Sir Joel Inton

Glad we learnt on Saturday how unsuitable Trippier is to this role and made suitable adaptions ahead of the next match… Oh, wait.

3-0. Wolte Wolte Barnes off the bench

Money talks. If someone calls me tomorrow offering my wage to be tripled with some nice bonuses thrown in and the opportunity to impress with national awards, I think I’ll be off too. There is no such thing as loyalty in football anymore. The Shearer’s of today just don’t exist. It is just pointless getting too attached to any player. We need to get used to players like Isak jumping ship and have 3 or 4 contingencies ready to go so we’re not scrambling around after the event.

You can be somewhere in the middle of a flop or not a flop. Not every signing can be judged as linear as that. Did Wood score enough goals to justify his price tag? No. Did Wood improve our overall team and play, weaken a relegation rival and support our survival? Yes. It’s a bit like Woltemade at the moment. Has he scored enough goals considering he is new to the league? Yes. Goal or assist every 2 games. Has he improved our overall team and play? No. Therefore to judge him solely on his output, he’s been a reasonable success. But the story is much deeper than that and our league position reflects it.

You say that but numerous players have been relegated from this division and fallen upwards into CL teams.

Agree. He was overpriced but that was the cost of the hole we found ourselves in. £10m more in PSR terms isn’t going to break the bank, certainly not compared to the risk of signing nobody and failing at our pre-season targets for the year and the reduced prize money that will bring. Wissa has contributed to 1 CL win already, which pays for this season’s “overpayment” in CL prize money.

Those two reasons are given nearly every transfer window. I find it staggering beyond belief that there isn’t a player in the world who would be an improvement on the real potential of one injury, rest or suspension meaning we are playing Dan Burn at LB. If we can’t find that player, or group of players, our scouting system needs a complete overhaul to say the least. The reality is that Howe thinks Burn can fulfil that position, which is despite repeated evidence to the contrary.

Good deal considering he was worth £350m in the summer.

Kalvin Phillips going to Sheff Utd marks one hell of a collapse of a career like

I’m going to assume Hope just put that out for a laugh rather than that we really tried to sign a teenager at the last minute and failed to do so, having had all January.

If we went full intensity/pressing/shithousing Howe for this I’d fancy us to give it a good go. Impossible to predict what team or version of the players we’ll get. Feels a bit of a free hit, similar to the PSG game.

Who the fuck gave Ramsey and Elanga £220k a week between them?! Fuck me.

He’ll go in the summer and I’m not as arsed as I would be if it was a Bruno, for example. We just need to reinvest and show a bit more imagination in the market.

Worst take from an Andy since he preferred Buzz in Toy Story.

Combined with his performances this season, not a good look at all.

Good luck to him. Gave us what we needed when we needed it and was a good influence both on and off the pitch.

Lascelles too as he’s been a big part behind the scenes.

£60m for a 20 year old from the French league is as mad as when Man Utd paid similar for Yoro and he’s been a disaster so far. Hopefully the same goes for this one too. Carr, Ashley and Pardew would be mortified with the sums being paid to the French league in 2026.

Can only assume the decision to not spend in January is to allow us some healthy headroom in the summer with weird and wonderful PSR calculations. Otherwise I cannot understand it at all. The thought that Burn is still considered a viable LB option is neglectful at best. I’m not even convinced he should be starting at CB when two of Thiaw, Schar and Botman are fit. Lascelles leaving is neither here nor there and frees up c.£40k on the wagebill with probably a nominal fee to go with it. Would have been happy to see Willock go with a replacement bought in but appreciate the risk there when we struggle to keep our midfielders fit. A new defender (LB or ideally someone who can cover both sides) and a midfielder (allowing Willock to depart) would have been the basics this window. A random out of the blue purple signing to give us a massive boost would have been ideal. Still think the squad is good enough to get a European place and that’s exactly what we need from here.

Interesting it’s shown that only 5 out of 188 (3%) votes are Howe out. When you consider some of those will probably be long term lurkers or mackems on the wind up, it goes to show there is not this mass hatred or agenda against Howe after all. Funny that. Voted unhappy but willing to give him time and that reflects one of the posts I made yesterday but @Moose’s second and third paragraphs above are spot on with my views.

I’m a grown man, if I wanted the manager sacked I would say it. I’m posting on a football forum online. It’s pretty pathetic that you think you’re running around “outing” people, tbf.

Aye.

Manager of the season so far. He was mocked all summer as if he was some form of competition winner and they were certain for relegation and he’s shown everyone up.

Can’t decide if I want a total Man City mauling of Tottenham for humour purposes or a slight win to ensure Frank is still employed by the time we play them.

You can’t come in here and criticise Howe after a defeat otherwise you have “an agenda”. Villa lose one game and the usual suspects in here posting about it. You couldn’t make it up