Matt1892

I would be surprised if we let him leave before the summer window closes.

I don’t think anyone in here doesn’t want Howe to turn around our current form, whilst also calling it out for what at best is a period of inconsistency, which follows a period of being consistently poor due to a mixture of schedule and injuries.

The FA will charge him if he has bet on football matches in the time between joining us and his ban, presuming he stopped at that point. You would expect them to be sympathetic at the point of dishing out a punishment, much like they did with Toffolo at Forest.

The difference being lower half Premier League teams target Burn as the weak link and have success in doing so, with both Semenyo and Ogbene running rings around him. Livramento was thrown in against Arsenal who battered us in every area of the pitch. I don’t think Livramento is the answer at left back long term, that should have been sorted last summer when the club failed to adequately recruit for the position. He should be first choice for the rest of the season though.

It is becoming standard for us the play scared away against the likes of Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal, leaving Isak (or Wilson) to feed off scrapes. I admire teams that go to these places and have a go, even if they lose comprehensively. I think there is a good chance he will be away in the summer if the right offer comes along, I wouldn’t really blame him either.

The issue isn’t playing 4-3-3, as many of the top team play with this formation. The issue with our 4-3-3 is the shape of the midfield, which is set up to go almost man for man against the traditional midfield shape of the other clubs and we are coming off second best, whilst leaving Isak isolated.

Not at all, which is why there was more of an acceptance of the situation at the time compared to now. You might have interpreted it as me referring to it as an excuse but you would be wrong.

Wolves is looking like a must win, potentially we could be in the bottom half if we don’t beat them.

Nobody is saying we were not struggling with fatigue.

When they play well together it is usually with Joelinton wide left. Either of them will add better balance to the side as Miley isn’t naturally suited to the left side, but they wouldn’t play in the centre together unless we had no other options.

Joelinton and Willock cannot play in midfield together, as neither of them can fill the right sided midfield position and it makes us unbalanced. It is why we missed Longstaff so much at the end of last season.

People on here said it was down to fatigue and that we were playing multiple times a week. Now we are playing once a week we are going with the nursing players back to full fitness excuse, despite playing pretty much the same defence and midfield every single week.

Remember last season when intensity was our identity? It seems so long ago.

Men vs boys. It is becoming a regular thing away to Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal. We invite constant pressure from these teams and look to hold on for 90 minutes. Utter shite.

That is what it will be, it will say he isn’t allowed to work for a direct rival which would rule out any Premier League team.

Two strikers are fine if one of them isn’t Callum Wilson.

I genuinely don’t believe they can afford to pay his release fee due to FFP. I hope the Saudi’s refuse to buy any of their unwanted players in the summer.

Reading this and you wonder if they can afford a high compensation figure to sign him early. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/02/20/sir-jim-ratcliffe-manchester-united-transfer-budget-spend/

FFP is calculated on total income, but then certain things are not included in outgoings like academy, women’s team and any money spent behind the scenes on infrastructure etc. I am not sure if non-first team staff are included in the calculation or not, which is what Ashworth would fall under.

I meant his wages are unlikely to be included in FFP. Any compensation we get for him should be.

The club are in a strong position here and Ashworth probably earns less than Issac Hayden, so there will be no issue with covering his wages for the duration of his notice and it is unlikely to be included in FFP. Hopefully we can find a replacement soon enough but I don’t see us rolling over and letting him leave until after the summer.

If he tried to leave before his notice period was up then he would be in breach of his contract, which we would seek damages for and push through a block on him starting any new employment until the notice period is completed. He would end up being worse off as he wouldn’t be paid during this time then. The only way he could leave early is if it was by mutual agreement.

I think it is more likely that he has a regular employment contract, which will contain a lengthy notice period and a a number of restrictive covenants for the following 12 months after he has left the business.