TheEntertainer

We had a run in October/November where we had a few good games (though spotty) and looked like we might be able to have a decent season, it's been fairly consistently bad since then with the odd bright spark to stop us completely losing hope but trending down all season.

I hate the 4/5th's of the Barca game example, the problem all season has been we don't have the mental fortitude or the ability or the fitness or whatever it is to hold onto what we invariably get early in games, this is the absolute prime example of that. There have been some good games though I agree, but I think that's a terrible example as it is the perfect example of what's been wrong with us all year. It's no good being brilliant for 75 minutes in a 90 minute sport!

It's the games left for me, if they had any tough games I'd agree. They are home to us which is a home banker. Then home to Fulham Then away to West Ham Then home to Burnley Then away to Palace Newcastle, Burnley, Palace should all be pretty much guaranteed points. The other two maybe less so but they still aren't hard games on paper. Away to West Ham is probably the hardest as they are fighting to avoid relegation, but they are also fighting against relegation for a reason. But yeah I wouldn't be surprised if they still managed to bottle it.

Love a league predictor, this is what I get:

Hard to say it's because they've given up on Howe but they clearly haven't been at the races for one reason or another so he's definitely not getting the best from them currently.

Yeah just from gut feel it felt like we often score around the 80 minute mark, but then concede even later than that. that graph kind of shows that. If you didn't know better that would suggest the players were switching off or a lack of fitness. People often bang on about keeping it tight just before halftime and we don't look very good at that!

Hahaha! I wish there was a laugh react on this forum. I often want to use it.

The problem with that is, he's also turned that same brilliant team back into shite so it's not a certainty that we just get the good next year.

I just so happened to be looking up the exact thing you mentioned as you mentioned it! I also enjoy numbers.

Our conceded stat in the last 10 minutes is the highest number of any 10 minute segment for any team in the league it seems alongside Burnley. Heady company.

It's a vicious circle I think, the team knows we keep dropping points by conceding late, so they get nervous late and drop back to try and hold onto what they have and hand all of the initiative to the opposition which then results in another late goal and added nerves and pressure. It needs a run of games where we actually keep playing at the end of games to break, but that seems very unlikely at the minute.

Yeah I think if Howe stays over the summer, nothing changes and we start next season like we've ended this one and he's gone at Christmas. I also don't hate him having the chance to prove me wrong though as he's done so much for the club previously.

No, but I think we all know how bad we've been recently. I've said before there's 4 bad teams in the league at the minute and unsurprisingly it's the bottom 4 in the 2026 table. It does put into perspective just how bad Spurs are though. 0 wins all year! As bad as it's been for us, at least we aren't Spurs!

Yeah very thankful for Spurs this season! This is just 2026.

I think a lot of the change of tone is from the posters posting over time. I posted a fair amount over the first two days (I'm Howe out, though still love him for what he's done) but kind of feel like I'd just be repeating myself if I kept posting so I've dropped off while still feeling exactly the same. I imagine a lot of the Howe in guys don't massively feel like defending him on the day of a defeat when the sentiment is overwhelmingly negative either. So I doubt many people have gone from out to in, it's more just different people posting.

Honestly I think 6th/7th would be enough to shut me up, I'd still have some concerns about how poor we'd been, but you can't argue with results. I'd not be sitting here happy as Larry as we've seen how poor we've been, but I also don't think it would be reasonable to be calling for Howe out. In the other reality where we've been brilliant all season, but really unlucky and end up 14th I'm probably still Howe in as well. It's the combination of awful performances where it looks like we have no idea combined with the league position rather than one or the other for me.

I don't think that's direspectful at all no, I just think it's a different opinion to yours. I do think he's proved he's a very good manager, but I also think most of the big clubs wouldn't take him currently. He could go to a bigger club than Fulham though.

These comments suggesting people want individuals to succeed at the expense of the club are what boggle my mind. I want Newcastle to succeed, I don't really care who is involved in that. If that means Howe rises like a phoenix from the ashes, brilliant, if it means Howe goes and Nick succeeds under the next manager, brilliant. If they both win and so do Newcastle, brilliant. If they both lose but Newcastle win, brilliant. I don't understand why it always has to be about wanting individuals to succeed or fail. It's not, it's about the team and the club and the identity.

I do remember the guy saying he couldn't stand the sight of him actually but again he quite rightly got ripped to shreds.

Everton Liverpool game is great if anyone isn't watching.

You can see that from watching the Prem though right? I watch most of the games. There have been 4 crap teams in the Prem this year, Wolves, Burnley, Spurs and us, Everyone else looks decent. Even West Ham and Forest have looked mostly alright since Jan. I'm glad we got enough points in the first half for it not to matter.

I've not seen any disrespect, I remember there was some guy about a month ago who came in absolutely raging and everyone quite rightly took the piss out of him, I've not seen anyone else be even vaguely disrespectful. I feel like this comes up every couple of days with no evidence to back it up.

After he's tried to make a save from a header from 2 yards out which has gone back across the goal where Botman and Burn have allowed a forward to split them and win the header from there, it's easy to take a still and say he's bad, but he's not stood there for fun.

That's because the defence are allowing such clear cut chances. The last two games one of the four goals conceded is partially his fault with the poor punch from the corner against Sunderland, there's no way he can be expected to stop any of those finishes though, they're all from 3 or 4 yards out at most, the defence can't be letting people shoot from there. The 3 against City are two tap ins and one absolute worldy again two clear cut chances which the defence haven't dealt with and one which I doubt anyone would save. I certainly don't think he's great and is going to win us games on his own but he's definitely not the problem currently either.