Brighton Rock Suckers v Jones who puts out the Cones

[Alex 30442]

12 hours ago, Dr Gloom said:

Only team in the league without a win 

Only team in the top 4 divisions without a win 

[Polarboy 2124]

If I had to guess I'd say it's going to be much higher than 29 points this season unfortunately. There isn't three teams as bad as Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United were last season. Norwich are perhaps on their level, but Brentford have had an amazing start, so unless they fall away badly they're well on course for survival, Villa are going through a bad patch but have very decent players, Burnley you can never bet against surviving, Leeds under Bielsa will likely hit a winning run at some point, likely when Bamford is fit again, and as for Watford it's 50/50 as to whether Ranieri can turn them around, so they could perhaps join Norwich as being as bad as last seasons three relegated teams. 

[Alex 30442]

The optimism from my point of view comes from knowing Howe will have lots of games and a transfer window (where you’d assume he’d have plenty to spend) to turn it around. Assuming he actually takes the job, of course. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by Alex

[Alan Doh'liver 219]

43 minutes ago, Polarboy said:

If I had to guess I'd say it's going to be much higher than 29 points this season unfortunately. There isn't three teams as bad as Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United were last season. Norwich are perhaps on their level, but Brentford have had an amazing start, so unless they fall away badly they're well on course for survival, Villa are going through a bad patch but have very decent players, Burnley you can never bet against surviving, Leeds under Bielsa will likely hit a winning run at some point, likely when Bamford is fit again, and as for Watford it's 50/50 as to whether Ranieri can turn them around, so they could perhaps join Norwich as being as bad as last seasons three relegated teams. 

Ashley sold just in time tbh, can you imagine our chances if Bruce was here with the club wallet still stashed firmly in the safe?

We at least have a fighting chance now with a good manager and some cash in January. But yes, it will still be a hard slog thanks to the disastrous start by 11th choice/1st choice really. 

[Gemmill 34558]

I think we'll be fine. As Alex says, we're getting a proper manager and there'll be money to spend in Jan. 

[Howmanheyman 26906]

1 minute ago, Gemmill said:

I think we'll be fine. As Alex says, we're getting a proper manager and there'll be money to spend in Jan. 

That is literally the only hope we have because we absolutely stink of relegation.

[Alex 30442]

 

5 minutes ago, Howmanheyman said:

That is literally the only hope we have because we absolutely stink of relegation.

We do like. But all I mean is we’re not looking at previous scenarios where you had the same players and about 8 games to work with. Even then we nearly pulled it off. 17th is achievable. I’m not suggesting it’ll be easy but before the takeover relegation was absolutely nailed on

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3206]

I don’t mind if we get relegated, we’ll come back stronger.

[Monkeys Fist 38786]

27 minutes ago, Kevin Carr's Gloves said:

I don’t mind if we get relegated, we’ll come back stronger.

I see your point, but I’d rather avoid it at all costs. 

[Gemmill 34558]

Aye. Whatever it is we're trying to achieve, relegation puts it back 2 or 3 years, you would think. So on that basis, it's a no from me. 

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3206]

5 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

I see your point, but I’d rather avoid it at all costs. 

Well yes, I would prefer not to.

[Dougle 2857]

59 minutes ago, Kevin Carr's Gloves said:

I don’t mind if we get relegated, we’ll come back stronger.

 

Sounds fine in a kind of passive knob way.

But I’d rather not see us relegated, again for the third time in less than a generation.

Fuck That.

[Chaser 1055]

If Ashley had been here I'd have said let's go down but given that we are now looking up in the short/medium term then I'd rather we pulled it round and got ourselves out of the bottom 3. Other teams look like they're on a bad run but we look like we lack the quality altogether. Probably worth a punt on us either way. 

