TheBrownBottle

We did - we lost against all five.

It’s at least two seasons this has been happening. It’s mid-table sides rather than relegation fodder we tend to struggle with.

It’s a pattern at home - on this occasion it happened to be the Mackems, but Howe struggles to set up a team to be midtable opposition. And it’s nowt to do with fixture pile-ups - it was the same last year. In terms of home matches last season vs teams in 8th - 14th, the results were W2 L5. This season (based on current standings) it’s W2 L3. We’ve still got to play Brighton and Bournemouth at home - I wouldn’t bank on getting six points from those. These are all clubs we’ve massively outspent, yet we struggle to breakdown every single time. The Mackem game is completely in line with a pattern.

I know where you’re coming from - just to add, I’d like to be for it for these reasons: - we’ve got a chance of winning it - we’d likely get to play some clubs we haven’t played before (I really did find our CL campaign this season a total bore fest - in part because we’d played almost all the clubs before in my lifetime) - it gives us the chance to build our coefficient - we might even bag another trophy

Agreed, supporters are mostly reactive and emotive - it goes with the territory. Personally, I’m alright as long as I can see what the manager is trying to do it. At the moment I’m struggling to see it. I’m just an anonymous internet gobshite tbf - it’s just my view.

Pretendy performative anger really burns the cals off it seems

I suspect if that was going in reverse folks might question his position

Agreed, though tbf we’re talking about twenty-two grown adults kicking a ball around and tens of thousands going mental. It’s all childish and a bit stupid if we think about it for a second.

She is, but point to the bit where she isn’t right

Howe’s record vs midtable sides over the last couple of years (teams in 8th to 14th) is frankly horrific - but it would be good to get some points on the board between now and May

All of it is pretty much what those of us who are critical have wanted addressing. I agree, I’m not sure he’ll take all of it. But he needs to.

Yes, I can remember it being discussed. Seemed suicidal given Livramento & Hall’s injury track records - and the importance of athletic FBs to our system. I think not building the squad well did cost us a lot of points - can’t check at the moment, but I wonder what our PPG is when both play this season vs when one or both are missing

Aye, it might be argued that going into the season with three first team quality FBs - one of whom was injured - wasn’t optimal squad-building.

Yep, I have to say I don’t think there was any harm in chucking them on towards the end of the Qarabag match - but I suspect we don’t have a bunch of young’uns revving up to be world beaters just yet. I don’t think we’ve used our expensively-assembled squad all that well; but that’s not down to not playing the kids.

I’m perfectly ok with the manager not selecting youth products if he doesn’t think they’re good enough. They probably aren’t.

There definitely wasn’t - it was a narrative created later by the press (and on Wearside), because ‘deluded Geordies’ is one of their favourite stereotypes. Usually also fanned by managers turned pundits like Gullit and Souness to cover for their own failures.

Fair enough - and I absolutely don’t agree with booing. I don’t see how it helps, and it’s pantomime / opera shite. I didn’t stay behind for that Wolves game, and if I’d been there at the weekend I’d had just fucked off from the ground in silence.

Fair dos - I was watching us vs Everton, climbing the walls with anxiety and frustration. Only saw the highlights of their game.

Yep. It was only a ludicrous refereeing performance at OT which stopped them finishing ahead of us.

From the same .com article: ’Thanks for trying Bobby, but it's defeated you, like all the rest. We've cheered you, we've supported you and now we just plain don't believe you anymore. And neither do the players. We got close, we've almost failed. Again.’ .com were (correctly) criticising the booing - they were not suggesting that Robson should stay on.

It does of course - and I think Howe’s achievement in turning that season around outstripped Robson’s. I’ll add some more context - when Howe was saving us from relegation, Sunderland were ‘enjoying’ their third successive season in the Third Division. At the weekend I watched us outplayed and outfought for the second time this season by that club - a gutless, insipid display which would have had some previous NUFC managers being called to be strung up by the knackers from the Gallowgate. A club which we have outspent considerably to sit below them and have our arses handed to us twice. I’ve seen enough comments on here about ‘entitlement’. That’s a criticism I’d join in with if we were struggling to compete with Liverpool and Arsenal. But we’re not - we’re struggling to compete with fucking Sunderland. And anyone who watched that shower of shite at the weekend who thinks it is even close to acceptable can shout ‘entitled’ and ‘smug’ until the cows come home. If that’s what they want for our club they can keep it.

It’s honestly a bitter pill that I could take a lot easier if we were attempting to adapt to swapping out Isak for Woltemade - but we’re not even playing the lad up top. If you could see the team’s structure being changed then I would absolutely think that the summer break would give the opportunity to perfect it. But we just look like a lesser version of what went before. I’m happy for more educated eyes than me to be more confident in the change to the approach.

There’s zero fucking glee at my end. I’m not at all happy. I feel equal shame in people trying to fucking gaslight people into thinking what they’re watching isn’t shit.

Pardew - the manager who - the season after finishing 5th and a poor summer of recruitment - got into the latter stages of a European competition but faced calls for the sack due to the team being absolutely dire in the league? That one?

‘Transitional season’ only works if there’s an obvious change of style that the players are getting used to. It’s not the same as being shite.