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The medical staff on the blower to AG10 this morning.

Some people should really get a grip. What they want isn’t a different manager but a magician. Appointing the ideal and flawless manager is a rather difficult if not almost impossible task. For every Guardiola and Klopp there dozens of ten Hags, Pochettinos etc. Big names in the wrong environment can be pretty damaging as well. I can’t see a manager who would really be a guaranteed upgrade on Howe who has actually done a remarkable job so far overall. Speaking about the need to replace him is utter nonsense imho.

AG10 with @Gemmill qualities of jinxing it there

Callum Wilson as AG10 enters the physio room:

Totally agree with this. I think expectations have got all fucked up because of the success of last season. All any of us should expect at this stage is for regular progress to be made at each transfer window, within the ridiculous confines of FFP, and for continuous investment to be made on the NON-FFP infrastructure stuff. That means that, at a zoomed out level, you see progress for the first team WITH BUMPS ALONG THE WAY, which we've had loads of those season. It's gonna be a really slow process though. And slow requires patience. From both fans and the owner. With fucking EVERYTHING. Fans turning on the players, the manager, the owners at this stage is probably inevitable cos people are thick arseholes, but everyone needs to fucking cool it and realise that you're not gonna turn this around in a matter of two years. It took Man City four years or something and they had none of the financial constraints we're operating under. If we start the revolving door with the manager now, I guarantee you it won't stop with Howe's replacement. People saw CL qualification last year and they thought that was the speed of growth they could expect from that point on. We all got carried away, myself included, thinking it was repeatable straight away. It's not and it was totally unreasonable to think like that. We ARE making progress and we'll do it again this summer. But it's gonna be slow as fuck for a while yet.

Well, the newest member of the Fishy family was born today. 12:14, weighing a healthy 8lbs 11oz (3.94kg). Baby Girl Fish seems pretty chill so far, but has a powerful set of lungs when riled. Hopefully get back home tomorrow. No way am I sleeping tonight, on a semi-comfortable chair in a ward of 4 newborns. Mrs Fish is spark out, so the little'un. NHS staff have been amazing.

I had to pinch a screenshot as he banned me for taking the piss when he claimed he wasn't bald, he just chose to shave his head 😂

It's helped Gemmill keeping him the basement like.

I agree with this and Isegrim's post entirely, except that I don't agree we all thought it was repeatable, a fall in league place was always expected by me and several others. We've had some bad luck this season undoubtedly. Insanely bad cup draws. Tonali. Injuries (although for me I don't think this is all luck). We've never had a chance to get into a rhythm, it's been stop start all years. Some noticeable highs, like Villa x2, Carabao cup run, Arsenal home. Some lows too, the worst for me being Forest at home. My biggest concern over Howe is his perceived lack of flexibility on how he sets us out or changes things within matches. And I agree we have lost our intensity and shithousing edge somewhere along the line. But given the luck we've had, I would give him at least the whole of next season before I would even question his position. Who else are we realistically going to get? Perhaps Howe needs some additional support, I'd be open to options, but to talk about replacing him is ridiculous. We're gonna lose on Saturday, so forget that. Hopefully we can pick it up from there onwards and do our best the remainder of the season - think he said yesterday that was the plan. Next season I am certain will be better.

That's the dream, isn't it?

I think he's earned the right to have another transfer window. Move on the shite, bring more players in, get players back from bans and injuries etc. If we are half way through next season and still in mid table then I think he will be getting his P45 before the January transfer window though

Crap performance by basically the whole side. It’ll be nice having a goalkeeper back that doesn’t mind making the occasional save, not that the goals were all his fault but fucking hell man. I’m really hoping that Howe is learning from this season as despite it being pretty clear we don’t have the players to play the same way available we just continue to try and play the same way. I understand we’ve had absurd injuries but the wide open way we defend has become so frustrating to watch. Really hope we go into this summer with purpose mind, as despite it being hindsight last summer didn’t help us move forward in the short term (maybe the signing will all help from next season since Tino is the only one that’s really impacted this one). The most annoying part is I thought Chelsea looked mostly crap, Palmer aside, especially that Cucurella

Not sure what he can do about the level of defending right now mind. We can't even use the Miley excuse tonight. They're just all over the place. And you just can't understate the drop off in quality between Pope and Dubravka. I know he was great against Blackburn like but I just have zero confidence in the man and much more importantly it doesnt seem like his defenders do either.

Definitely bad aids for the little fanny rat.

We’ve been forced to play half a side of Mike Ashley era players for most of the season. Miggy, Longstaff, Krafth, Dubravka, Murphy, Schar - all had serious game time last night and have done throughout the season. There are some Mike Ashley players (Schar/Joelinton) who belong at the level we aspire to but most have been outperforming (thanks to Howe). We need to judge Howe once that is no longer the case. I don’t think it was ever the plan for Longstaff, for example, to play so many minutes this season.

Yes because Longstaff has been absolutely throwing himself about really getting into people's faces eh?

Leave it!

Probably more mental fatigue and lack of confidence at this point I'd think than being physically knackered. And there's been a reality check for a handful of players who did really well and rode the wave last year but are really just mid table at best in the end. As someone said earlier, football doesnt stand still. You can get overcome lack of quality with intensity and passion for a certain amount of time, but the teams that consistently do well just have better players than others.

It depends entirely what we spend in the summer. We've absolutely no right to be challenging for top 4 with this squad, and I think the owners know that. If FFP prevents us strengthening, then punishing the manager for that is how you install a revolving door on the manager's office and buckle the whole project.

