Match Day Thread Toon v Spurs

Two weeks ago.

Last season you mean.

 

And this is where I think it’s been very fair to question the manager. Nobody can ever tell me that Burn was the best left back option at the time, particularly when the expectations of him getting forward, something he’s awful at, didn’t change.

 

So who was better? He was third choice. He's played there before for a lengthy period with success. He's a current England international albeit at LCB.

 

If he’s the right choice, change the tactic so he’s not exposed week on week. Give Alex Murphy a shot. Stick Jacob Murphy there. Anything to give us pace or an outlet. To be fair even the decision to loan Targett out seems stupid now, particularly if the manager knew there were no young players who could play there.

 

Jacob Murphy has been one of our best attacking players for the last 2 years, no one wants him at left back.

We don't have a top left back to stand in for Hall, because no top left back is going to want to sit on the bench.

Hall and Tino are obviously key players and them both being out clearly affected the team. This isn't a situation unique to us, ie Liverpool went to **** when VVD was injured, likewise Man City fell away with Rodri out.

 

You need to narrow down.

 

You're missing the point.

Nobody thought Joelinton would work in midfield for example.

Too many assumptions.

 

So we try all the players in all different positions and by the end of the season we should have established who can play where. And then do it all again the next season.

Or....

 

No, but playing someone there that's really poor at it for years is ill advised and potentially avoidable. Essentially it's a fan assumption that there's no other option and Howe could be right or wrong in certain assessments.

It's simply the assumption I'm trying to highlight though.

 

Joelinton wasn't working as a forward, Joelinton had played midfield previously and done well under Bruce, but Bruce never took notice of that and kept playing him as a forward. Howe noticed it properly and converted him there.

Jacob Murphy shouldn't be played as a left back when he's a great player in the front 3.

 

Maybe Pope would be good at LB?

 

The use of the name Murphy is irrelevant.. It's confused you, but the crux of the argument is that there's a myriad of other potentially better players for roles outside the pigeon holes people put them in.

Joelinton was merely an example of a player none of you thought had the attributes to play midfield, but he's done very well there.

There's always other options is the point, but you're claiming there was no other possible better option than Burn playing at left back, which may or may not be the case, so again that's just an assumption.

 

Let us consider this carefully.

Experiment 1.

Play Big Joe in midfield. Success.

Experiment 2.

Play Flash as main central striker. Get hounded and abused by fans as it didn't work immediately.

Experiment 3

Nah, don't think it's worth all the bother.

 

Not only have you ignored my reply, but then you’ve gone on another odd tangent. The fans are not dictating who Howe plays, he’s stronger than that, but Gordon up front has been a consistent disaster. As I said, if there were no good options, don’t ship out Targett for basically no reason.

It’s just the same stuff, Howe does most things right but the weird little things he does wrong seem really unnecessary and avoidable. Hes never going to get everything wrong and puts all us armchair idiots to shame for the most part but that bit of loyalty and that bit of blindness just needs to be sorted.

I think Howe will do even better than the league cup in the end, for all the bitching I do.