HaydnNUFC

I'd be quite disappointed with anything below 8th if I'm being brutally honest with myself. (Wouldn't give a flying fuck if we were able to win the FA Cup, like ) Probably a bit demanding but a lot of money has been spent on this squad in the last few transfer windows and to go from 4th to between 12th and 9th in the space of a season would be deflating as hell, mitigating circumstances considered.

Staying off here last night looks to have been a good call given the state of the Howe thread. Just caught up. Thought first half was quite an entertaining match, good football from both. All 5 goals were really good tbh, and underpins why getting the best out of Isak needs to be what we aim to do going forward. The guy is unreal. Second half we looked tired from the first whistle, seemed to sit off Man City from the off. Obviously they're really good and can pin teams in but we didn't replicate any of the good things we did in the first half in the second. Tiredness comes into it, but thought we looked leggy as soon as the second half kicked off. We barely got into their third from what I remember. The gap between the back 4 and the midfield 3 has been killing us all season. It was pre-injuries and still is now and it needs rectifying ASAP otherwise we're going to keep conceding goals. Pritchard wasn't good enough to capitalise on it for the mackems last week, De Bruyne is/was. Needs sorting.

The club can't keep complaining about FFP/PSR when we consistently seem to shop in the most expensive market there is here in this country and the PL. We have a £120m outlay on Gordon, Livramento and Barnes. The first of which has indeed come good this season, the second of which has excelled yet makes for bleemin' Dan Burn at the first opportunity and the latter of which has only played 185 minutes thus far this season. The outlay could become ~£155m if Hall's deal is made permanent even though Matt Ritchie gets on the pitch ahead of him. I imagine what is a reasonable amount of wages is going on de facto cheerleaders in Ritchie, Dummett, Gillespie and dead wood such as Manquillo and Targett plus players who could be sold for a reasonableish fee whom we could afford moving on due to availability or ability such as Wilson or Almirón. Bruno we can't win a football match without even against dross opposition, this season and last. Isak is by far and away one of the best strikers we've had in the last 15 years and Botman is a top centre half and only going to improve given his age. We still need a RW and a CB, two positions we neglected to improve in the summer. If any of those 3 players leave then we'll go 2 steps back and given the links we consistently seem to get, many of which are based on nowt, granted, I can't see us going 3 steps forward. This seems like a rant about the club's transfer dealings and/or owners and maybe it is (I don't like Eales, think he's in front of the cameras far too much for a PL CEO, that 'mackem in Milan' thing at the CL draw ) but I guess its more of a 'fuck FFP/PSR' rant. Just venting.

Looking forward to selling Bruno and reinvesting his fee soundly into Solanke and McTominay.

7pm Saturday kick off.

Hate Craig Hope, me. Lock him in his back garden with a radgie XL Bully.

'Set the XL bullies on them' ffs

Aye. Assume we'll get the whole Putney End? Around 6k? I went last season when we won 1-4, great trip. Would 100% go again to this tie but yi kna...

Boring draw. Be a good trip though. Would try and go if the club didn't think people passing tickets on were the spawn of Satan.

I'm one of Almirón's biggest critics and still want him upgraded upon ASAP but he was outstanding yesterday. Got to give credit where its absolutely due.

Had a deek at a couple threads on there to see the levels of headloss, my God the lack of self awareness is astounding.

Home against someone absolutely shit, please. Maidstone would be canny.

Necta.

Outstanding today, like. Was my MOTM but can see why it was given to Bruno.

Nice, untroubled dispatching of lower league opposition. Lovely.

Could be 3 or 4 up. They're fucking shite. Almirón in that first half, outstanding.

Wish I was dead.

COME ON

Felt dreadful about this game for days, today's events have improved my mood no bounds.

Small moments like that cost teams goals and therefore results. How many moments has he had like that in the last month? Everton away, Spurs away, Milan at home, numerous against Forest at home all from the top of my head. That Gordon in 19 appearances for us this season is only 1 PL assist (5) off Almirón's total for us in 5 years and 164 appearances (6) should speak enough volumes. Needs upgrading ASAP, it's infuriating to watch.

Absolutely loved Dybala when he was at Juve before Ronaldo signed. 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 he was phenomenal.

Need a RW as well. Needed one for years now tbh.

This season yeah, but our success last season was down to far more than just us getting lucky with injuries. And I agree. Though I do worry if the player we go for is the kind of player we usually get linked with in the press. We need to find more than 1 way to play the game, our 1 way relies on outrageous levels of fitness and exertion and its fucked if a large number of players are out like we have now and its the main reason we've looked so poor for so long. We need players with individual technical quality on the ball to keep the ball and/or play between lines and unlock teams.