[Howay 12460]

I think the hard bit with predicting us over the rest of the season is that despite all the prior data of teams with similar records to ours being destined for the drop, none of them were in the position where they could realistically spend £200m in January. The team we have now is also hard to gauge in terms of quality as well, imo they’re not as poor as they all look and a complete lack of conditioning is a big reason for that. By mid January we will possibly be a completely unrecognizable side to the one that started the season, in terms of current player standard and new players coming in. 

[wykikitoon 16708]

There are several teams in the shit and they're acting quickly to get rid of managers. One team who isn't is Leeds. It wouldn't surprise me if Bielsa walks. He has done it before! 

[Polarboy 2124]

You can have 200m, but if the high value players don't want to come, at least on a permanent transfer, it's not much use. As some have said we're far more likely to loan players in January, with perhaps an option to buy if we stay up. Not many high level players are going to want to come if there's still a sniff of relegation about us, which there almost certainly still will be in January. Having said that If we get a decent DOF, I'm sure there will be a few interesting loan options given our resources when it will come to agents fees and player wages. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by Polarboy

[Dougle 2857]

6 minutes ago, Polarboy said:

You can have 200m, but if the high value players don't want to come, at least on a permanent transfer, it's not much use. As some have said we're far more likely to loan players in January, with perhaps an option to buy if we stay up. Not many high level players are going to want to come if there's still a sniff of relegation about us, which there almost certainly still will be in January. Having said that If we get a decent DOF, I'm sure there will be a few interesting loan options given our resources when it will come to agents fees and player wages. 

 

Yes football costs money. For all teams. Not just Newcastle United.

[Howay 12460]

You’re only allowed 2 loan players iirc. I also don’t think we need to sign world beaters to avoid relegation, we just need good players who would improve us and many in that bracket would undoubtedly be happy to sign for us for an increased wage and the potential project, some may reject it but I don’t think it’s as clear cut as thinking if we are in a relegation fight they’ll have no interest. 
 

From what I’ve heard (take it or leave it I’m not saying I’m massively itk) we’ve scouted Weston McKinnie and Ramsey this weekend, and the Sule link is genuine. Possibly it’ll come to nowt but who knows? I think our focus has been players outside the PL

Edited November 7, 2021 by Howay

[Polarboy 2124]

I had a look and the rules are a bit confusing, but you can loan a maximum of four players throughout a full season, but you can't have more than one from the same premier league club, and you can only register two at a time. So effectively we'd only be able to sign two players on loan in January. So yeah, we'd definitely need to persuade players like a Lingard and Tarkowski, that kind of level, to come on a permanent, then perhaps allow them a relegation clause in their contracts. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by Polarboy

[Alan Doh'liver 219]

As long as we are still in touch with safety, then we'll be able to get players here, maybe not the highest calibre, but much better than what we have now. It's not dissimilar to attracting a good manager. Despite our position, we've been able to land a highly rated one. 

But we can't wait for January, we need Howe to work some magic and start picking up points. This month really, as December looks grim. 

[wykikitoon 16708]

A CB is a must. Ramsay would be class. Absolutely class. 

[247 597]

It will be interesting to see if he plays Schar and/or Fernandez in terms of CBs, Clark is utterly dogshit for a start and shouldn’t be starting 

[Polarboy 2124]

Well he certainly had a preference for Ake when he was at Bournemouth, who of course is very calm on the ball and can play it out. Or at least he can when on form. He's been a bit patchy for Man City. 

[Andrew 4224]

1 hour ago, Polarboy said:

Well he certainly had a preference for Ake when he was at Bournemouth, who of course is very calm on the ball and can play it out. Or at least he can when on form. He's been a bit patchy for Man City. 

 

I think players like that suffer from not playing consistently more than your less "on the ball" defenders. They take more risks which bites them when they're less sharp.

 

Could see us moving for Ake now with Howe coming in actually, at a big club, not playing much and knows the manager, would quite like him in our team once match fit, hes got more pace than anyone in our back line currently.

[RobinRobin 9238]

17 hours ago, t00nraider2 said:

He still did a lot better than what we have. Beggars and choosers.