TheBrownBottle

We do nowt with that line-up. Barnes at 10? He doesn’t have anything like the vision to play there. His entire game is cutting in and shooting. That midfield ends up 30 yards behind the three wingers playing behind the forward. Looks like a mess to me.

Why would we sacrifice three years of income on the chance that a court case might rule in our favour? We could just sign new sponsorship deals if the court ruled that the old rules were thrown out. If the plan was to put us on steroids then I would have expected that we would be at least on muscle supplements until the real stuff is legal. We’ve had three years of almost zero communication from PIF. Previous NUFC owners and board members were (correctly) excoriated for the same - yet somehow zero criticism appears to be aimed at the current ownership. Tbh we feel rudderless at the moment. It’s a familiar feeling at NUFC of course.

"and from making of sport they come to doing of mischief". I remember using that quote from Fuller in an essay on Marlowe many many years ago.

We've made a Faustian pact and got the reward a Faustian pact brings ...

I remember Peter Schmeichel saying that goalkeepers are defined by their mistakes - and tbh I don't think Pope makes all that many. There's better out there, certainly, but he isn't our biggest worry atm. I actually think his newly-developed habit post-injury of meekly pushing the ball out from strikes on goal instead of directing them away from goal is a bigger worry than his consistently average kicking.

Used to love it when the war cry went up. Me and my mates used to try and do it when knocking about on our BMXs. Even before our balls had dropped we could never nail it. I always wondered if it was just one bloke doing it?

Yeah, fair enough

Haha you did - and I think you’re probably right tbf. I was trying to be generous

Bruno is an excellent footballer so shite for him means he’s performing like a bang-average PL footballer. But by his standards he’s been shite.

anything short of a mild beating wouldn’t have been enough with Fraser

That’s what I was misremembering - Shearer was banned vs Leverkusen and it popped into my head that he’d been sent off. Normally I’m ok with recollecting matches, but that Inter game at home is pretty much a blur.

Yeah I remember that Barca match. Kluivert and Del Piero said complementary things about the support after playing at SJP, and after that were linked constantly - with Kluivert coming in not long after (still feels odd that he played for us when he was in his ‘prime’ - by age not form) Honestly that Inter home game was a complete blur. Game was over quickly, and it might be the only home game I’ve been to where I pissed off to the concourse and continued drinking.

‘Wasn’t allowed’ is a stretch mind. Despite being completely fucked in terms of FFP (because Howe has been backed to the tune of c.£420m) the club still pursued his no.1 target past the point of reasonableness. Then we switched to an insane bid for Elanga which was thankfully rejected. Trippier’s been lost it seems due to a complete failure of professionalism. Perhaps some better management might have helped? I’ve no idea on that front, but could a different manager have produced a different outcome there? Shitload of counterfactuals and ‘what ifs’ on that score.

Context is, as you keep writing, vital here. I’m one of those who used to watch us in the old second division in the early ‘90s. So yes, I have seen absolute shite in B&W. I had a season ticket during what was the second worst season in our entire history. But that side was assembled on the cheap and stuffed with kids (the ‘Ossie babes’). At the moment I’m watching an expensively assembled side - bought for the current manager; three years is ample time - look like a bunch of uncoached strangers. And our ‘match going fans’ are no more or less educated than anyone else on that score. I don’t want to see Howe sacked, but the idea that the performances haven’t been pretty shite this season is borderline delusional. We’ve got eyes. We’ve been mainly shite - and the buck stops with the manager.

I didn’t like Howe’s comments either. I know he isn’t going to kick his players under the bus, but I don’t think they could’ve spat their dummies out if he criticised the collective performance. If he genuinely thinks that performance was decent then we’ve got big problems. I still think it’s too soon to talk about sacking him, but I wouldn’t exactly be up in arms if he was.

Shit, did I write that rather than think it? 😀 Daft isn’t it? The number of dafties in our support who rewrite the history of Robson at the club. They’d get along famously with the knackers on RTG

The Bobby Robson comment is a right old load of bollocks mind. Robson should’ve been sacked earlier - the issue was appointing Souness, not sacking Robson.

I agree re Willock, but I think he offers a dynamism which none of our other midfielders offer

I’d definitely stick with Tonali in the deeper role and Bruno pushed further forward (Bruno is badly out of form, I’m sure he can play there). Not sure re Miley - he looked a long way from the finished article last season (he is a kid of course - plenty of time yet). It would be Bruno-Tonali-Willock for me if we stick to 4-3-3

Agreed - though the problem became apparent as Bruno was really poor. I’m absolutely puzzled as to why we’ve got both of them at this point

I thought Hall played well. The others were ok.

Played well today. Not many threads I could write that in, unfortunately

Some of the performances this season have been dreadful and that was another one to add to the list Howe needs time - he’s a good manager, and he still has credit in the bank for me. But he needs to change the system up - teams have absolutely sussed the 4–3-3. The running joke re Howe’s 60-min subs is really about how predictable Howe is. And some of the players need a rocket up the jacksie - Gordon, Bruno, Isak are playing levels below what they’re capable of. All were linked with moves away in the summer, and on present form they’d be very lucky to be linked to clubs of a similar standard next summer. But while I think he needs time, I’d be seriously reluctant to let him spend money in January when we don’t have headroom to do so. He’s got a squad of players who are comfortably better than they look at the moment.

Yep, you're right - forgot it was 1-4. I was at the game but most of it is blacked-out. Mind, the 2-2 at the San Siro isn't, despite being drunk in Duomo square for two days running. 'Peter Andre' still sticks in my mind - I wonder if that bloke ever made more money than that day from us ...

Didn't we beat them 1-0? Griffin the goalscorer. We lost 2-0 to Inter when Shearer and Bellamy got themselves sent off