Some area's have improved. Some have stalled and some have declined. I'd say the striker role has improved, the left wing role has improved. I'd say central midfield has possibly stagnated/declined Bruno staying the same, Longstaff has got worse and Joelinton/Willock missing large parts of season is a big reason. The fact we signed Barnes rather than a right winger is still a head scratcher and clearly Miggy being unable to repeat last years purple patch has meant rw has declined. I'd say the defensive unit has declined. Partly through Botman's injury partly down to others getting worse/older/slower (Trippier/Burn). Goalkeeping has declined - Drop off between Pope and Dubravka is huge.
I still think internal politics between Howe and Garden boy led to the Gordon/Barnes signings. Howe wanted Gordon Garden boy wanted Barnes. We were in talks with Leicester for almost a year and came away with basically a random signing
I think we all need to be prepared for a few more years of being plucky over-achievers. Dougie Freeman from Palace as the DoF again just smells of marginal upgrades and not statements. Even that's managed to take months. We've seen a number of players who've done well - as Hamish says - get worse and this means the need to strengthen stretches into 5+ upgrades, cross GK, CB, LB, RW, CF. Injuries is a huge concern, as is squad management and at times tactical acumen. Chelsea and Man U have had fairly torrid seasons and yet we're going to finish below both. It'll be very interesting to see what Villa do in the Summer, and how they "cope" next season. I have a strong suspicion they'll actually do better than us, because I think their board will recognise the opportunity and their manager is simply a different league. Bookmark this.
Man U were wide open and pretty ****e last need, we had more than enough chances to win or draw. They ain't certain to get something away at Brighton by any means.
Pretty sure Villa are up to their FFP limits. They'll get a bit of a boost with their Adidas deal but the Grealish bump in finances has now gone and can't save them. They are now miles behind commercially. Was speaking to Trev last night and we both think Keeper/RW are the priority signings (for big money). We'll probably try to get away with couple of free/cheap centre back upgrades. Don't see us buying a new left back (even less chance if we get Kelly from Bournemouth). Striker is going to depend on Wilson leaving (again we're going to be looking at quite a bit of outlay)
If we can get Tosin, that's a RCB upgrade. Burn can fill in LCB til Botman's back. Hall has come on massively and the addition of Kelly gives us enough depth there. Livramento is now starting RB, Trippier can be experience in LC and - if we qualify - ECL games. Tonali's return is big, though we could arguably do with a CDM to protect the defense in certain games. Bruno is immense but defensively leaves gaps. RW and GK are on a par, and we need someone with potential to come in at CF - a Joao Pedro type purchase. We probably need 5 first team players to marginally improve, given the decline of so many this season.
Poor performance yesterday. Honestly though, every time he claw's it back Howe does something to **** it up. I mean how the hell do we have an entire first half of near misses from a spare man at the edge of the box off corners and not sort it out at half time? ****e header from Murphy but if anyone is near Amad he doesn't get a free strike. Poor performances across the board last night, so many big chances missed for Gordon, Longstaff, Isak, Almiron. Could have been 3-6 on another night but the second goal kills us! Out of our hands now. need to beat Brentford and hope Man U can't puta performance together for the Final.
Do you think there's any chance City won't annihilate them in the final? It's another trophy for City, and another chance for them to hammer another nail in their former rivals coffin. And that's before we get on to the fact City are full strength and Man U have half their team out. If there's any chance to put Man U out of Europe for the first time in god knows when, City will be all over it.
Agree City will 99.9% certainly win, but this is NUFC and if there is a 0.0000000000000001% of ****ing something up it'll likely happen...
Not picking that lad up on corners and just watching it keep happening until he scored was ridiculous, you can't be letting things like that happen, this is supposed to be top level football. These sort of things make me wonder about Howe.
