I have no doubt whatsoever that things will get steadily worse....The club cannot do much more because of FFP and things have gone stale. I think the players have realised this and Howe will struggle to get a tune out of them.
It's always possible I suppose, but unlikely based on what we're seeing so far this sesson. The thing I'm noticing more than anything else at the moment is the the players body language! They just don't look happy? Perhaps it's all in my head, but a few others are saying the same thing.
Hang on! The semi-sane match day thread has gone, and we only have the WAH WAH WAH match day thread now?!
Perhaps not yourself but there's already more and more starting to suggest Howe needs replacing. I think you'll see many more IF Newcastle don't win one of the next 2. The last 24 hrs have already seen Howes odds drop from 50/1 to 30/1
So the "we lost a game so Howe's gonna get sacked" wagon trundles into view again. The actual reality, Howe is 33/1 in the odds of being next Prem manager to leave.... significantly above him is one of the greatest managers of all time, Pep Guardiola at 22/1. And way above either of them at 13/8 is the mastermind that beat us on Monday, Julen Lopetegui, cos West Ham have been dogshit this season. That unexpected win might have brought him a stay of execution, but his days certainly seem numbered.
I think on my post in the other thread I came to a mini-realisation as to where we are. A lot of it makes sense. The talent-grab recently, Mitchell joining, the lack of transfer activity, the fact we could/should be the ones legally challenging the PL but are sitting back whilst City and Villa make all the noise. It's a club just waiting, patiently, letting it build. Unlike some of us, there's no knee-jerk even to poor results like West Ham. For the owners, we're in both cups and completely safe in the league. 24/25 ambitions aren't any higher than that. In time, that will also change. If our owners were saying to Howe they need to win the league or get UCL football, then he'd be under pressure. I think they're happy biding their time. Some of us need to learn and do the same. HOWEVER I will caveat that by saying Howe is right to be criticised and absolutely needs to improve. The one dimensional style needs to change, set pieces need to change, and stupid comments like "I was happy at 0-2, then it went to ****" need to stop.
Howe has credit in the bank, but those odds will half if they lose at palace. They're already shortening. Howe like most managers is only ever 3 or 4 defeats from the end. Maybe they'll win, but everyone was saying we'd beat West Ham. I'd like to see a performance at some point and not just grinding out a hard fought 1-0 win. The ideal scenario is that Howe turns things around.
With that squad, we'll win more than we lose which will always be enough to keep Howe safe. Don't forget the limitations he's working under as well - who else would put up with signing players like Barnes, Kelly, Ruddy and Odysseas whilst losing Minteh, then approaching January with no cash?!
It'll all make sense one day. I've got a feeling Newcastle will go on a run of victories now after facing such criticism
Well that's football, Royston. We clearly strong favourites in that match, but then Man City were strong favourites to beat Bournemouth, Brighton and Spurs and they lost all 3, and Liverpool were strong favourites to beat Nottingham Forest at home, but they lost. It's not a matter of saying "people were saying", of course people were saying that, as odds are reflective of the records of teams, doesn't mean it'll always happen that way....but anyone who didn't think we'd beat West Ham is a bit strange, likewise anyway who thought Bournemouth would be at City would have seemed a bit insane at the time.
Meanwhile the rest of the world just puts it down as a bad result and moves on to the next game, which incidentally we're favourites for despite the result on Monday. You might be writing essays and GG fearing for the season, but everyone else is moving forward.
People say it regardless... I actually spotted the banana skin and unfortunately turned out to be spot on. It's not strange I just know they have good players. Every game is a coin flip from about 6th down and Palace away is always difficult. I'm not ruling out a win... going draw
