defensively shite last season. That plus us persisting with Burn at LB in a period where he was getting rinsed by any winger with pace. We last signed a RW in 2017 and our current 2 options there will be over 30 this season and aren't good enough.

I found the whole 'mackem in Milan' thing at the CL draw quite cringe. And his response to the Trust on ticket price rises was poor.

Going to write that vent. @Kanji This is just my own personal view, not claiming these are the thoughts of others and if others think I'm talking utter garbage feel free to call it as such and we can debate it. May even cheer me up a bit. But I can’t shake this feeling at this current moment in time. Sign someone and I’ll probably change, such is the fickle nature of football fandom. It’s negative unfortunately though I do think that many of my feelings are based on decent(ish) foundations. Here we go, HTT-esque. I don’t think that this current window or the 2 previous to it have been very good. I think we’ve lacked boldness for want of a better word; summer 2023 we tried to reinforce what worked in 2022/23 rather than look to augment what we had and give us something different to allow us to play and win matches in different ways. Whether that was an attacker to allow us to play between the lines, a more designated defensive midfielder to give us more control especially away from home and allow Bruno further up the pitch more often etc - numerous options that we chose not to go for. In January we were stretched for injuries admittedly, though we didn’t sell Trippier for a fee that we just won’t get the chance to take again for a soon-to-be 34 year old. We also chose not to sign a goalkeeper despite the clear hindrance Dubravka was to our defensive play last season. Almiron this season as well, we'd do incredibly well to get north of £10m for him. This summer window still has time before the deadline, but we had the PSR issues sorted at the end of June. We are now at the end of August and still have not made a signing that improves the first XI. All the while the teams expected to be around us: Chelsea, Spurs, West Ham, Villa, Brighton have all improved their XIs from last season and look better for it. If we don’t sign anyone else this window has been a failure; no first XI additions/upgrades for 2 windows would be pure stagnation. Sign a CB, fine. Sign a RW, good. Sign both, fantastic. It doesn’t look like the latter will happen despite how imperative it looked once the FT whistle went at Brentford in May. In addition, regarding Marc Guehi, £65m+ is totally over paying imo and when we’ve been notoriously hamstrung by PSR recently I’ve been puzzled as to why there has been no reliable rumours of us chasing players overseas outside of Thiaw and the total non starter of Tapsoba. European markets have more value for money and don’t have their chairmen hopping onto TalkSport to talk about how their players are superstars, so I don’t understand why there’d be a reluctance to explore that market. Tosin signed for Chelsea on 1 July so we’d have had since then to look elsewhere if CB is where we’ll spend our money this window and we still don’t have one 4 and a half days before the deadline. And the RW issue has been talked about many times before; that Murphy and Almiron are still our only options there in the 2024-25 season is genuinely vexing. I don’t think it's unreasonable to say that these windows backfired last season and threatens to this as well. A big part of it was sheer bad luck last season with a number of injuries and in the case of Tonali. But we have largely an inability to change it up or find other ways to win matches and that leads to a vicious spiral, definitely in last season’s case: we run players into the ground and make injuries worse, which increasingly makes our style of play ineffective and it makes Howe look naive. That problem persists now, we look to play the same way and when that doesn’t work we look like we have no semblance of a tactical plan. That has remained in matches away from home for over 12 months. As has Barnes being unable to get starts ahead of Jacob Murphy when he has been fit since February/March. On Howe himself, I love the bloke and has given me my best and favourite ever days following this club. But if I’m being brutally honest I’m a lot less confident now than I was 12 months ago that he’s going to be an elite manager that consistently has us in the top 6. I absolutely pray I’m wrong about that but the way we played yesterday, continuing our largely crap away performances from last season into this and the general lack of excitement about the season gave me an ominous feeling personally. All of that has blended into how I feel at this current moment in time: I feel like we’re stagnating. I also think it’s been understated just how important of a season this is for the club: this season will dictate where the project under PIF/Howe is going. If we don’t achieve European football I think then we’ll see the likes of Isak, Gordon and Bruno wanting to move on. They’re far better than a club that isn’t in Europe. And in Isak’s case particularly, he is quite literally irreplaceable. 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. TLDR; I feel deflated. Sign a player or players and I likely won’t be.

There's still time for that to change as the window isn't shut yet. I'm glad the footy's back but I don't feel excited about this season at this current moment in time. I could write/vent a very long post on how I feel about our prospects this season but I'll just probably be airing shite judgements clouded by transfer inactivity.

TBF we're going into this season with (as it stands right now) the exact same team as last season as no real improvements to the XI have been made whilst the majority of clubs you expect to be around us have all improved. And we've been largely crap away from home for 12 months and were once again yesterday. People being OTT are exactly that and can be ignored (though I can't see too many posters being as such) but its totally understandable why people feel flat and that its gone stale a bit. Because not going to lie atm, I do.

It's why it's imperative to achieve European football this season and from an admittedly small sample size thus far this season we look nowhere near compared to those you expect to be around us. Something needs to change.

Fuck it, am making one. Fuck you all.

Is a draw thread the pre match thread for cup games? Never understood.

Regarding the handball, Wilson had a goal disallowed incredibly similarly at Brentofrd, April 2023.

I don't know if this is obtuse or facetious from myself and I don't know if you are using this as an excuse (please say if you're not) but I'll never buy this as one. "We're usually shite against team x so it's acceptable/okay that we have been once again." Am probably just frustrated at another crap away performance but it's a little #worrying.

That we're about to enter September 2024, 3 years after the takeover and Jacob Murphy who will turn 30 this season and Miguel Almirón, who will turn 31 this season, remain our main options on the RW is baffling. I don't know whether it can be put down to a lack of boldness, ruthlessness, planning, ambition or what but everyone knows they should've been upgraded.

We don't get the best out of him away from home. Consistently failed to last season.

Wake up call that. Performance was absolutely lifting first 60 minutes and we're still lucky to come away with a point. Sort it out.

That's a red. Fucking clown.

Nice. Turn the screw