Smirking_Saint

Gutted for the lad, Ive torn an ACL.... three times unfortunately 😅 But it isn't the career ender that it once was, hopefully we will see the lad make a swift and successful recovery

If any manager puts Cresswell or Trippier on set pieces over JWP then need sacking

Im not even sure he was a fraud, he failed at Burnley but ultimately did well at both of his stints with Bournemouth, in the main, and yes his tenure at Newcastle can be disected about the fact that he has spent 90m but he hasn't 'only' got them clear of a relegation battle, he has completely transformed them

Rice is valued at 150m (they won't get that) as he is genuinely one of the T4 or 5 DM's in world football right now, is English, and is likely the only one anywhere near available JWP is very good but he is nowhere near worth 100m thats absolutely laughable, if he goes it will be around the 50-70m mark and that is mainly because of his value to us but set pieces aside he really isn't any better than a significant number of CMs throughout Europe

To be fair he is one of the more sensible speakers on talk sport, and lets be honest he probably does have a point there really isn't a need to get hyperbolic about it, we're going to finish in the bottom half of the prem again after another season of inconsistency and yet another season that included a couple of drubbings All that said.... I have it on very very good authority that the bloke fucking despises us, which is why he over emphasises any point that enables him to twist the knife

Im not sure the mismanagement ever stopped really.... I mean... I do like semmens I do think he is a good CEO but I remember some soundbites from him a while ago bemoaning the long contracts and poor contractual choices given to players that restricted our manoeuvrability in the transfer market - Since then we've agree'd a deal with what looks like the wrong first choice GK - Signed Walcott to a high value contract Im sure there was a poor decision Im missing as well Overall these aren't horrific issues but they do somewhat lead to a bit of hypocrisy on Semmens part Ultimately we are at a bit of a crossroads next year, we need some quite significant investment into this squad over the summer

After giving it some thought its hard to be too downhearted about what we saw yesterday, it was a strong and spirited performance and both the Sterling/Penalty were largely unfortunate and against the run of play Stephens just isn’t good enough at the highest level and Salisu is unfortunately playing with a bit of fear in his mind at the moment due to previous mistakes The penalty was soft, but hard to argue after it had been given, would we have got it ? Probably not, but once MS gave Dean the opportunity to give it then its inarguable AA had a game full of blood and thunder, but you can see he is woefully chasing a goal. If you actually watch his past performances he actually has never been a composed finisher, prefering to lash a ball into the net. Which almost certainty makes it harder for a striker pkaying out of form when you are snatching at chances I can’t blame him solely for yesterday, he got into those positions but I can’t help but feel ‘maybe’ we’d of taken a chance with Broja/Adams… unfortunately we actually looked worse as a team when the latter came on Man City are probably the best team in the world, most positions they have a top3-5 player per position (Rodri, Dias, Cancelo, KDB) and we gave a very goid account of ourselves. We’ve been here before, but hopefully have plenty to build on for next season

It’s arguably another huge window for us, and not just because we will get an insight about the ambitions of our new owners, effectively we have a small enforced rebuild on our hands; Priority - GKs - All four are out of contract (going by public record) so its a given we need 1 minimum incoming - CB - Concerns over Salisu contract, Stephens out of contract, this new issue with JB. * I actually had CB down as a January priority and was a little dissapointed we didn’t make moves, behind Salisu we look fragile and I think its harsh to lump all of our hope on a young CB too* - ST - Uncertainty over Broja, AA out of form * I do think potentially there is a player in AA but Im not convinced his lack of form can be overcome into next season. Broja is unlikely to be here either, Chelseas predicament leaves me to believe they’ll favour a highest bidder permanent fee and Im not sure we can/will want to match others Areas of Concern - Wide players/No.10 - Past S Armstrong there is a significant drop off in quality and despite ME’s emergence as a gebuine starter this year I think we need a player with the ability to unlock a low block. Generally Id say this was a priority position but our hands are forced as above - CM/DM - Romeu has been a revaluation since the departure of Hojbjerg but I worry about his longevity and behind OR/JWP we lack a DM capable of stepping in with the sane dominance. I actually like Diallo a lot but he is more JWP than OR in playstyle Thats where we are really, hard to see other than anything but a 60m ball park to cover the priority list minimum, which is a big uptick in where we are traditionally. Im not sure outward sales help us achieve much above 20m without selling significant assets.

