Alan Doh'liver

Plus if he played higher up the pitch, he wouldn't have either the gas or the legs to get back in defensive position if we lost possession....which happens quite a lot unfortunately. I honestly think there's more chance of Hendrick having a long term future under Howe than Shelvey. Ultimately they'll both be binned pretty quickly.

Bruce also rode a season and a half on Rafa's coaching of the defence. It got progressively worse the longer Bruce was in charge. I'm sure there'll be a statistic somewhere to back that up.

Did you bother to look at the thread title before replying I wonder?

Of course you ignored the very specific reasons I gave why he's not suitable for a Howe side ( can't run, can't press, no stamina etc) and replied with "but he's kept his side ahead of all others! That must mean he's better!" Mate just have a look at how Bournemouth used to play under Howe and tell me where Jonjo is going to fit in. I'm not sure Howe will go for a 5 man defence with Shelvey playing sweeper, and still manage a high press attacking formation.

Outperformed in what way? I have always maintained that Shelvey is ability-wise our best midfielder, but that's only if the opposition plays at walking pace. It's all well and good having a silky touch and a nice long range pass, but if your opponents are running rings round you for the majority of the game that's next to useless. For me Diame was far more useful in the modern era. If Howe intends us to play a pressing high tempo game, then I just don't see how Shelvey fits in without suddenly changing the habits of a lifetime. See video of him gasping with his hands on his knees in a Swansea shirt.

Wouldn't be surprised if Ritchie makes a bit of a comeback under Howe tbh. We've been using him as a wing back and he hasn't really got the legs to cover that much ground, but if we push up the pitch then I could see Ritchie becoming a lot more effective in the final third. I've always thought he's got a good delivery, and he can press if it's just in the final third. Shelvey on the other hand....

I read that article, and tbh you don't really need statistics to see how Ashley had basically run the squad down in the last few years, although he was hardly doing a stellar job before that either. I think giving new contracts to players who were clearly shot, such as Gayle and Shelvey, was just about keeping the club going until it was sold, then the squad was someone else's problem. I suppose PIF probably negotiated the price down accordingly, I read the club was sold for around £305m eventually, pretty sure it was priced at £350m originally. In any case, agree it will cost a shitload to inflate the value of that squad, probably why PIF are the only buyers who would touch us.

I mean the FA bent over backwards to try to look out for the Big 6 interests, only pesky legal repercussions prevented them from letting the takeover happen. I would imagine there's some fairly juicy emails which could yet get published exposing just how bent they were if they pushed too hard.

Aye I watched a couple of his videos for the lols but there's not much you'd go back for other than that. He can barely string two sentences together, just babbles and splutters at breakneck speed, usually repeating himself a few times in the process. I mean there's better stuff out there if you want to watch fan videos. I don't normally, but came across a few when looking for Howe videos.

There's another one out since then, he's having a go at all his critics. The lad's losing it a bit, but he won't be stopped!

Yeah it is all guesswork with Gerrard, we have far more to go on with Howe who has actual PL experience, and is a really highly rated coach himself. I thought Samuel had turned the corner when he came out in defence of the takeover, but he's back to sticking the boot in. I can only assume he thought Gerrard was getting the gig when he wrote the positive article.

I shall reluctantly accept multi-zillion £££ funding from Aramco I suppose. 😔 ( 🤗 )

That's a bit tasteless like.

Read an interesting article in the Athletic today about what makes Gerrard a potentially great manager, it seemed that he encourages tremendous work ethic - which is good tbf - and that he has some good coaches around him like Beale. He's not so much a coach himself as a leader. That's all great tbf, he might well go on to make a good manager, but I don't understand the reasons Samuels gives for him being a better fit for us than Howe. His reasoning is simply, Gerrard is a bigger name so would have more pulling power. Mate when you are manager of NUFC the richest club in the world, you don't need a Liverpool certificate of approval.

That's just bizarre. The only two managers I didn't want us to go for were Gerrard and Lampard. I would probably have taken Martinez over them, not that I'd want him either. It's pretty obvious that Gerrard wanted the Newcastle job but that's not our problem. Now his press mates are having a go at us on his behalf. Fuck off to Villa man and count yourself lucky they were daft enough to fall for it.

I'd take him any day over Ryder tbf.

It's his full time job now innit? He has to give his massive army of fans what they want. Content, content, content!

No idea who Adam Crafton is, but if he wants to get in twitter spats with Saudis, that's his look out. Not sure why Douglas is trying to drag Newcastle fans into it.

Yes.

Tbf, there was supposedly a divided vote in the NUFC camp, I get the feeling that Amanda is one of those who was rooting for Howe. More than likely it will have been the Saudi contingent looking for the bigger name.

He seems unwell tbh, I hope he didn't blow his brains out last night. I just looked in the Introductions thread and he was letting rip in there about the takeover as well.

It was misplaced arrogance, Pardew talked a lot, but not much of it made any sense. And yeah, Howe talks very well, but more importantly, he backs it up with real work and system implementation.

There's no guarantee he's getting the Liverpool job once he's finished in Scotland, he might feel he needs to prove himself in England first. I'd say the risk is bigger on Villa's end. What he's done in Scotland doesn't really prove anything one way or the other.

Only if you have adequate replacement footwear.

Yeah, he said more than he needed to in support of Jones, if he didn't want him, I think he'd have been a bit more diplomatic. Like how Amanda was with Bruce: "Yes he is still our manager at this moment and as long as that remains the case he will have our full support...."