Erikse

Isak wouldn't be as much of a threat, and would run out of gas even earlier. He doesn't have the best stamina, unfortunately.

Exactly. If we're ever going to play 4-2-3-1, it's just going to be very close to a 4-3-3 in practice. Don't think Howe wants to play an offensive midfielder who can barely defend. It would have to be one of the central midfielders in a slightly more offensive role, or someone like Gordon.

Not to be the case that it was "unfairly" targetting? Because it was obviously targeted at us in response to the takeover. That email just confirms it, not that it would be any less obvious without the email.

The media knows how to blow it all up and make it seem 10 times more dramatic than what it really is..

League home losses under Howe: Liverpool x3 (out of 3) City x2 Arsenal x1 Forest x1

That's correct. I think we've only lost to Man City and Liverpool (multiple times) and Arsenal (once) at home, outside of Forest.

Last season we were playing Burn at LB whenever he was fit, nomatter who we were playing. Even against bottom sides. It would be a new thing for us to change fullbacks based on opposition. Usually we do some testing at the start of a season, and then we largely stick to the same players in most games, except for when injuries are forcing us to make changes. This is especially true in defence. We tend to change it up a little bit more in midfield.

I was positive about this signing because I thought that he would be the young third choice striker that we really needed this season. Seems like he is not the third choice though, but rather one for the future, so it seems like we did go into another season too dependant on Isak and Wilson to stay fit..

I think anyone will struggle to impress if all they get is one game here and there, and if they don't perform in that one game they go straight back to the bench. Last year Hall had to outperform Burn by a mile to get another chance the next game. You can't find any form or rhythm that way. What we're seeing with Hall now is that he is finally getting the run of games that me and others have been hoping for, and surprise surprise, he gets gradually better for each game that he is starting consecutively. This has allways been a thing in football.

Our other target was said to be Elanga, who seems to be struggling for minutes at Forest..

Crazy to think about the fact that Villa had 3 seasons in the championship between 2016 and 2019.. They got promoted and finished 17th just 4 years ago.

There's allways this massive hype when Man Utd buy players that Bayern and Real are happy to let go, and they never live up to the hype.

Crazy how different of a team Man City is without Rodri. What a player. Key for club and country.

They could've just kept Andersen instead.. More money and probably would've given them better performances aswell. A bit of hindsight here, but the difference in transfer fee was massive, especially with Guehis contract situation.

From what I've heard, de Ligt wasn't a huge success in Bayern either.

Speaking of:

Bruce with 4 wins and 1 draw in 5 league games. What a legend.

Them wanting Southgate sounds like a media myth. Too good to be true.

That's just a part of the buying himself time to keep you in the dirt. If he didn't win cups, he would risk that you replace him with someone who is competent.

Ten Hag is very good at saving his ass only to buy himself more time to keep them in the dirt. That's his speciality.

It just doesn't matter. They will get top 24 regardless of the result today, unless they fail to beat teams like PAOK. I suppose them having to play 2 more games is something..

And then he plays the victim when people criticise him..

I suspected earlier that Parish might want the same in january still, but considering how things have gone since, he's probably kicking himself a bit for the hardball stuff. Will probably not want to run it all back another time.

"The Dons managing director wanted to thank the Magpies on the record for staging their Carabao Cup tie at St James' Park" We can do the same for anyone else aswell.