Eddie Howe

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

I take your point, but I highly doubt any new player would have seen many minutes over the last few games, granted they may have started v Liverpool if Willock is injured.

 

More than anything we miss Bruno and he'll be back after the weekend thankfully.

Yeah he is obviously the biggest miss, thankfully we have a relatively simple schedule for the remainder of the season, only 1 game per week l. International break should also help as well.

[Theregulars]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

I'm not sure why selling Shelvey has become an issue after drawing with West Ham and Bournemouth when he was only declared fit this weekend and played all of half an hour.

I’d imagine it was because we lost 3 players to injury, one of whom plays in his position and looks to be out for a few matches. I’d also imagine it’s because he was the only other player in that position we had aside from Bruno who is known for being able to play a decent through-ball and reliable for a 5-10 assists a year. 

[Theregulars]

47 minutes ago, Choppy Chop Chop said:

The comment's here remind me why I steered clear of NUFC forums for a few years, except I'm now on the `HappyClappers` side now.  Just be happy even if its just for this season, we are not getting sucked into a relegation fight 

I understand the sentiment but I think this is such a basic outlook. It’s completely legitimate and reasonable to debate what’s going on now that our reality has changed. It doesn’t make us miserable, deluded, entitled or whatever meaningless trope you want to throw at us. We’re just analysing the football team we support and admitting that we haven’t looked great since the turn of the year, punctuated by our worst performance of the season yesterday and the squad coming out of the transfer window shallower and arguably weaker (TBC, depending on Gordon). 

[Theregulars]

38 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Wilson has just picked up his 4-5th injury of the season though. We have no youth strikers so will have to rely on wingers who we're also now short on.

 

Shelvey's role isn't redundant if we have no other midfielders who are anywhere near as smart in possession. I feel like I'm having to make incredibly obvious points here, like both Shelvey and Wood would fairly obviously be good to have at this moment in time? How is this even debateable?

Because you’re being critical, which isn’t allowed in some people’s minds. Everything can only be “good” or “bad”, and any nuance in between means you must think it’s “bad”. Social media age and its accompanying assault on curiosity and discussion coming to the fore in my view. 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Theregulars

[Hanshithispantz]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I take your point, but I highly doubt any new player would have seen many minutes over the last few games, granted they may have started v Liverpool if Willock is injured.

 

More than anything we miss Bruno and he'll be back after the weekend thankfully.

Like Anthony Gordon?

 

Any new midfielder would have replaced Willock yesterday if they hadn't already forced their way into the side during the West Ham game. This isn't some kneejerk reaction to defeats either (from me personally), I'm only responding because I disagree with some comments here. 

 

I don't think we're completely fucked or anything, just gambled and made it a lot harder to qualify for the CL.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Hanshithispantz

[Theregulars]

22 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Shelvey isn't match fit and Wood wouldn't be playing, so I don't think it'd make a huge amount of difference.

But Shelvey is match fit, he played in PL match yesterday. 

[Theregulars]

20 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Im not to bothered about the wood one as I think Gordon is his replacement (Howe said himself we wouldn’t replace wood like for like). Im also not on about the last couple of games where Shelvey wouldn’t have played. Im talking about over the next few weeks/months, having Shelvey (or a Shelvey replacement) as an option would have made the squad stronger considering how short of options we already are in the middle.

Staggering how difficult this appears to be for some to comprehend. All we’re saying is that we lack depth and an option. It might not be fatal; it likely won’t be, but why take the risk?

[The Prophet]

7 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

I’d imagine it was because we lost 3 players to injury, one of whom plays in his position and looks to be out for a few matches. I’d also imagine it’s because he was the only other player in that position we had aside from Bruno who is known for being able to play a decent through-ball and reliable for a 5-10 assists a year. 

 

He also isn't match fit and played his first 30 minutes after a long term lay off this weekend.

[Theregulars]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

He also isn't match fit and played his first 30 minutes after a long term lay off this weekend.

I mean firstly your point is wrong - he played a match of football yesterday, meaning he is match fit, surely? I guess I’m arguing the toss if you mean “fit to start”. The point we’re making is that we might need the squad depth to sustain the wonderful season you’re (and we’re) correctly enjoying, so some of us have an eyebrow raised at the decision to let him go and not replace him. It seems about as complicated as the 2x table to me.

