Negative ‘fans’

[Mountain]

10 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

I've enjoyed the season in parts, but it's been absolutely exhausting. With the sheer volume of fixtures, I'm starting to see why fans of the larger clubs take certain games for granted.

 

[Rod]

16 minutes ago, thomas said:

i know i'm not the target for the thread title, or hope I'm not at least - i generally voice displeasure in infrequent snipes and not regular diatribes - but i will say i have felt suuuuper fuckin pessimistic about this season ever since the isak bullshit in the summer. Granted there've been small upticks but the overall vibe trend has been downward for me, and the mood didn't get better after our lack of movement in Jan  just kinda coasting towards summer and seeing what's up. 

 

 

 

I read this in the most outrageous posh voice for some reason.

[Fak]

Just now, Rod said:

I read this in the most outrageous posh voice for some reason.

 

Robson Greens?

[Rod]

1 minute ago, Fak said:

 

Robson Greens?

Much more posher than that.

[thomas]

Guy Fieri? 

[Mountain]

4 minutes ago, Rod said:

I've said this since the beginning of the season. Fans were asking for a centre back, full back or defensive midfielder.  Now I am not saying we don't need these positions filled BUT we are desperate for a goalscorer. We don't score enough goals. Woltemade you can write off as a goalscorer. Wissa could be the "fox in the box". However we need an outright goal finisher. Tonight we had 12 shots with 5 on target. Shearer would have scored those 5 opportunities.

 

We had 200+ million to spend too.

 

Should have just got like 8 players with a mix of potential, expertise, tactical loans and thrown the dice.

 

Why didn't we sign Granit Xhaka? I guess almost every club is asking that question.

 

Anyway it's in the past now, we just need the people in the club to learn from this.

[Rod]

2 minutes ago, thomas said:

Guy Fieri? 

You sent me on a wild goose chase on Google you twat! Who is Guy Fieri?

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 minute ago, Rod said:

You sent me on a wild goose chase on Google you twat! Who is Guy Fieri?

you're better off not knowing.

[thomas]

Just now, Rod said:

You sent me on a wild goose chase on Google you twat! Who is Guy Fieri?

 

this stud: 

 

 

pretty much the polar opposite of posh, i was just being silly, sorry  

[Zero]

The patience is gone. That’s my feeling after so many years here. In the past people would give more patience towards the manager and the players. I still remember the old saying “never judge the new arrivals until next season”. And look at the Elanga, Ramsay, Woltemade thread.

[McDog]

7 minutes ago, Zero said:

The patience is gone. That’s my feeling after so many years here. In the past people would give more patience towards the manager and the players. I still remember the old saying “never judge the new arrivals until next season”. And look at the Elanga, Ramsay, Woltemade thread.

 

 

That's a great saying.

[Mountain]

3 hours ago, Sima said:

The die was more or less cast when Cherki scored in the first leg.

 

I’ve supported us through our three really successful periods now and this time is up there with my youthful joy of the Keegan years when I was only 11 when he came back as manager.  No matter what happens in the future in what looks like a key transitional period is ever going to take that away.

 

But that was pretty grim tonight, after 7 minutes Man City didn’t have to leave second gear and by 45 they were in 1st/neutral.

 

Just because I’ve had the euphoria of the cup win of last season doesn’t mean that we can’t be a little worried about how our form has plummeted this season and there being no signs of the course being righted.

 

We lost one of the best strikers in the world last season.  He had that X-factor and more importantly we played to his strengths to help him score as much as possible, with defenders being terrified of him. But the business in replacing him is a significant concern with neither striker looking effective in what is still the system we had set up for him.

 

That and the fractured performances of all but one of our wingers has blunted us massively.

 

Isak is always injured, it doesn't matter if he was one of the "best strikers in the world" he's a crock and is currently injured and has scored 3 goals this season. He will get injured again and again. We got an amazing fee for him, but we've just wasted the money. But Isak is never going to be the same.

 

[TheBrownBottle]

5 hours ago, Zero said:

The patience is gone. That’s my feeling after so many years here. In the past people would give more patience towards the manager and the players. I still remember the old saying “never judge the new arrivals until next season”. And look at the Elanga, Ramsay, Woltemade thread.

 

5 hours ago, McDog said:

 

 

That's a great saying.

I’ve heard that saying of course - but don’t get to say it though when you’ve paid huge premiums on ‘PL ready’ players.   That’s why we’ve paid over the odds.  This excludes Woltemade and Thiaw, of course.  Elanga, Ramsey and Wissa would’ve been a fraction of that cost for similar level players from the continent.

 

If you want to allow players time to develop, you don’t spunk the numbers we did.

