Whitley mag

You can guarantee one thing if we go down, it’ll be nowt to do with Bruce or Ashley. The press will have a field day sticking the knife into the Saudis and Staveley.

Does more than that, it puts us in the box seat with new signings hopefully to arrive next week.

Exactly I don’t think anyone would have chosen Smith if they’re being honest.

Result tomorrow then some new signings flown out to meet MBS happy fucking days.

Dean Smith doing very well if they win this, wasn’t a fashionable choice but credit where it’s due.

Birds a fucking cunt end of.

Not convinced by Joelinton in a midfield 2 absolutely not. We’ve been playing with 3 in midfield and results show it’s clearly not working. If I wanted Joelinton to run at the opposition I’d play him to the left, but in this instance against Leeds I’d prefer Almiron’s pace on the counter.

It’s about finding a system that works and he wasn’t lazy last season. Howe needs to get him playing and he’s a far better option in this match than Shelvey. Also not convinced by Joelinton in a midfield 2, our midfield options are shit so Willock has to play in my opinion if fit.

Has to be a re think from Howe here. Going into last week of the window and with a 2 week break, there would be no better time for a result. Apart from Raphina and Harrison not convinced these are that great, match their intensity and bin Shelvey we might nick it. Dubravka Schar - Lascelles - Dummett Trippier Lewis Willock - Longstaff St Max Almiron Wood

Got no problem with Howe calling the shots with the ground work done by Nickson on targets. We’re in a fire fight and the time for a DOF will be in the summer when planning can begin. The club chose Howe and have to back him, if they’d appointed Rafa few would have had a problem with him choosing players this window. The problem will arise if Howe turns out to be a dud and we’ve backed the wrong horse. However, I’m quite sure once a DOF is in place a transfer strategy will materialise, this window is a one off and if a machine gun approach to transfers works nobody will complain. Big pressure on Howe though once more signings arrive, rightly or wrongly I think he’ll pay with his job if we go down.

Yeah back 3 the question is who do you play alongside Carlos and Dummett ? The popular answer will be Schar, but Lascelles might be the more sensible option for this one.

Proper old school away day this, not one for the feint hearted. Keep it tight and don’t let them over run us, have a sneaky feeling this is where the worm turns 0-2 Wood and St Max. Who the fucking hell are Leeds.

There’s got to be something not right with VDB, even Rangnick hasn’t entertained him so far. Where crying out for a bit of creativity but he’s not the guy in our current position.

These people have my unequivocal backing for many years. They’ll get it right eventually and so what if they decided to back the managers judgement this window, it wasn’t an unreasonable decision to think he would be the best placed person in our predicament. Look at Rafa he’s signed 2 fucking full backs yet again and will be sacked. Many wouldn’t be saying anything if he was making the call on transfers this January. Are they struggling to sign players because we haven’t got a DOF, or is it simply because January is not a month to conduct a rebuild. I strongly suspect the latter is the major reason. If folk want to blame the owners for this relegation then crack on, but in my opinion it’ll be misguided and only 2 men will be responsible for this mess. At this point would I take Ashley still being here and shit housing our way to survival with no hope, or relegation under new owners with every hope and genuine ambitions of being a force again some day. I’d take relegation every fucking time the club is alive again.

Yeah, despite the disappointment today it was always a must not lose for me. We can still turn it around, though Watford will undoubtedly now have a boost for their 2 games this week. The best we can hope for is a couple of draws to keep us in striking distance.

The biggest disappointment so far for me. The support has been unrelenting since Spurs and the cunts have shown little response.

The place is just waiting to take off, unfortunately the players haven’t bought into the optimism. It’s fucking unforgivable and very few of them deserve to be part of our future going forward. Lots of folk are coming back to St Jame’s for the first time in years, it’s such a shame with the strength of support at the minute that we haven’t capitalised.

Yeah, it’s a shame KK wasn’t a few years younger he would have inspired the cunts. I think Howe’s clearly a student of the game, but I totally get where your coming from that’s how I feel about him tonight. As it happens I don’t think Emery would have been any better, as I can’t see these players responding to a technical European coach either. Maybe Gerrard was that type of figure who would have inspired but also rattled a few of their fucking cages.

Undoubtedly been given a shit hand with these players, some of whom should never darken our door again after this season. I have to say though I think a top manager would have recognised deficiencies, and regardless of their ideology would have been more pragmatic. At times we’ve played with no protection in front of the back 4, with these defenders it’s arguable we shouldn’t even be playing with a back 4. Still fully behind him as we have no other choice, but I have a nagging doubt he’s a good coach, without being that great manager and inspirational figure that we really needed in our position.

He’s overseen a couple of good wins since moving, they’ll be dangerous on the break today.

I’d play Krath at right back and move Trippier to avoid playing Ritchie. Ranieri is a wily old fox and will exploit Ritchie at left back if he plays. Just about every team has exploited Ritchie at left back, just don’t do it Howe FFS.

Tricky balancing act today for Howe they’re not great, but play a high line against Pedro, Dennis and King we could get caught out. Confident we’ll score but patience is the key today from team and fans.

Neutralised Vlahovic in this report, but doesn’t sound like he’ll be easy to prize away either. https://football-italia.net/juric-hails-bremer-after-vlahovic-neutralised-by-torino-defender/

Wilson has struggled massively this season in my opinion and struggled to lead the line. I actually think St Max and co will play better off Wood, as he holds the ball up a lot better. He’s also a bigger physical presence in the box, which we haven’t had for a long time.

It would have been scattergun with a DoF appointed aswell, even the top operators would struggle in this window in our predicament.