Holmesy

Fuck knows! No one does. But if someone buys a business for £50m, they employ teams of auditors to go through every fine detail. If you buy a property for even £1m your solicitor is going thorough everything with a fine tooth comb. I’ve no idea what the scouting and vetting process is, but if it was anyone’s job to uncover shit like this it would be DA’s wouldn’t it? ??‍♂️ As I said before, I was merely speculating, but I can’t imagine the board are happy at spending £50m and watching their asset sit around while we’re dropping down the league

? You don’t think when we’re making a £50m investment, we dig as deep as possible?! I don’t know to what extent, but I’m sure it’s more than just asking folk if he’s a nice lad.

There was a rumour his missus wanted to move to London, not Newcastle and that played a big part in his decision. Not sure we ever had a real chance

Background checks not uncovering a serious gambling problem? You don’t think?

I do wonder if he stock might’ve fallen a bit, hence the links to Man Utd. If he and his team are responsible for identifying and researching the players we buy, the Tonali debacle reflects terribly on him, as does Lewis’s apparent unreadiness for first team action. Pure speculation but who knows?!

Serious question - what signs have you seen that he’s working on his limitations? We’ve been wide open in midfield for weeks, and we’re still wide open now. We've been prone to counter attacks all season and we still are. We’ve had no plan B all season and we still have no plan B. I wish I had the faith and confidence you do, but what I’m seeing doesn’t give me any.

Of course I appreciate it. We are a world apart from where we were pre-Eddie, but I also think we can’t be too sentimental about it if we genuinely have hopes of winning top honours. People may disagree but I cant See us winning anything big under EH - he just has too many limitations as a manager. I’ve never mentioned Mourinho and I wouldn’t want him anywhere near the club, but a young, proven manager with pedigree that could kick us on to the next level would be attractive. And I don’t think it would take away the feel good factor at all. If we sacked EH now it would, but give him chance to turn it around and if he doesn’t, make the decision. By that time most people won’t be feeling good about the situation any more anyway. Let me just clarify, I don’t want him sacked. I want him to turn this around and learn from his mistakes, but my confidence in his ability to do either is not high

Why would it be undone? We have ambitious owners who would likely replace them with people who can build on the platform we’ve created, not tear it down

Is it?! Explain why. Has he run players into the ground? Has he managed this game poorly? A team who were only ever going to counter attack us? Is there an argument that he mis-managed us from a winning position against Liverpool, AC Milan and arguably this game? What is his plan b? Name one game where he made an effective in-game change to swing the result? I’m happy to be corrected, but you haven’t done that. You’ve just used your extensive vocabulary to disagree, with no follow up

And this one especially is on Eddie. His weaknesses have been exposed over the past few months, but our home form was his saving grace. But tactical naivety, running players into the ground, an inability to make effective in game changes, no plan B, mis-management when we’re in winning positions etc. are all starting to look like traits rather than one-offs.

People talk about him learning from his mistakes because he’s a student of the game. There’s absolutely no sign of it! Just more of the same old shit, and the fateeeeeg argument doesn’t wash any more. This is just tactical suicide against a team who were always going to play on the counter

Plan b?

Unfortunately you can’t coach the thick out of players. His decision making at crucial times is almost always wrong. He shoots when he should pass, he passes when he shoot shoot and he’s totally incapable of crossing a ball, seemingly. Lovely guy, very average footballer at this level.

Time to get rid!

Given how long it takes players to get up to speed and bed into EH’s way of playing, I doubt we’ll do much in Jan. Players are on their way back from injuries so they might just risk going with what we’ve got.

I’m not sure about this. It’s not just the results, the performances are awful. If there was a collective feeling we’ve missed out on wins due to bad luck I think people would take it. The abject performances will never be accepted I don’t think

It’s hard to disagree with this. In game changes are totally ineffective and it’s obvious that if we can’t execute our plan A, due to injuries or fateeeeg, we’re shite. Our plan A at full tilt is impressive but it’s also seriously flawed if we’re not able to run through brick walls. The ‘no hope’ bit is a bit much, but confidence is not exactly high and do think EH has exposed his weaknesses a lot over the past few weeks.

Fateeeeg man, fateeeeg!!

So, pretty much 4 days off. A slight exaggeration on my part, but still enough time to recover and put in a performance better than that. Some people are giving these players and the manager a very easy ride.

There is no excuse for that. People can continue to pedal the tiredness thing, but it does wash now. They’ve had almost a full week off and half of them look like they’re hungover. It’s fucking tragic to watch. One shot in 45 minutes against a championship side ffs!

Longstaff needs to be read the riot act at half time. He’s been pathetic!

Forget signing new players to fill in for injuries, we need to sign some to put a rocket up some of these complacent fuckers!

He played under Bielsa for 2 years and the whole team were weighed weekly. He was a mainstay of that side.

What a lovely lad!

I’d hate to see him leave because I’ve grown to love him but yeah, if we’re going to compete for top honours, where does he fit?! if he could just learn to connect with a football in front of goal, he could contribute 10-12 a season and then it’s a different story.