GrahamTaylor5

With what Longstaff was saying yesterday, and with how he has played under Howe, it makes you wonder if Howe just came in and saw that he was a decent player who is not a striker. Not on the same level but I wonder how well Shearer would have played as a left back? He had a decent header and a good cross but he would have been wasted.

I think Raphina is linked with Bayern for €50. I wonder if their goals are to remain financially stable or to develop their squad.

I don't think Norwich, Burnley, Watford or Leeds are going to get close to 36 points. I can't see where their sudden upturn in form will come from. Maybe Leeds when their squad return from injury. I see Everton also being more likely to stay out of the 'battle' due to the form of the rest rather than gaining a load of points. They got 13 of their 19 points in the first 5 games. 6 points in their last 12 games implies that they have imploded and we aren't even looking that far up the table for survival. I don't think the team who survives this year will need to do much.

I am not that great on the history of relegation but were the teams with 1 win, only 2 points off 17th, 5 points away from 16th and 8 points away from 15th? I am curious as to how far away they were from safety as it makes a big difference. I think the fact that everything has gone for us apart from the win makes a big difference if we had a gap of 12 points or even 9. Knowing you need to win three games on those above you when you have only managed 1 feels a step too far. I cannot see Burnley or Watford going on a good run. I can see them matching what they have so far. Leeds may invest next week and pull away and so may Everton. I think out of everyone in the bottom 6, we have the best potential to go on a run with the current squads, we also have the best potential to improve our squad. I think if you were a player weighing up whether you wanted to punt your career on a move to Newcastle, when they may be relegated, if you had any belief in yourself, you would see the potential we have and think you would be the person who would make that difference. I genuinely don't fear the drop. I don't think it is written in the stars for us this time. No Ronaldo soft pen. No collapse after Cavani's scuffed goal. We were the more likely to win that game. We don't need luck this year. We have a plan, we train, we have a some talent and a desire to play. Having said all tht, wiith how small the margins are, fortune seems to still have smiled upon us that this us the year we have our 1 win.

Once again. A point does not do us justice. So love the change since Howe has come in.

That wasn't reckless it was deliberate and just dirty. I cannot see how that is just a yellow.

What a press. Loving it.

This is how I feel every game. I love the way we play now. If we lose, we have tried and played well. I know we need the wins but I really feel now this run of fixtures is out of way, we can get going on a run hopefully.

There seems to be a lot of rhetoric that we need to build a squad that is capable of beating the drop this year then build a squad in the summer to push for the top half next year. Now, I get that we are not in a position to persuade some players to come to us and that makes sense but that is not the stance these articles/ ITKs are taking. It is the grit of a player to win a game that we need to get in now not the better calibre of player. When we were in the Championship and we had Hanley, Gayle and Murphy etc. that maked sense as we needed players who were capable in that league, however, if a player e.g. Lingard, Trippier, Ox would come in the summer to win us enough games to get up top half, I'm sure, if they came in January, they would manage to win games (against the exact same teams) to help us get out of the mess we are in now. We will play the same teams next year. I also think of a player is going to be put off from a potential relegation scrap, they won't want to come to a team that just finished 15/16/17th as another scrap looks likely. Either they believe in their own ability to make us better or they don't.

He is obviously a man of integrity and our lot won't budge on paying him less because we are the richest club in the world and we insist on paying too much.

It is a strange one really as I was never that big a fan of Carroll. I know I was probably wrong but I just didn't see what everyone else saw. I remember when he was on two goals vs Watford when we were in the Championship, Jonas tried to slow it down for him and he didn't make the run for his third. His sale just underlined the complete lack of ambition we would ever have, happy to he in the Premier League and that was about it anything more was just a bonus.

I also don't think we have signed anyone yet but I just curious. I think the last time I took proper notice of a transfer window was when we sold Carroll. In my head, I wasn't expecting us to sign anyone but I think most of my interest in transfers died that day and I feel out of the loop with how it fully works.

I am unsure how to ask this question so it may make no sense. Can we sign someone before January 1st (they cannot play for us because of the window etc) or do we have to wait till the 1st to start the full process of putting in an offer, sorting terms and doing the medical? Just wondering if we might have some players already sorted but cannot publicise it.

I love ASM but what is frustrating is that he doesn't get his head up. He misses the opportunity to draw a foul or misses the pass/shot. He is still one of our best but it is sometimes so annoying that he doesn't seem to think.

