"tis the season to hand out new contracts, tra la la la...." good to see our key players who have been here for a few years being tied up into new contracts
Excellent news - has been consistently good this season. Thought him a bit below par on Sunday but that may be due to Fer playing out of position and thus not allowing Jonny to play his normal game. Pleased for him and the club and can see him as a future captain.
Recent talk of the gaffer having "lost the dressing room" after the 0 - 7 at the Etihad and the 5 -1 drubbing at Anfield are clearly wide of the mark, as proved by the recent contract extensions signed by Bassong and now Howson. Also if that had been the case, it's unlikely Carlton Morris would have signed up, if there was in-fighting and general malaise going on around him
There has been a massive turnaround of peoples opinion about Howson on this site. good to see he has signed up
Excellent news! He's versatile and improving all the time. Agree that it suggests a healthy dressing-room. I'd like a new ACM as well who could bring something different to supplying the striker(s) as well as scoring goals. The difficulty is the time it'd take to integrate a new ACM mid-season. The same could be said for another DM or CB.
I think Howson was great in the 4-3-3, but not quite sure how best to play him with 2 strikers. He's not the defensive shield, so playing him limits what Fer can do, who I think we should be trying to get the most out of.
Excellent news, certainly improving all the time. I agree he is certainly best as an attacking midfielder, although if I wanted to man mark someone I think he could be the best man to do it, depending on their position of course.
Hmm... maybe. If it was a forward-thinking midfielder that we were looking to man mark, surely either Fer or Tettey would be the man for the job - although if it was Fer that would mean sacrificing his own attacking impetus.
It must be very positive that our decent players are signing long term deals - I note from another source that Seb has also signed a longer deal. I assume from what people are saying that Howson is pushing further forward than he was before I went away in Sept which is pleasing as I never thought he could be turned into a holding player. I still thought that Tettey could do the holding job - what has happened to him in the 3 months I have been away?
Sort of excluded Tetty as he is currently injured, don't think we could justify using Fer in that position. Doesn't matter too much as we rarely if ever try to man mark someone.
I think all these recent contract signings just add to the comfort & confidence that our club is being very well managed behind the scenes, irrespective of how the team has been playing (which, too, has been encouraging of late of course). Good times!
The more players get offered new deals, the more I wonder what's happening with Pilkington. He's the only first team player I can think if whose out of contract in the summer and we seem to be renewing contracts for player who have longer left.
