HaydnNUFC

They're all coming down our left as well.

Aye, just let him on his stronger foot lads.

We never get the rub of the green in this fucking fixture. Ever.

Never a yellow you fat bald cunt.

Hope we give a decent account regardless, we were pretty much out as soon as the draw was made, even if we didn't have injuries/suspensions. Nice to see Howe try something different.

L ngstaff

We've been outrageously unlucky with Tonali's suspension and injuries, no doubt about that, but the summer wasn't good imo. Obviously easy to say with hindsight. But I think the plan was to double down on the style of play that was successful last season by having 4 grafting wingers who we could run into the ground, a quality midfielder who could cover and play with Bruno and depth at full back rather than pursuing arguably more pressing matters in the squad such as an upgrade at RW, a striker more reliable in terms of fitness than Wilson or just something like a different kind of attacker that could enable to us to play and win matches in different ways; play between the lines, control possession and tempo in games a lot more than we have been able to this season etc. A lot of this is bad luck, but because of the summer and us looking to reinforce what worked last season ahead of owt else we can't change it up and find different ways to win games when we hit a wall. It's also made Howe look a bit naive as (despite us reportedly playing a back 5 today) we never seem to change shape but stick to the fundamental style of play which gets rendered ineffective when injuries pile up, make niggles in particular players worse due to them playing more minutes than they should and increasingly devoid those players of confidence.

Think that's been clear since it started tbph.

I absolutely love Ian Wright though, he's sound.

Mostly, but I absolutely despise Gabriel, Jorginho and Havertz and I can't stand their holier-than-thou shite craic fans.

Developed a pretty strong hatred of Arsenal personally. Of Arteta, a few of their current players and many of their fans anyway. Cannot fucking stand them.

Chants with lyrics on the screen. Bloody hell.

This is pure nihilism, need to stop. Getting depressed. But replacing Isak would be incredibly difficult. I struggle to think of many strikers out there as good as him or better than him. The ones I can think of aren't coming here with no Europe or serious chance(s) of silverware when they'll have the pick of other clubs that can offer both. If they're not already at one.

Maybe, but his injury record before signing for us is very good. Barnes likewise. Perhaps it's us.

Yep. Isak is the one I worry the most about. We consistently don't get the best out of him and given how good he is to think that he wouldn't entertain the thought of leaving for an Arsenal or another big club closer to challenging for the top honours either here or abroad in Europe is delusional imo. Obviously we would get top money for him if we were to let him go, but to replace him with a player just as good as him or better would take £80m+ at least. And the players that cost that much will have better offers than from us.

Fuuuuck me. There was some shocking ideas put forward at the ballot thing I was at n'al.

Fuck sake.

I made continuous jibes about that poll and posts in this thread and the Howe thread after Watford (H) in January 2022 when Howe proceeded to turn it round and have the success of last season. It was clear that we had improved tactically but just needed signings to implement what he was trying to do at a good enough level. It was mid way through January, getting rid for Benitez then who was sacked by Everton the same weekend as that Watford game for doing a shite job there would've been absolutely mental.

Will always love him for what he did here. But his stock has fallen exponentially, especially from when he was appointed here. Also would not have him back in any capacity whatsoever. He'd never be anything other than a manager for one so that rules almost every other role out, but I want(ed) a clean break from everything Ashley and that includes him.

The poll at the top of the page. Good lord.

That's worded much worse than it is. We have 1 more game until the international break which we would lose with Barnes anyway.

Howay, man.

'Lots of good' isn't what I expected to be amongst the first things he says in this.

He's abysmal and has been for ages now. If he's regularly starting games for us in the PL next season, fml.

Yep. The positions that Forest found Wood in ( ) at SJP is exactly what we should be aiming to do with him.