WilliamPS

They’re goosed this season but his value might be even higher in June than now if he keeps putting in performances. They might reckon it’s better to sell later

They have a dog of the match? Barking

Oddly it’s a bigger game for Newcastle than Spurs, they’ve got their illness and injuries to hide behind, losing can be explained away. Whereas to get 4th or 5th means winning games like this and making sure Man Utd wasn’t a one off

I’d add that when the team need a goal, Barnes is literally the only card Howe has to play at the moment. He is the only way Howe can do something (usefully) different in the last 15 minutes. Otherwise it’s bringing on Miggy and changing a midfielder. If Osula was ready or Wilson fit it might be different. Even if a RW comes in, Howe isn’t going to want to have to rely on Murphy as the super sub.

As with Trips/Tino, fans of this club are just totally unable to comprehend having two good players for the same position, and have a desperate need to get back to bare bones.

The Athletic said he failed to agree personal terms in the summer, which sounds more likely than it being the transfer fee. 16m sounds more like the total outlay for Charlotte including wages, don’t they tend to describe deals in those terms in American sports? That probably ends up being something like £10m in Miggys pocket over his 3/4 year contract and £6m to the club as a transfer fee

If you offer this pair one year you got to accept they will leave. Schar is a starting CB for a team currently 5th, he’s 33, not 43. Krafth is only 30 and has proved he can handle himself in the PL. Would they sign one year deals? Schar will know he hasn’t many years left and will want 2 to stay, he could get 3 lower down the PL or abroad I’d guess. Krafth at 30 will be able to get a 3 or 4 year deal elsewhere. If you want players to stay you also have to consider what they’d accept and what would be available to them elsewhere. Those others on the list are probably more likely to accept one year, as they have basically no bargaining power

This lad needs to go outside and touch grass, as the kids would say.

Physically he’s probably ready, it’s getting switched back on mentally. Against Arsenal a couple of mistakes could be game over and it will be a high intensity game, Bromley you’d expect to be more generous opponents and the game to be a slower pace Wouldn’t be a surprise to see him on the bench for the Spurs and Arsenal games, so he’s back in the match day routine and also as there’s barely enough players to fill the bench so it’s not like someone else misses out.

Can he actually coach in a different way? (Ive no idea, never watched his teams) But they might be stuck with a coach who can only work on 343 and a squad that can’t. Which would be funny. FWIW I reckon they’ll lose to Liverpool but then recover somewhat in the league and Europe. They will adjust enough to the formation, some players will step up and others will be binned off. Their big issue will be whether to overhaul the squad to suit this guy, when they love a sacking.

On his manager. He could have had an arm round and said sorry, it’s tactical, I need to get another midfielder on and you’re the unlucky one. Instead he ignored him and left him to the crowd.

Can’t miss an opportunity to wreck a second rival club’s season in just one week. It could be 11 points ahead of spurs or 5 points. And there’s 4 clubs within 3 points behind in the table Another big test but one this team can fly through if they focus.

Their substitution has really tightened up their midfield. They’ll probably come up a bit overexcited for the second half, key thing is not to concede and pick off the third. It should already be over with some of those first half moves. That Tonali chance was a couple’s inches from superb

Huge let off. Need to keep focused and be ruthless here

I think they’ll put on a performance. The suspensions and poor form will give them a kick up the arse. Casemiro and Erikson are experienced players. They may also ditch the 343 due to the suspensions. They are still beatable though, but it’s a game I expect needs to be won, it won’t be a late Christmas present of 3 points

37 points from 19 games is a tremendous achievement, and will mean they can afford a drop off in form and still get Europe easily

DCL could easily be Wilson’s replacement if he’s up for being second choice. He’s like Wilson but without the goals…

It will catch up with them, they’ve sold off so many revenue streams in a few years they’ll be penniless. The mad bit is they waste everything they earn. All their talent is from the academy. Imagine selling the family silver to get Aubameyang etc

It has to be more complicated than just having to sell a player. For example finishing 4th and reaching a cup final means millions in extra prize money, probably prevents any sale. I think a big reason for the issues last season is the club had expected to get further in the CL/Europe, but this season a lot more of the revenue e.g. sponsorship is locked in rather than variable. But overall These are calculated risks the club has to take.

He would surely only go to a CL club or one competing to win a league. A battle for 4th and a shot at the league cup isn’t going to swing it

The real determinant here is price. If someone came in for longstaff at £25m it’s an easy sell, but I really doubt you get that, if it’s £10m then what do you do in the summer? Buy a CM for more than recouped and probably on higher wages. That doesn’t solve PSR issues in the long term. (If there’s someone in the youth setup fair enough, but as far as I know there isn’t.) Have to look at each player in the squad and understand their value to the club vs their value in the market. For me longstaffs squad value is higher than his transfer value below a £20m odd bid.

Be a bananas move by Howe if Longstaff left in January. Willock has constant injury issues, Joelinton also picks up muscle injuries regularly. Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali pick up yellows like I pick up quality street. At the very least it would certainly end up with 3 CMs having to play full 90 minutes with no sub options, more likely it would involve some sort of emergency cover when 2 or 3 were out, all for a tiny sum. Longstaff should be given an extension, he works hard, follows team instructions and despite what some think is a decent PL midfielder, he’s pretty much the ideal squad backup.

This season will be odd as the home games in the second half of the season will be much easier, given already had Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Villa and Brighton. Basically play the the bottom half plus Chelsea and Forest at home now. This should mean great home form and a lot of points banked. The flip side is the away games are really tough - so starting with Man Utd and Spurs away its critical the away form improves. Without getting results away at some (not all!) of Spurs, Villa, Brighton, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal there’s no chance of fourth.

The flow of stories is so damaging. Makes me think he’s also taken away the journos matchday buffet and hospitality and they’re fuming

It’s a winnable game but I’d still have Man Utd favourites. They’re at home, after a reaction and the away form has been pretty patchy this season. If they have three at the back Casemiro won’t be as exposed for pace, and he hasn’t played 3 games in 8 days. This is the sort of test that was flunked last season (this exact fixture as one example) and aced the year before. It will be a big test of character.