[OverThere]

The Shelvey gamble likely is because the 100k a week for his salary is needed for Maddison or equivalent. We could have been stuck with Shelvey if this automatic extension was triggered.

[The Prophet]

My point is though, the merits of signing a midfielder in January were discussed to death. The consensus was that we look a player light, but we crack on.

 

Every time we've dropped points since January, the same posters have been...

 

"Missed opportunity."

 

"Shouldn't have sold Shelvey."

 

"Massive mistake not signing a midfielder."

 

"I told you so."

 

We fucking get it lads, it's just tedious at this point. The majority of us wanted another midfielder, we didn't get one. It could well end up being a mistake, we'll see. But continuously banging on about the one potential blemish on what has been an excellent season to date is just bizarre.

[Hanshithispantz]

You cannot combat people gloating with flawed arguments though. You disagree with the negativity as you see it, so you’re retaliating by saying things like Shelvey and Wood wouldn’t make a real difference?

[The Prophet]

2 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

You cannot combat people gloating with flawed arguments though. You disagree with the negativity as you see it, so you’re retaliating by saying things like Shelvey and Wood wouldn’t make a real difference?

 

In my view, they wouldn't have. As I say, one would have been injured and the other would have seen limited game time.

[HaydnNUFC]

I remember early season when we had that great run of wins in October and November we got compared in the sense of playstyle and personnel to early Klopp Liverpool, 2015-17ish. I had a look back at their first full season under Klopp and I can see a few similarities. They didn't have any European football and only lost 2 of their first 21 league games, one of which was a stoppage time defeat at Bournemouth. Around NYE they were 2nd (we went briefly 2nd after Leicester away). Then in January, they lost Mane to the AFCON and went on a run of 1 win in 10 in all competitions, briefly dropping out of the top 4, before winning 8 of their last 12 to secure 4th place. Their top scorers that season also finished with only 13 league goals each, similar to what Almiron and Wilson are likely going to finish on this season providing Wilson doesn't keel owa again.

 

They also didn't recruit in January despite losing Mane for a brief period. Mane's importance to Liverpool then is probably fairly comparable to Bruno's for us now. Once Mane returned, Liverpool's form did also, losing only 1 game in that last 12. They got top 4 and in the summer got Salah and Robertson. Van Dijk in the January after trying for him in the summer also, and we all know how transformative they've been.

 

In addition in terms of the league I only am concerned with Spurs and probably Brighton's results atm. The gap between 4th and 5th, similar to being more concerned with the gap between us and 3rd in the Championship season under Benitez. We also may drop out of the top 4 for a period like Liverpool did in that first full Klopp season, especially with our games in hand v West Ham and Brighton still to come. When that happens I hope the fans don't shit the bed and that transferring into the matchday atmospheres. Not holding my breath though.

[Wolfcastle]

Defeats, draws, injuries, suspensions happen. 

We had to play Rob Lee up front by himself under Keegan at times and in UEFA cup Quarter-Finals under Dalglish despite having a good enough squad.

If had a bigger squad we could still be in a situation like this where were a bit threadbare. 

Dont know that it can be said it was a mistake to sell Huckerby and Kitson because who could have known Shearer and Ferdinand would both be injured at the same time Tino was suspended.

Just got to get on with it.

[MrRaspberryJam]

The club wanted a midfielder before we flogged Jonjo, they tried to get one last minute once we did sack him off to Forest. 

 

But the club are playing by FFP rules and wouldn't give in to daft fees for Connor Gallagher or anyone else, and that's fair enough. If injuries and suspensions take effect and we drift off down to 7th by May then so be it. Its still been a cracking ride and the future is in safe hands. 

 

If we were in the middle of a relegation fight we'd probably have coughed up. I have absolutely no issues with the club waiting until the summer to do their business and address the positions we are short in and lack quality. 

 

If we miss out on a CL spot then it is what it is. I suspect it won't be our last top 4 challenge under this regime. 

