WilliamPS

It was never going to be plane sailing - from the takeover to being part of the elite, this season is going to be a tough one. Did people honestly think it would just be season after season of higher league places?

I don’t blame Howe at all, I’d probably apportion more blame for this season on whoever was supposed to do the background checks on Tonali. 

José is a busted flush and replacing Howe with him is a terrible take. Mourinhos time at the top of the game has long gone. Howe is a far better coach and man manager. 

5 minutes ago, Joe1984 said:

The silver lining is that its given the future prospects like Miley and Hall a decent run out. Shame Anderson got injured too.

 

 

 

True, but it’s one thing asking them to step up for a couple of games vs perform week in week out for an extended time. As well as Miley and Anderson have done they likely will struggle to keep form consistently, it’s unfair on them to expect anything else.

2 hours ago, Cookie1892 said:

ive applied... so i hope not

 

My thoughts on Survey and stadium are below as its a big big part of our future

 

Survey a bit arduous but i gave honest answers,

 

would i like a sky box or a loge (?) box? too fucking right i would but i cant afford one, however there are some that can and if i still get my seat im happy

 

going through the survey, having been to Dortmund this season and places like spurs ground and the emirates etc my personal opinion is theres only 2 options and only 1 to me that will potentially keep everyone happyish

 

option 1 - ive said this before, knock SJP down stand by stand and rebuild - will take a long time with a lot of disruption

 

option 2 - do whatever it takes to build a brand new fucking super stadium on castle leazes, leazes park or whatver its called while staying at SJP in the years it takes to build. Dismantle SJP and make it into a training ground, smaller stadium for the reserves and lasses and have it as a fan park on match days if you can

 

Ive been a season ticket holder for 34 years this year. when i first started going only the upper milburn and east stand were seating, the ground has changed dramatically and some people need to realise that i think we have reached our limit on the current site, will i be emotional if and when we leave, definitely. Will i realise its to take my club on to the next level and provide an amazing future for the club long after ive lost my faculties and my ashes are in the remembrance garden -  Definitely. And once people make peace with that they will come round. 

 

For me it has to be on the Leazes area though, still close to city centre, you could even call it the Aramco Leazes park if you wish for another 100 million sponsorship money.

 

i will still go to the city centre with my mates before/after the game, i will still sing my heart out but im starting to think the time has come to do that in a new arena fit for where we want to be competing

 

 

 

It’s a fair point about how the stadium has changed. It changed constantly until 2002 (roughly! I can’t remember when everything got built!

Many fans will remember the gallowgate stand going up and the leaves end being rebuilt twice. It’s only been the same the last 20 years.

However a lot of new stadia do go wrong, even commercially successful ones like the emirates and Wembley are total failures for atmosphere and experience 

This match isn’t even in the top ten most important games of the season.

Sunderland are a midtable championship side, so yeah it’s their biggest game, but compared to Milan in the CL it’s nothing 

Top tip; sign up to the main NYT as a foreign reader for £20, and the athletic is bundled 

(it’s still shite but it’s cheaper shite)

Kane would have been relentless as City, Levy did the league a favour (and Kanes career huge damage!) in blocking that one. Arguably bad for Spurs too as it allowed all their other problems to be masked for years, now a manager is actually had to manage them.

Haaland is incredible (11 already in the PL) but Kane would have brought even more out of the rest of the City players.

Bournemouth are a poor side, if you had to pick a team to play when injury ravaged you might well pick this lot

Really think it’s a big opportunity and the 11 on the pitch will have the quality to win

23 minutes ago, frankpingel said:

It's a bit concerning isn't it. Hopefully they're just keeping things in house and he's recovering. Half expecting an announcement that he now needs surgery, but I'm a pessimist.

Probably a lot of swelling in the ligaments. Maybe They don’t think there is a tear but the swelling needs to go down before he does anything or it’ll aggravate it and tear. The risk is the swelling goes down and they find there is damage and need to operate anyway

I am not a fan of the Trippier to LB stuff but it would be slightly more credible against Arsenal as they are not the biggest team.
 

People tend to ignore Burns ability in the air esp at set pieces, if Burn is out you’ve only got the two CBs and Wilson (if he’s playing) as players really strong in the air. Joelinton and slightly surprisingly Willock are decent beyond that there’s not much.
 

Against any side that plays 3 CBs or just has a bit of height in midfield you want 4 players who have the height to defend corners (to mark the 1 big striker and 3 CBs / 2 CBs and whoever else is big)

Assume there’s pain or discomfort and they were hoping it was just swelling rather than damage and it would be solved with rest. Frustrating! 

Both are rotten but Schar in midfield has a another level of terrible take.
 

I don’t agree with it, but Trippier at LB is a legit position he has played. Whereas Schar in midfield is nuts

I must be the only one that winces at the knee slides - your cruciates lads your cruciates! 

Man United have an easy run of games now where (hopefully) they’ll do well enough that this circus limps on. The last thing you want to see is them acting to fix their problems 

6 minutes ago, OCK said:

Had an inside tip to put some money on Gotze scoring.