Lest we forget this heartfelt, genuine message from byker to Mike Ashley....

2nd half of extra time at Arsenal

I was hoping the English teams did well to help grab that fifth CL spot but now that’s out of reach they can all get to fuck.

I agree and I’ve advocated to either switching to a 5 at the back or seeing out the season with the system we saw against Wolves. But, I’m pretty sure Howe has been given long term assurances about his job so he’s trying to implement this style now, hiccups and defeats be damned. And, you’d hope with the fixtures we have left that it’ll see us put poorer sides away but with Gordon missing (and potentially Barnes), I think it might be a continually frustrating couple of months and the questions are only going to intensify

He looks much healthier in the first pic.

What they didn't want you to see....

I would have agreed with you a couple of weeks ago but there is something up with Longstaff. I suspect injury. ideally Anderson would get a run out but he is nowhere near fit enough to start. I’m surprised he is even on the bench. He looks so rusty.

Howe 100% deserves another season, whatever happens with the rest of this one. The summer window was one for the future, not the present, he wasn’t backed in the January window at all. He can only take these Mike Ashley era players so far. We all need to be patient. I agree that Howe has made mistakes and is frustratingly stubborn tactically and loyal to certain players but pushing the panic button now is a pointless gamble. Howe has shown he can improve players. We’re still in a much better place than we were two years ago when he took over, even if we have taken a step back after a massive leap forwards last season. Let’s see how he does after he’s been given the chance to properly build a squad equipped to play the sort of game he wants to.

Think Excel must be down

Howe obviously is neither flawless nor faultless. There are quite a few things I disagree with, especially his lack of rotation and substitutions. But overall I think he is still doing a terrific job and absolutely the right man currently. There is no need to look for greener gras tbh.

New version of I can't be racist cos I'm friends with some black people. Just fuck all of this lot.

Probably due to the rule changes brought in (largely) because of our shit housing last year

This is where the lack of a DoF will trip us up.. if Howe gets the whip hand on what players come in this summer and he gets sacked in November then that is a massive problem..

Aye, I don't think Eddie is perfect but has enough credit in the bank for a free pass until October, by then he will have had another transfer window and a fully acclimatised Tonali, Big Joe and Pope back fully fit plus less games every week so we could well go one better and lift a cup next year. Long term I don't think Eddie is the answer as I'm not sure how our squad depth will be able to maintain the intensity that he needs for us to be effective, like we were last year, and while a lot of injuries have been freak injuries, I think the intensity of training is playing into that, even just a little. Some (Harvey Barnes broken toe) aside of course. I don't know if its physically possible long term to keep Eddies intensity with 2 matches every week with our squad depth / injury proneness. Maybe the board recognise that and will give him time until the revenues come up and we can have a strong squad that can cope with the demands. It would be a silver lining if Bruno does leave that we could get up to 5 class players with the money. Maybe this was all caused by having a shite physio who got the boot. At least we aren't as badly hit with injuries as Liverpool as Neville was keen to point out in the match last night

Good fucking thing too.

Yep. This is really what the season is about now. It's about establishing/maintaining the foundations for next season. With everyone fit we have a super strong squad. If we can hold that together and add two-three players to the starting XI and then have those current starters pushed down to squad player status then we could do anything with a bit of luck. We're not a million miles away and it's happened rather quickly, especially given the limitations of FFP and the big clubs working almost specifically against us. I get what you mean about the apathy but I think for me it's more a zen attitude to all this, (Zen, if you ignore my Isak-like goal celebrations). But, overall, we look good and we're getting better on a macro-level. This is a hiccup with a perfectly rational explanation and not something emblematic of a deeper problem. Take Chelsea as the counter example. They've spunked all the money and they look worse. Then there's ManU who are a continuing shambles. Liverpool are losing their talismanic trotter. Tottenham remain a basket case. Villa need to sell players. Arsenal look strong tbf. And City remain a force at least until Pep looks to move on. We're in a good spot.

Defence is a shambles compared with last year. I'm sure Botman will come good but then you've got Burn and Trippier surely coming to the end of their shelf life, maybe Lascelles too. I'm much more confident about midfield with the options we have and Tonali coming back. Need two strikers and keep hold of Isak too as well. Typical Newcastle. Finally crack it with rich owners and then screwed over with FFP. Could be a lot worse mind, could be Mackems. This was always going to be a reality check, the Amazon documentary made it clear Staveley and the executives knew this. We'll have a bounce back next season imo.

Congrats Dave

Aye, Guardiola and Klopp took 2-3 seasons to get their own players and style in place. We are hamstrung by PSR now as well. The magic he sprinkled on Bruce players has worn off now which is mainly down to them not being able to run and tackle harder then the other team so they are being found out technically. The one thing that does seem to be missing this season is our nastiness. I don't recall any shithousing this year. We are very passive.

Yeah, maybe he plans to give Longstaff a full rest this weekend. Willock hasn't done a 90 yet and Bruno must have played a million games this year (plus internationals in South America)

We were away at Chelsea also, let's not forget that. They pay a shit ton more in wages, have spent several shit tons more on transfers and have a youth system, scouting network and training facilities that are one of the best in the world (and which helps them to bankroll their irresponsible spending). The fact that they're underachieving doesn't take away the talent that they have, and Pochetino is a high quality manager. We've just got to find a way to stop conceding these soft goals.

This won't surprise ANYONE on here. But the amount of arguments I've got into with racist wankers with remarks.

A lot of people seem to completely miss the point that Abbott comes under so much scrutiny and is held up to different standards because she’s a black, female Labour MP.