Optimistic Nut

Down to a 4. We needed a keeper to change how we played from that position and a striker to replace Isak who'd get 12-15 goals. We got neither and it's the difference between a top 5 challenge and merely fighting for top 8. There's been some highlights like Thiaw and Ramsay but meh.

If they'd done the double over us last season when we were on the way to the CL and winning a cup, it would have been a "for fuck sake" and probably could have shrugged it off. Just been compounded by the fact we've been very average this year.

Could have given us one more season and went to Barcelona to replace Lewandowski with our blessing for £80-90m, his reputation in tact and an NUFC legend. Oh well.

What was the gap at one stage? 12 points? Incredible revival.

Wonder if they'd have got to League 2 if Elliot hadn't left for Crawley?

Milan or Galatasaray..

The Heed lead v York.

Booing on Sunday was fair game imo. I don't think it should be a regular thing because overall we've been mint and I don't think the manager or players merit it, but no issues letting them know they weren't happy about it for that on Sunday.

I've never known a club who cares so much about what outsiders think as they do. It's cute.

I was here with him, thinking he'd get us 12-15 goals and be about £10-15m overpaid, but after 14 years of not just getting the deal done so many times when we should have when we've needed just to get a player we needed over the line, I was happy to go along with. It's been an absolutely wretched transfer though.

GK Livramento Hall CB CB Tonali Bruno CM Gordon RW CF They're the 5 players I see as top 4 players at the moment. Botman if he can stay fit joins them. Thiaw, Barnes, Ramsey, Joelinton, Miley are all players that when you have 4 or 5 of them on form can support the main cast well. Up until this season I was always in the camp that we could get £70-80m for him and sign a player for £50m who could do the same job with Barnes as cover. I think we now leave that LW position alone, it's the strongest area we have in terms of two players for a position. I could easily see Gordon doing a Milner beyond us. I don't mean playing well into his 80s as a midfielder but that he'll kick on a level.

The first two and a half years recruitment was perfection. It was a blend of players hitting their peak on the continent that the big clubs knew about, but we got them (Bruno, Isak, Botman, Tonali), probably because at the time they thought we were going to be able to bankroll our way to success, joined by proven Premier League experience (Trippier, Burn, Targett (at the time), Pope, Barnes), plus three of the best prospects in the country (Gordon, Livramento and Hall). Your Brightons, etc don't get those players, we need to somehow get back to that.

They also gambled just to try to get back in the CL with their loans in January but ultimately failed. We could have done similar but would have been a gamble. Not sure that's on Howe though, doubt he'd knock back the chance to add if he could

Aston Villa were 11th going into their Round of 16 games last year and had the benefit of getting Club Bruges rather than Barcelona. It wasn't until their fixtures cleared a bit that they kicked on.

Didn't happen in this occasion, but here's the route to never conceding a corner ever again. Defence stand about 3-4 yards out, get the keeper to hold the forward (never, ever, ever going to be pulled up as a foul), if the ball goes in, the goal will 100% be disallowed for infringement. Someone forward this to Mr Mark.

100% this. The failure to get a João Pedro or Ekitike (also down to clubs being able to pay money) will now result in 2 or so of Hall, Tino, Bruno & Tonali leaving as well. It's fucked up..

I only checked the stats because I thought he was quiet until the second half and seen Botman was getting some stick for how he played him. Was seeing if my eyes were wrong but the stats back up what my view of the game was.

French reports saying Zidane to take over from Deschamps as France manager after the World Cup.

Surprised by this. Probably just built it up worse in our heads because he scored and the result.

I'd put in the Wissa thread that I thought Brobbey was quiet until he'd went off then came in here to see the injury update and seen he'd been getting stick.

These were his numbers yesterday?

Not sure how he didn't have his body in a position to just boot Le Fee's ball in away. There was only one place a cross/pass could go and he wasn't prepared for it at all.

We'd also finish nowhere near where we have the last 3 years.

I think it's the opposite tbf. Think the gap between the sides just under the top and the sides just above the bottom is the narrowest I've ever seen it, mainly due to PSR meaning the likes of us can't strengthen the squads to compete on 4 fronts. Just a domestic campaign and I think we'd have been up amongst the top 5-6 even with this squad.

Sell him and buy some random from Genk for £12m. Issue solved.