Yeah, he’s a bit inconsistent but has had the odd decent spell, I think early season was the first that I actually thought he’d turned a corner into a regular starter… but the injury derailed that I think that this day and age I get more concerned by the fact he is entirely reactive and even in that sense makes too many mistakes, his positioning and overall game awareness is lacking and Im not sure if that in turn affects his CB partners Bednarek is much better in that sense, but can be a bit powder puff

There isn’t a lot in it but I can’t agree with this, other than a short purple patch at the start of this year Stephens continues to be unimpressive He strikes me as not only passive (both Bednarek and Stephens are passive defensively) but entirely reactive, he doesn’t read danger well at all, consistently strikes me as a poor marker and makes the wrong decisions That said, the bench mark between Lyanco and JS isn’t particularly high

Im not sure we need to slag off one striker to appreciate the other, both are gelling brilliantly with each other and fit the system well Ive always rated Che, he is a classic ‘confidence’ player (that is so often the case with strikers) but when ‘off’ form still offers work rate, hold up play and is an overall nuisance to opposition defences A fine finish today after a bit of a mix up with his feet Im not overly concerned at the goalscoring role reversal of our strikers atm, this happens in strike partnerships, as a pair they’re scoring, thats all that matters

I think many of our fans, and certainly a few posters in here need to take a heady dose of realism, we aren’t ever going to be knocking on the top 6 door with any regularity, this isn’t just because of money, but because of FFP restrictions and the current status quo Im all for Semmens being frank and open with our current strategy, its smart, its directed and its working. Aimlessly throwing money at the game doesn’t tend to work in anything but a minute amount of cases, and most of those situations tended to be pre FFP restrictions (Everton or Villa are hardly moving forward), so we need to do something a little different and I applaud him for being honest about it

“I could play 4 times a week no problem, I mean, they’re only running around, whats the problem, they should try hod carrying”

That doesn’t matter because it shows we can score a goal… or go ahead… or something

I think they both have glaring weaknesses tbh, and Twar has summed them up Generally speaking I think Forster is probably better overall, but its not significant We’ve seen as many mistakes from Forster as we have McCarthy tbh

A lot is going to come down to the line ups of both sides but lets be realistic, Utd as a team are still very very much able to best anybody of their day, and we will need to be on Wed night levels again imo to beat them They are coming off the back of a poor showing against Burnley, one in reality they should have won They still create some of the most chances in the prem, so we’ll need to be on our game defensively and hopefully someone like Adams can occupy Maguire enough to allow Broja to make those runs in behind I think it could come down to who scores first, an early Saints goal should allow the Old Trafford faithful to get on top of them Like many have said, it feels like a free hit, If happily walk away with a draw I think, but Id love to pour more misery on this lot

Bale retired 3 years ago He just hasn’t informed Madrid yet

So we’ll have 4 senior GKs at the club now

He’s made a point of missing points today

Tbh it sorts an awful lot of their problems Dembele is an odd signing but is undoubtedly very talented Coady, Burn and Henderson comfortably improve some of their worst positions, atleast enough to drag them clear of the bottom three… unfortunately

For context I don’t want to see a managerial change, I like Ralph, I like the way he sets up and I like his philosophy But The point was, who is going to pay up Ralphs 4m a year contract to sign him off of us, after his 2 x 9+ conceded games in a calendar year, struggles with relegation and the record of losing the most points from winning positions ? Its really not difficult to have a bit of balance in your reasoning

Sorry Micheal Owen 😂 What exactly is your point ? Do we have the unfortunate record of losing the most points from winning positions ? Yes Regardless of timings of goals that is something we need to work on (and we’ve been getting better) but in the context of ‘who comes to sign Ralph’ its a pertinent point

Where did I say I wanted to replace him ? And saying he is the best since Poch and Koeman is a bit of a moot point… the alternatives were Puel or Hughes I think that Ralph is a good manager, and potentially very good for us now that he has overcome his stubbornness and tactical one sidedness.. so lets see how he progresses The point was he was never going to leave, thats just a stupid suggestion, nobody gives up a multi million pound salary. And it was unlikely any clubs would take an expensive punt on a manager thats had as many terrible periods as he has fantastic Hopefully moving forward we see a good level of consistency and it appears we may be getting it

Im very much a Ralph fan but come on.. nobody was coming to pay up the huge contract of a guy thats taken two 9-0 drubbings and has also had some periods of absolute diabolical performances, including being the worst for giving away leads

If we found the right replacement Id comfortably cash in on either Bednarek or Stephens Neither are good enough imo If its Newcastle then ask for 30m Plenty of other options out there