Sir Joel Inton

Sporting and Monaco both played 4-2-3-1 when beating PSG this season. Would have loved for us to go: Pope Miley Thiaw Botman Hall Tonali Ramsey Elanga Woltemade Barnes Wissa But accept that was extremely unlikely to happen.

Are you being intentionally difficult? I can be pleased he’s trying something new whilst also concerned our most productive attacking player is sat on the bench and we are playing at least 2 players out of position. Playing 5 at the back (which is the assumption I make we are, but may be wrong) is also not “giving it a go” as I stated in the post that you felt necessary to redact. We’ve tried, tested and failed it before. It’s perfectly fine to recognise it’s a difficult game, be pleased we’re trying something new but have concerns about what the new system is and the choices of player on the pitch. Care for any further explanation or are you going to keep fishing for likes?

You did well to crop out the rest of my post where I said I hope we’d give it a good go and attack from the off like we’ll need to at Man City… but I suppose that bit didn’t fit your narrative.

That’s what drinking after work on your own in the dark does to you.

Come on lad, turn it on for us tonight

What the fuck is he thinking here. Can only hope or assume he’s prioritising the Liverpool game. Nailed on to win now and show me up but that’s a honking lineup.

Would you fancy us to win more if we went 1-0 up early or if it was 0-0 going into the last 15 minutes? I’d probably have more hope on the latter, bizarrely

I don’t rate Sterling at all but you couldn’t say no to him on a free if his wages were anything reasonable. Sadly, I doubt his wages would be reasonable.

You also have examples like Vardy who were late on the scene and managed to continue later in the years.

Not sure the personal insult is necessary.

Genuinely not a clue how we get a win here but in essentially a one off game would love us to play with the handbrake off and go for it, similarly to how we will need to against Man City.

Did I ever suggest I had hard evidence of it existing? It’s no less valid than your assumption based on *checks notes* tea leaves that everything is absolutely fine.

“Feels like…” But if pressed, I’d say the reports that we continuously seem to hear about, including recent posts on this thread about how we structured our summer business. As well as the fact we appear stagnant in this January market.

To be fair, our 5 opponents are placed 9th, 13th, 14th, 19th and 20th on that table with 4 wins between them across 30 games. Has anyone had an easier run of games than that?

If the ball isn’t crossed and pulled back to him on the penalty spot, he scores it and wheels off in celebration, everyone will be commenting on what excellent striker movement he has. The criticism of Wissa is the weirdest imo. He had a disjointed pre-season, followed by a significant ligament injury. He’ll not be back to his best until next season, never mind the need to get integrated and used to the squad and style of play etc. What I see is a player with huge desire to pull on our shirt, working extremely hard and it not quite coming off for him yet.

I’ve always been of the belief he’s a fantastic man manager, team builder and coach but a very limited tactician. We’ll have very good periods as a result but also lots of patchy periods where he has to use his man management skills to return out of form players to form. If he was Leicester’s manager when Ranieri was, I think he wins the league with them too. Playing fast counter attacking football and creating/embracing fantastic team spirit and morale. I think what we’re seeing now with Howe is what we’d have if we kept him for the next 10 years. A combination of good/excellent seasons and ‘par’ considering our wage budget/PSR position. I don’t think we’d ever go backwards too far with him but equally I do not think we’d ever get further progression than this. I could live with that, but it doesn’t correlate with the message our owners give on their ambitions.

They’re no longer together.

It makes no sense to be in the position we are and not strengthen. Our scouting and transfer structure is so disjointed and makes little sense to me. Feels like a constant power struggle no matter who we have in post. But then again I said the same this time last year and we went on to win a cup and qualify for the CL.

May I ask you to explain to me, if I’m “on something”, in plain English, why Howe is prevented from adapting his tactics to suit our personnel during this ‘transitional period’? Feel like this is the same as when companies tell you they are “on a journey” but they’re actually just badly run and managed Same textbook speak.

If we purchased Elanga to play with a striker who told us months before he wanted to leave, then you’re giving Howe an even smaller defence than you think you are.

So we’re purely in a transitional period because we’re not playing well?

Maybe if so many players are underperforming, it’s the manager, coaching and tactical set up that is the problem?

So when does it end? We’re 6 months in already, not quite the “month or two” you describe? Surely if this is such an obvious point everyone else is missing, you must know its duration?

Fuck me. Wingers don’t provide chances for strikers in 2026.

When does the transitional period end for selling one player? Can Howe not adapt his tactics during this transitional period to suit the players he does have?