[Dr Venkman]

8 hours ago, Sir Joel Inton said:

 

Also lovejoy in Ramsey’s thread:

 

”We have a player here”

So, he’s not relentlessly negative then, is he? 

Don’t reference Ramsey when you’re trying to argue it’s not the case that loads on here are too negative, FFS 

[La Parka]

I don't see the problem with anyone's opinions. It's what gives the board variety. 

 

Some of us are doom mongers.

Some of us a realists.

Some of us are hopeful.

Some of us are blind faithers. 

 

That's life. 

[Nucasol]

I think this season has magnified everything. The Isak saga got everyone het up over the summer and the relentless number of games leaves little room for reasonable reflection. There was normally that midweek lull last year where you could pause, breathe, reflect, reset. Now it’s reaction content, incessant podcasts and on to the next one 72 hours later.

It’s what we all wanted - being back with the big boys - but that comes with its own challenges when you have to play flat out to compete weekend-midweek-weekend-midweek for four months solid.

 

I’ve got past the reactivity. It’s a case of seeing what we can do for the rest of the season, knowing it’ll continue to be topsy-turvy until end of March and then hoping we have a structured summer rather than the disruption-fest of June to August 2025. Oh and beat the fucking mackems on March 27th Eddie.

[toon25]

8 hours ago, The Prophet said:

I've enjoyed the season in parts, but it's been absolutely exhausting. With the sheer volume of fixtures, I'm starting to see why fans of the larger clubs take certain games for granted.

 

Absolutely spot on.

 

After the summer - and particularly the extent to which the established 'order' is re-emerging - I've found this season to be almost totally devoid of enjoyment.

 

[Yorkie]

9 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

I think this season has magnified everything. The Isak saga got everyone het up over the summer and the relentless number of games leaves little room for reasonable reflection. There was normally that midweek lull last year where you could pause, breathe, reflect, reset. Now it’s reaction content, incessant podcasts and on to the next one 72 hours later.

It’s what we all wanted - being back with the big boys - but that comes with its own challenges when you have to play flat out to compete weekend-midweek-weekend-midweek for four months solid.

 

I’ve got past the reactivity. It’s a case of seeing what we can do for the rest of the season, knowing it’ll continue to be topsy-turvy until end of March and then hoping we have a structured summer rather than the disruption-fest of June to August 2025. Oh and beat the fucking mackems on March 27th Eddie.

 

Fantastic post and the bit in bold is exactly where I'm at. The big picture take on NUFC right now is that we're struggling a bit, still smarting from the Isak saga, and have a dysfunctional squad. My expectations therefore are that last season's points tally isn't achievable and the cups are very much a case of "what will be will be." I don't think any one individual game, win/lose/draw (at PSG and no one worse!!) changes that. That's why I found it funny when the 'should he be sacked - yes' poll would creep up after every defeat.

[Sid]

Some very short memories on here.

[Stuy_O]

10 hours ago, tgarve said:

There is a real problem in our fanbase now of so called ‘ fans’ taking pleasure in their negativity coming true seeing that as a ‘win’

 

Saying they are not bothered about a Semi final, saying they wish the manager plays a second side when 2 goals down, criticising everything. Willing their negativity to come true so they are ‘right’

Now we are at another level can we not just ENJOY it

 

It’s honestly just draining 

 

Obviously you get this type of supporter in every fanbase, but this doesn't mean others can't constructively criticise if thats their opinion, and it's not like it's unwarranted. Are we supposed to 'enjoy' losing to Sunderland and playing terrible doing so?

 

Every fan worth their salt knows this is light years ahead of the Ashley days and heaven forbid we return to anything similar, and Eddie and his players have received so much love from the fans.

 

But it can't all be one way all the time, this is how football is.  

 

 

Edited February 5 by Stuy_O

[Gottlob]

A lot of the angst is tied to the nature of today's game, where there's a more fixed hierarchy and the bigger clubs sometimes seem to get further out of reach or at least keep stockpiling players and funds. We're in a bit of a purgatorial zone where lots of fans want and expect us to bridge the gap, but the worry is that we fall irrevocably behind after one bad season. The game doesn't really seem to reckon with patience unless you have the revenues to support it or limit your expectations.

 

More broadly I think a lot of fans approach football today with real cynicism. We all put that aside but to different degrees when it comes to our support of the manager and players. I'm sometimes staggered at how upset some posters seem to get over criticism of Howe and the team, even where it descends into contempt or abuse in terms of derision and name-calling. Again I'd say there's a bit of a cycle where some of the more negative posters are scornful of Howe and the team, then receive scorn in response and of course we end up goading each other and fighting our corners.