Has Tonali not learned his lesson?!

My guess is if he has bet on Milan games he will get a big two year ban, but this will then be reduced to one year for admitting guilt and cooperating. Probably can’t train until June next year or so.

Fagiolis is a one year ban reduced to 7 months for pleading guilty, so I’d take that as the precedent. 
 

It is a proper kick in the balls as Tonalis ceiling is a lot higher than Longstaffs or Joelintons. Tonali was supposed to be like Botman, Bruno and Isak and lift the quality level.

The club will just have to suck it up. The hierarchy will be livid as this basically costs £18m (wages plus the share of the transfer fee given it’s about a quarter of the contract length)

7 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

Probably a lazy link like, but I'd be really happy with Bowen albeit we'd be putting a lot of our eggs in the English basket a bit. 

What’s wrong with having a load of English players (or any nationality really!), makes no difference if they are good enough

Daft comments from Keagan, and before people go on about wanting men on men’s games, remember it’s the same root cause as all those ex pros who tell fans “you’ve never played the game at a top level so you can’t comment” it’s a way of busted old knackers protecting what they see as their patch from outsiders or defending themselves when their opinions are nonsense

14 minutes ago, Pancrate1892 said:

Maybe eventually we will go

 

                       Pope

Trippier/Tino, schar, botman, hall 

                 Bruno, tonali

     New RWF  Isak,  Gordon

                      Wilson 

 

Joe willocks versatility allowing him to play anywhere behind the striker and longstaff able to come in for Bruno or tonali 

 

 

 

If this was the plan I think we’d have seen it by now

i can see it being used when chasing a game but don’t think we’ll have a formation change this season

Athletic’s problem is they have to stretch out every story as they have so many podcasts and pages to fill. Gets so tedious.

The written bits are the same, a two line update becomes 500 words

7 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

The back four played well from a defensive POV, but going forward there is still not much coming from the left side. You could argue it would be worth giving Hall a try to see if he can offer more bringing the ball out.

Sheffield are a big side at set pieces, so risk taking Burn out of the side for that.

Am not sure it’s always wise to get too deep into team selections. Howe may make some changes not on form or fatigue but based on what he considers the best way to beat them. E.g. This might suit Wilson more than isak, the wide players might reflect their full backs abilities etc
 

For me this is a more important game than Wednesday. Going out first round of the league cup is fine given the CL commitment and beating Sheffield and Burnley is important for a good league season.

1 hour ago, Wandy said:

 

You never hear Man Utd and Man City fans living in Manchester complaining that their success has resulted in them "losing" their club, and you never hear it from Scousers living in Liverpool either.

Man Utd fans complain constantly about what they have became - some fans even made a whole new club!

First time I’ve ever heard anyone claim Liverpool fans don’t complain either. They have whole fan groups to pressure the owners about the soul of the club (groups like spirit of shankly)

(see also the protests about the super league)

1 hour ago, Wandy said:

 

I have nothing against scrutiny but the whole concept of sportswashing is a load of bollocks. Its a term that was probably invented by a bored western-based journalist with a superiority complex, conveniently ignoring all of the ills of western society.

 

If sportswashing was an actual policy by the Saudis then its doing a pretty terrible job. Instead of cleansing their image and helping people forget about all of the controversial policies they deploy, it's actually drawn far more scrutiny and criticism of those policies.

 

The truth is that they don't give a monkey's what the west thinks of them, hence Bin Salman's remarks the other day. Their actions are all about power play, getting a strong foothold in world politics and securing the long-term future of their country. Whether people in the west like their methods of doing this is neither here nor there to them.

 

 

 

They’ve certainly managed to get you defending them.

10 hours ago, Wandy said:

Saudi ownership doesn't bother me in the slightest but I would never try to defend their regime. Not gonna lie though, I chortled when I read that quote from Bin Salman about sportswashing the other day. Anyone who basically tells the Western media to go fuck themselves gets a thumbs up from me.

A free press challenging what a dictator says is a bad thing? Should they be like the Saudi press and have their hands chopped off for asking awkward questions?

If the Saudis want to play with western toys like the PGA golf and PL football then they get the press scrutiny 

The claims of “we’ve got our club back” were always going to ring hollow. NUFC will now become a football mega brand, like Man City or Man Utd, we’re fans are customers and TV deals in Asia more important than local supporters. That is the price of a good team on the pitch. City are unrecognisable from the club they used to be - as is a lot of their fan base.

The only way to have success in the PL without being a brand with a football club attached is if you are taken over by a super rich fan - the Brighton /Leicester model - and that has a ceiling based on the owners wealth.

Just wait until the existing fan base are referred to as ‘legacy fans’!

People can decide for themselves whether that’s a price worth paying, the alternative is a midtable PL existence at best. For some the CL and competing for trophies will be worth it, for other it won’t.

A £100m+ release clause is fairly meaningless as if a club came in for Bruno at that price it would come down to player power anyway - if he wanted to go he’d go and it would be seen as fair to all parties.

Its only when a release clause is stupidly low does it cause problems