Optimistic Nut

Stupid foul. Chance for Scotland.

Robertson is finished.

Wonder if Saturday might be the perfect sort of game for him.

Just noticed Deportivo La Coruna went top of the Second Division this weekend.

I'll always go back to the Amazon Prime documentary where they'd have signed off Shearer in narration referring to us as the "richest club in the world" numerous times. I don't they'd have bothered pushing that angle if there was no intention of blowing big money if they were allowed.

They probably have plans to invest in one of the Sky 6 some day so now it's in their interests.

Souness taking a few steps behind Freddie Shepherd to encourage the fans to sing his name louder when we were singing it was probably his best contribution to the club.

He'd be right up there for strength as well. Even though he was at the end of his career here if the ball was played up to him, it stuck and you weren't getting it off him. If Woltemade could get his upper body strength he'd be unplayable.

Would have Shelvey for stamina in the reverse.

23/24 could have easily fell off a cliff with the injuries, Tonali situation, etc. The fact he held us together to finish 7th as well as just miss out on European progression & another Carabao Cup Final was a massive feat. It's basically because of Howe that we didn't do what Spurs and Man Utd did in the league last season that year.

The money we've spent is less than at least 4 of the clubs above us there, Villa spent a helluva lot in that time too, as have clubs below us. We're 7th in terms of spend & net spend in that time period. He's performed above what you'd expect. Also throw in the fact prior to 2023 the squads above him were in a by far healthier position than NUFC, he's performed a fucking miracle, man.

I was all-in on him but happy to sign Ramsdale and go with him as number 1 for a few seasons.

If we can draw v City, beat Everton and Spurs then that's a big move in the right direction. A draw v City just gives a bit of a boost, win at Everton gets the away monkey off our back, then beat a rival for a top 5 spot and it'd look brighter.

My best man chose this for my Stag Do. I went along with it. It's a bit of fun and not that deep. I still hate Sunderland and haven't had the desire to buy a Stefan Schwarz retro shirt on the back of it.

Hall for Burn at LB is a massive upgrade and will help the way we play.

£25m was never in a million years getting a 1 in 2 striker last season mind. Reckon we had £40-45m as our price point but Brentford had us by the bollocks in the end. Same we did with Liverpool when we managed to get them from £25m to £35m when we knew they had the Torres money.

It was the end of November last season where Tonali changed from rotation with Longstaff to being one of the first names on the sheet. It'll be interesting to see if he makes the changes we think need to be made in a couple of weeks.

We no doubt paid more than we wanted to, but we just spent 14-years criticising Mike Ashley for never doing this to secure the players we wanted.

Elanga would ironically fit that Sunderland team like a glove based on how they play & Forest last season. They have players for their setup, probably wouldn't translate here.

Will always back Howe. My only worry is if Liverpool became available for example, he'd be near the top of the list of the elite clubs now, which may not have been the case a year ago.

That's if you're naive thinking clubs bid what they'll go up to from the first offer.

We were bidding for him from mid-July. Panicking would have been walking away after the first bid and moving down the list. Howe clearly wanted him.

Feel like I'm being harsh on Pope and Burn, but I don't in a million years see us getting back in that top 6 anytime soon while they're in the team. They've been a brilliant part of the last 3 to 3 and a 1/2 years of this adventure. I can see us eventually clicking with Ramsdale & Botman at some point. Hall at LB will be a massive boost in the long run. We just have to roll the dice rather than sticking on a 3. Go with the players who have the higher ceilings. I more than trust Howe to help get us and them there like he has done with countless others.

The one in the opening seconds v Wolves is probably the only one where I think that'd have been a goal if it had been any other keeper. Possibly Timber v Arsenal as well. The majority are ones a keeper should make, and where you'd be looking at your keeper if it had went in.

Whether he's a left-back or not, that was just shoddy for the second penalty incident. Can accept him being skinned like for the first, but that one he didn't show any sort of awareness (was pretty fucking obvious Ouattara would be there or thereabouts at his shoulder) and it was just a lazy swipe at the ball which he got nowhere near.