[The Prophet]

The most noticeable thing over the last week is how much cup runs are now taken for granted.

 

We have reached ANOTHER semi final, the third in four seasons and that in itself is never really taken into consideration when assessing the season. 

 

If we keep that up, it won't be long before we win another pot.

 

Chuck in our first ever (favourable) Champions League knock out tie to reach the 16 and an FA Cup 4th round v an injury hit Villa and we could well progress elsewhere too.

 

It wasn't long ago we used to dream about this sort of stuff. Now League position seems to be the only thing that matters. PSR has a lot to answer for.

[Zero]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

 

I’ve heard that saying of course - but don’t get to say it though when you’ve paid huge premiums on ‘PL ready’ players.   That’s why we’ve paid over the odds.  This excludes Woltemade and Thiaw, of course.  Elanga, Ramsey and Wissa would’ve been a fraction of that cost for similar level players from the continent.

 

If you want to allow players time to develop, you don’t spunk the numbers we did.

 

I am never a fan of paying premium for EPL proven players.

 

In fact all the players need to settle, and learn to fit in a new system. They all need time and training sessions. Even existing players need to. Howe didn't make Murphy a solid RW 4 years ago. It took him 2 years.

Our early success definitely changed the mindset of our fans. That’s very obvious, and imo that’s unfair to the manager and the players 

[Sima]

11 hours ago, Heron said:

Sorry to single this out mate but just using it as an unfortunate example (for you) just this sort of thing that I find frustrating tbh. I'm appreciative of the fact that we all have different opinions but when we say things like our form has plummeted it all just seems over the top to me.

 

I'm sure I heard the other day that we were like 6 or 8 points behind last season. Okay that may be 9 or 11 now. Is 3 or 4 more losses (to wins) really plummeting when the fixtures alternate each season and aren't fixed in terms of difficulty at specific stages or sequences of the season?

 

Admittedly, I'm a really optimist. I'll be frank - I don't really get the pessimists at all (not saying this to you). I tend to find in life that the optimists know they're optimistic but the pessimists just think they're being real. Just my perception.

 

But I think that's the issue the optimists generally have (albeit not sure we needed a thread on it - no offence whoever created it  ).

 

Like every time something goes wrong it's a barrage of Howe out and everything and everyone isn't good enough. I think it's the nature of modern (social media) society. Everything is so binary. Is x good or is x bad? Are you a 1 or a 0?

 

As has been said, I think by @HaydnNUFC the reality is this season is the grey matter that is in between. So when folk use sensationalist language or are being irrationally negative before a ball is even kicked it just (again in my eyes) seems rather forgetful of the great job this squad and coaching staff have done here. In life (again) if folk achieve, or do you proud, you normally return them with faith and (again) for me Eddie Howe deserves far more faith than folk seemingly show him and so do virtually all the squad.

 

This is probably our lowest moment under Howe on the basis of capability vs performance, but it's nothing catastrophic, and to @Slims point (or at least I am going to use it for my own agenda ) now is the time to rally behind the club and everyone at it ahead of strong and important fixtures and not in-fight.

 

 

 

 

That's all good, I can take it.

 

The main issue for me this season as while the points difference may not be as great as my statement of "plummeting" suggests, performances for most of the season have been less than convincing.  You can (in my opinion) probably count on one hand (definitely two) the number of games where we have played well.  

 

Immediate ones that spring to mind are

Liverpool (H)

Man City (H)

Arsenal (H)

Everton (A)

 

The Champions League form (especially at home) is a strange one because I believe the likes of Benfica, Bilbao and PSV would be bottom half teams in the Premier League and, while our general intensity levels have dropped, they are still too much for European teams of this standard.

 

The wins against Wolves and Fulham at home were unconvincing and the Leeds game was pure chaos where we were behind 3 times. It's not a stretch to say we're no longer the team that would overpower opponents at home that we did in 22/23 and even 23/24. Even last season up until the Liverpool home game before Christmas we were at a very low ebb which was arrested by incredible form for the remainder of the season (certainly up until Wembley anyway).

 

So, for me, consistency is an issue that has been there for the last season and a half.  Whether that's teams adapting to our increasingly rigid style of play or something else is open to opinion but the rarity of formation changes in-game from Howe and the same subs game after game doesn't fill me with confidence that he can arrest the inconsitency in the long term.

 

 

[Adam P]

Happiness = Current Situation - Expectations.

 

High expectations is why Man city had empty seats. It also explains why some of our fans arent happy. I think the best way to look at it is to realise that the incredible job done by Eddie in getting a trophy and 2 CL qualifications has rightly raised expectations but that the foundations of that success were over performance in terms of our financial muscle.