[Hanshithispantz]

11 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

In my view, they wouldn't have. As I say, one would have been injured and the other would have seen limited game time.

We have nearly half of a season left though. It’s not just about the last 2 games. Wood has already played over 400 minutes and we’re entering the backend of the season when tiredness naturally sets in.

 

Shelvey played just about every game available last year and would have been heavily featured had he stayed. He was hardly a fringe player.

 

Going round in circles here so I’m bowing out, but any argument that Shelvey and Wood are essentially dead weight in this squad don’t really hold up imo (100% agree with the Wood sale however).

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Hanshithispantz

[nufcnick]

It’s honestly like some fans have all of a sudden forgotten the last 14 years, if we were told we would at the start of the season we would finish top10 and get to a cup final, 99% on here would have snatched your hand off and if someone suggested we would be 4th and got to a final at this stage of the season he would have been committed. We are punching well above our weight and going through a lull due to being such a high intensity team. If we somehow managed to pull off a win in the cup final, I have no doubt some on here would still be bitching and whinging about a so called missed opportunity to finish top4

[Theregulars]

5 minutes ago, nufcnick said:

It’s honestly like some fans have all of a sudden forgotten the last 14 years, if we were told we would at the start of the season we would finish top10 and get to a cup final, 99% on here would have snatched your hand off and if someone suggested we would be 4th and got to a final at this stage of the season he would have been committed. We are punching well above our weight and going through a lull due to being such a high intensity team. If we somehow managed to pull off a win in the cup final, I have no doubt some on here would still be bitching and whinging about a so called missed opportunity to finish top4

Nobody has forgotten the last 14 years, we’re just debating the depth of the squad and discussing what we’re seeing with our own eyes: a team not performing particularly well over the last 5-6 weeks. It’s completely feasible to be both ecstatic with the season from a broader perspective, but concerned with the immediate moment from a narrow perspective (unless you’re not capable of weighing up conflicting arguments and concluding that both have some merit in different ways). 
 

What is not boring on the forum is people discussing concern. What is boring is being told you’re ungrateful or somehow dismissive of the pain under Ashley for expressing criticism or a concern. Literally everybody on here is very happy that Ashley is gone and very happy that we’re no longer shit. 
 

For comparison’s sake, I love the band Death Cab For Cutie. If they make one album I don’t like and I express disappointment, am I to be dismissed as somehow less of a fan for somehow not appreciating their previous bodies of work from the preceding 14 years? There’s just no need to limit yourself to such binary thinking. 

[MrRaspberryJam]

4 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

Nobody has forgotten the last 14 years, we’re just debating the depth of the squad and discussing what we’re seeing with our own eyes: a team not performing particularly well over the last 5-6 weeks. It’s completely feasible to be both ecstatic with the season from a broader perspective, but concerned with the immediate moment from a narrow perspective (unless you’re not capable of weighing up conflicting arguments and concluding that both have some merit in different ways). 
 

What is not boring on the forum is people discussing concern. What is boring is being told you’re ungrateful or somehow dismissive of the pain under Ashley for expressing criticism or a concern. Literally everybody on here is very happy that Ashley is gone and very happy that we’re no longer shit. 
 

For comparison’s sake, I love the band Death Cab For Cutie. If they make one album I don’t like and I express disappointment, am I to be dismissed as somehow less of a fan for somehow not appreciating their previous bodies of work from the preceding 14 years? There’s just no need to limit yourself to such binary thinking. 

 

Did you ever order that Ajax Bob Marley shirt from DHgate? 

[Theregulars]

4 minutes ago, MrRaspberryJam said:

 

Did you ever order that Ajax Bob Marley shirt from DHgate? 

I did! Wore it in Amsterdam just the other week when visiting. 

[MrRaspberryJam]

Cock on that. 

[keegshields]

Does Shelvey get better in absence? Totally does not fit in our team and press. Wish him all the best but not for us, similar to Maxi.

[wormy]

Have the past eight pages today all been about Shelvey? Just so I know if there's a single page worth catching up on.

[OverThere]

Just now, wormy said:

Have the past eight pages today all been about Shelvey? Just so I know if there's a single page worth catching up on.

Yes and no.