I think the one saving grace for us is this year there are a few sinking ships just above us. The luck that Leeds seem to have is probably going to help us out immensely. Despite the fact we have only won 1 game, we are still only 3 points from safety and I don't think the games in hand will change that. I don't want us to have to rely on others but it seems to have gone our way. We have a good run of games after Manchester United and I think Howe will manage to get something from them.

Games like this just show how bad our squad really is. I still don't think we cannot stay up. I'm starting to accept how many new players we need. I did think Howe could do it with the current lot but even my optimistic outlook has taken a battering. How Clark can continue to make the mistakes when he has a golden second chance but Lascelles is next to him so who can blame him? Today was painful even if it was against Manchester City.

I did mean Norwich but seeing some of the posts other relatively new posters have shared recently, I should probably just clarify my view.

He has had 1 poor game under Howe.

It is painful to keep accepting poor results and say that it is alright. Realistically, we could have come away tonight on the back of a thumping but we played well. Fact is we do not have the quality to match a team like Liverpool. I still cannot get over Clark. Once we get through the next two games we should be fine. Any signing will be a bonus. I think Howe is getting a good tune out of them. I feel sorry for Lewis but Ritchie played well. It says a lot about where we have been to be able to find the joy in a 3-1 loss.

Got to love Lascelles

I agree with your point about the sub for a red card but it is not always the case. If Fraser, Willock etc had been sent off the chances of a change would be reduced further. I was also thinking about the timing of a change, which I know would effect every team the same way. Having to make a sub on 10 minutes alongside the loss of a player is vastly different to if it happened later in the game. We had to change a system and set up from what was an attack minded approach to a soaking the pressure approach. The incident and substitution later in the game would have at least taken off a player with less legs. We may not have threatened but neither did they as they didn't get close enough. We had to play more conservative as the press of the Norwich players meant the energy required to be more forward thinking wouldn't have been sustainable to match for 80 minutes with 1 fewer players. I agree 14 games without a win tells a story but it doesn't reflect all the dimensions of what we have been through in the last three games or the fact that we have managed to finally shift Bruce. I only got to watch on the TV but there are so many positives to take away from it. I don't think it is great but I think we are so far removed from the Tottenham game that I feel we will pick up points. I also think Howe will drill the player to a level that will reduce the errors and we won't always be punished. We were lucky with the Fab mistake at the end. Howe has only really had a few weeks of face to face work with the players. I also felt we could get a goal against Arsenal. I think Arsenal were the better team and deserved the win but we were so much improved.

The difference with Norwich is they are now pressing far more than they have before. This, when we went a player down is going to make a big difference. We also didn't just play 80 mins with 1 less player, we had to sub off Fraser to cover it. This limited our ability to make changes when fatigue was setting in.

We are not in a must win situation. We are still in the earlier part of the season. History does not reflect the situation we are in. Teams without a win in 14 would not have kept a manager like Bruce for the time we did or, if they had, wouldn't have appointed a manager like Howe alongside the potential we have to invest in January. Players will come even if it is a relegation battle as they can always leave. Townshend joined us then left in the summer and the prospects look brighter now. We are not far off Watford and we are playing better. If Darlow had not stuffed up, then we win. Had Howe not had covid, even if we lost to Arsenal, the extra week of him training the players makes the difference. If Clark doesn't take the man out, then we would win. The lack of wins are down to errors that can be sorted. We have the time to turn things around and there are plenty of teams above us who are in a mess. I think we need to see that although wins matter and we do need to win sooner rather than later, we have the tools and we now have the professional who can use them. A lack of direction in any place leads to issues that take a while to turn around. The last three games have been unrecognisable apart from the little errors. We have been punished by every single one of them. I see this as a short term problem even without the January window coming up. Howe can work with the people making errors and reduce these. Benefit is that he can also bring in improvements.

This was all down to Clark. I can take the lack of luck with covid and being outdone by Arsenal but this is beyond a joke. I would have fancied Dubs 1 on 1 and even if we went down, we would have 80 mins to make up at home. What can we expect Howe to do with stupidity like this? We didn't just lose a player, we also lost a sub in the process. There are still positives but individual errors and that level of stupidity is infuriating.

Game not over but Clark has to have a long hard look at himself. Good to know Fernández is still alive. Would have been better to find out under better circumstances.