Checko Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 If we'd had almost any other manager we'd not have been knocked out tonight against that Milan team... because we'd never have been in the competition in the first place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myleftboot Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 1 minute ago, Checko said: If we'd had almost any other manager we'd not have been knocked out tonight against that Milan team... because we'd never have been in the competition in the first place. See what you did there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Didn't think he was naive, it was Schär and Isak who were naive for their second, but Howe twisted to freshen things up and all of the moves didn't work out. Gordon, Trippier, and Miley were all miles better than their replacements and even one of them stay on and maybe things are different. Ah well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 I didn’t mind the subs, Leao is their main threat and having Tino on him instead of tired and probably injured Trippier made sense. Gordon most likely wasn’t fit to play 90 and Longstaff for Miley is an obvious sub. Almiron didn’t deserve 90 but we had no else left on the bench to replace him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 54 minutes ago, Pilko said: Don't get the Trippier sub, subbing him when he was having a decent game with Saturday off to come and yet he left him on when he was gassed to fuck and making mistakes the last two weeks. Gordon going off just as he was coming to the boil felt odd too. Wonder if they were pre-planned subs rather than reactionary but they felt odd at the time and we unravelled soon after. He'll learn from this I'm sure, first European campaign. The overall feeling is that Dortmund away aside, we've played well and competed in all the games and yet finished bottom due to sides with a bit more savvy and nous and experience in Europe edging us, as well as the travesty of a pen at PSG. Same feeling as I had after the Man U final, no disgrace at all just a team full of big-game experience versus one at the start of its journey (Tripps aside). Could do with a humdrum, boring as shit 1-0 win against Fulham just to get the winning feeling back. Good to have a few more bodies and hopefully we can push on this season. On the balance of play we lose all the away games comfortably. Could’ve conceded 3 in all of them without complaints. 3 home games. Excellent in 1. Poor in another. And a bit Jekyll and Hyde in the last. Saying all of that. I am proud of the lads. In the end a bad decision and 3 poor halves of football at home ultimately cost us. And we are playing against 3 very decent sides. It’s been so fun and I hope we get back into it next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Trippier was having a good game tbf. And he’s not playing on Sat. It felt like 2 super odd subs. Probably pre-planned. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 6 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: Trippier was having a good game tbf. And he’s not playing on Sat. It felt like 2 super odd subs. Probably pre-planned. He must’ve hurt himself in the collision with Giroud IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Trippier had a very noticeable limp during the lap at the end of the game. Definitely a knock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checko Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 30 minutes ago, Myleftboot said: See what you did there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloGeordio Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Some great posts in threads about how he went for CL next round option as he is that kind of person, caution to the wind etc. - that will bode well in the future, I'm sure. That said, how it feels to me tonight, we need to win something this season and the EL was another realistic shot at a trophy so I'm gutted about how we've come out with nothing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormy Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 9 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said: Some great posts in threads about how he went for CL next round option as he is that kind of person, caution to the wind etc. - that will bode well in the future, I'm sure. That said, how it feels to me tonight, we need to win something this season and the EL was another realistic shot at a trophy so I'm gutted about how we've come out with nothing. Any particular reason(s) you feel we 'need' to win something this season? Genuine question, not trying to start owt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc4eva Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Do we need to win something or is finishing top 7 enough at least this year, building a better team and mentality. You can see the layers being built and may take a bit of time for our first trophy. Next Tuesday feels like a big game but establishing ourselves in top 6 feels more important and then building beyond that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prophet Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) Trippier was allegedly limping after the game. Almost satirical though, a couple of the lads that were berating Howe for not taking Trippier off v Wolves are doing the same for bringing him off here. Edited December 13, 2023 by The Prophet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) Yeah we can't say we need to win something this season considering who we're competing with. The likes of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool are years ahead of us, and the deck is stacked in their favour for the foreseeable future. We will win something in the next few years but in the meantime need to focus on progressing on and off the pitch, which we're doing. Edited December 13, 2023 by Interpolic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Just now, wormy said: Any particular reason(s) you feel we 'need' to win something this season? Genuine question, not trying to start owt. We're a serious club again and, for me, we have enough of a platform already to go and win something and that's exactly what we should be doing. Top 4 and cup final last season was great fun, we should be trying to do at least one thing better this season. If you gave me EL/ELC and a trophy this campaign or a top 4 finish alone, I'm taking the former every single time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc4eva Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Just now, Interpolic said: Yeah we can't say we need to win something this season considering who we're competing with. The likes of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool are years ahead of us, and the deck is stacked in their favour for the foreseeable future. We will win something in the next few years but in the meantime need to focus on progressing on and off the pitch, which we're doing. Yeah we were a shit show a few years ago while those teams have built and bought for years. We went from nearly relegated to champions league next season and transformed but don't quite have that edge yet. It will come though but I don't think setting expectations on top 4 or trophies will help at all. Top 7 is fine with me compared to what we were used to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 I appreciate we can't use it as an excuse forever, but we are still far ahead of schedule. Yes, I want to see us lift a trophy, but I'm not going to start berating Howe, the players and the owners etc for not delivering that with a squad still made up with a majority of players who were fighting relegation two seasons ago. That takes nothing away from those players who have stepped up and improved. But we're still miles behind those clubs that perform at the highest level year after year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checko Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Imagine our team tonight but with, say, Salah on the right wing... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) Yeah we can beat anyone on our day but our day isn't necessarily going to be a cup final or whatever when the opposition have been there and done it many times. We should be aiming to win or overachieving in every competition we're in, there's a difference between that and expecting it though. Edited December 14, 2023 by Interpolic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Playing for EL at 1-1 would’ve been crazy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Howe is a smart bloke, and I can only guess at how much the European campaign will have taught him. We weren’t embarrassed in the toughest group possible, when we’re still in the middle of a squad recycle. I doubt many of the current players will be there in two years time, which is when we’ll really be able to start kicking on to the next level I reckon - but Howe (hopefully) will. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordie Ahmed Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) The problem is we have some people that think because we finished 4th last season then we need to finish at least 4th again this year, then 3rd and so and in their mind that is how progress works However the reality of progress when it comes to football is very different because we are dealing with a new set of challenges and a moving competition where other teams can and do improve Whilst our league position may well drop from last season this can still very much be a season of progress but we may not realise it immediately The CL games have been an amazing experience for us and I've no doubt Howe has learnt a lot about the competition and how to approach the challenge of game after game Our injury situation has made this difficult, I genuinely believe a "normal" injury situation and we would be going through and despite that if it wasn't for an egregious refereeing decision we would still have some European football And finally I do think Howe will have learnt a lot about his squad, he'll know the ceiling of certain individuals and I hope he is ruthless when the time comes with some of them. If we want to compete with the big boys then the reality is the quality of the squad needs to jump, Howe has improved players a lot, we've seen that but a number of them have hit their ceiling and it's time to leave them behind otherwise we'll be left behind Edited December 14, 2023 by Geordie Ahmed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, nufc4eva said: Yeah we were a shit show a few years ago while those teams have built and bought for years. We went from nearly relegated to champions league next season and transformed but don't quite have that edge yet. It will come though but I don't think setting expectations on top 4 or trophies will help at all. Top 7 is fine with me compared to what we were used to. Ultimately, the key is what his bosses think. Context innit but my suspicion is that if we ended the season 7th but didn't progress in any further in comps then they'd not be best pleased. Seems the exact reason we tried to bulk out the squad more this summer. Howe is class and will win something here. I feel it in me bones. Edit: I don't think they believe qualifying for CL again is realistic either with every other front to compete in. Edited December 14, 2023 by Gallowgate Toon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Love him forever Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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