Upthemags

Probably the most effective plank of our defence at the moment

The dubs hate, as we send out a Championship level backline, is shocking

Pathetic

If my grandma had two wheels she'd be a bike - Howe needs to make the right decisions with the info he has before him

there's a 30 million pound fullback on the bench, fully healthy, and within the bounds of FFP

The big question for the second half: Does Hall get subbed on in the 87th minute, or not at all?

Would like to see Tino make some more overlapping runs in the final third with Gordon in tow

How anyone could possibly blame Dubs for that, with Antonio not having a defender within 10 feet of him, is beyond me

Why wasn't Burn moved to CB?

Can't say I understand the sensitivity/loyalty to medical staff, but alas!

Mate, the interview with Sven from January indicates that (more than) one doctor saw a fully ruptured ACL. Having your 24 year old crown jewel play through an injury as serious as that (one that oftentimes can outright end a career), while that injury is clearly having a massive impact on his ability to contribute positively to the team, is outright negligence/incompetence.

It's not tempting - it's just natural operational analysis. NUFC are a business, and the players are their assets. The assets have not been adequately protected when our star CB, the cornerstone of our defence for the next 5 years, has been running around on a torn ACL for the past half year. The fact that I (we all, really) could tell many months ago that Sven was nursing something seriously impacting his play says it all. Unfortunately, our negligence might have cost the lad his career and livelihood. It would be cowardly not to protect our players better by overhauling the medical team at this point. And I have a feeling PIF will agree on that score.

Goes without saying at this point - Medical team needs upgrading befitting of a club with the richest ownership in the world. No excuse for this one.

What terrible terrible news - when it rains it pours. Speedy recovery to the lad - at least from the sound of it he'll be back for the better part of next campaign.

Genuinely curious for those ranking Ange beneath Howe -- what would Ange need to be doing differently/achieving in order to surpass EH? One could make the case Ange is a top 3 manager with Spurs likely to get CL football after losing 30+ goal contributions in Kane and their underwhelming 22/23

Absolutely - season is far from over.

Many were writing the lad off because he'd get 5 minutes of run in a couple of blowouts. Should've been bedded in in the midst of the crisis. Will be interesting to see how Eddie handles him for the next 10.

So Hall is indeed good enough to feature for half an hour in the most important game of the season.... Interesting

Risking them for what?

Botman man....

Well we gave it a go

At what point does the medical team get a knock on the door? You would think its nailed on there will be an overhaul this summer in that area.

I think he looks out of place on the wing and much more natural in the midfield. Also have every expectation he'll turn it around when his fitness levels return. He was fantastic last season despite no goals to show for it.

Eh, Pretty quickly after Villa I felt we didn't look the same team as last season. What was that stretch we had after AV, lost 3 of 4, or 4 or 5, or around that. I guess the mollifying factor, from the outset, was that we were supposed to have a down season after qualifying for CL, so it didn't quite shock the nerves then.

Agree but would add: Our gameplan last season seemed different, as well. Felt as though we'd press the living daylight out of the opposing side for about 45 minutes, we'd inevitably catch them out and grab a goal or two, and then second half we'd sit much deeper and defend for our lives, block passing and shooting lanes, and hang on for dear life. We don't really do the high pressing bit anymore (we did for about 5-10 minutes last night, though), and I suspect a lot of that is just down to fitness/injuries.