a blessing in disguise

[TANYA_]

in the grand scheme of things, this could be a blessing in disguise on many fronts this season.

Firstly, it does highlight how desperate we are for squad players that keep the quality level of the first team, the majority of those that started yesterday are championship players.

Secondly, our PL form has taken a bit of a knock over the last couple of games while the likes of Man Utd have been picking up wins, being out of the FA Cup will ensure we have 1 game a week while the big 6 have 2.

Having just 1 game a week will keep us in good stead for chasing the top 4 finish, the table will look a lot different by the end of February, we have quite a favourable month whereas the rest have some awful fixtures, id rather have our games than Man Utd's or Spurs's


Arsenal - Spurs, Man Utd, Everton, Brentford, Man City , Villa, Leicester

Man City - Man Utd, Spurs, Wolves, Spurs, Villa , Arsenal, Forest, Leipzig, Bournemouth

Toon - Fulham, Palace, West Ham, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Brighton

Man Utd - Man City, Arsenal, Palace, Leeds, Barcelona, Leicester, Barcelona, Brentford

Spurs - Arsenal, Man City, Fulham, Man City, Leicester, AC Milan, West Ham, Chelsea

Liverpool - Brighton, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Toon, Real Madrid, Palace

[tinostongue]

in the grand scheme of things, this could be a blessing in disguise on many fronts this season.

Firstly, it does highlight how desperate we are for squad players that keep the quality level of the first team, the majority of those that started yesterday are championship players.

Secondly, our PL form has taken a bit of a knock over the last couple of games while the likes of Man Utd have been picking up wins, being out of the FA Cup will ensure we have 1 game a week while the big 6 have 2.

Having just 1 game a week will keep us in good stead for chasing the top 4 finish, the table will look a lot different by the end of February, we have quite a favourable month whereas the rest have some awful fixtures, id rather have our games than Man Utd's or Spurs's


Arsenal - Spurs, Man Utd, Everton, Brentford, Man City , Villa, Leicester

Man City - Man Utd, Spurs, Wolves, Spurs, Villa , Arsenal, Forest, Leipzig, Bournemouth

Toon - Fulham, Palace, West Ham, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Brighton

Man Utd - Man City, Arsenal, Palace, Leeds, Barcelona, Leicester, Barcelona, Brentford

Spurs - Arsenal, Man City, Fulham, Man City, Leicester, AC Milan, West Ham, Chelsea

Liverpool - Brighton, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Toon, Real Madrid, Palace

I think we will finish 5th or 6th, that’s not being negative, just realistic, Man Utd will finish above us because they have a bigger,better squad, as do Spurs,although they can be a bit on and off. Top 4 imo will be City,Arsenal, Man Utd, Lpool.hope I’m wrong but what we do in this window might change that. We just don’t have enough quality on the bench,but we all know that.

[toonviking]

Aye, top 4 is maybe not realistic, but its not impossible.

If we end up outside top 6 though, I would be dissapointed.

However, I think we need to strengthen the squad - even for a top 6 finish.

[alfienoakes]

I’d be very happy with too 6 - we have possibly overachieved so far and we may well drop off as players get tired and injured.
Our bench is poor and we do need to strengthen and clear out those which aren’t first team any longer or are (never were) premiership quality.
That will take a few seasons yet.

[Alberts__Lob]

I think yesterday will remind Eddie that there's a fair amount of shyte in the squad and we need a couple of quality additions this window if we're to make the top 4. Marcus Thuram looks a good prospect and we all know how good Maddison is so they'd be my preferred incomings. With Wood and Murphy out the door

[Sclox]

As me gran used to say, I am.not angry just disappointed.

I thought we had enough in the tank to beat these with the squad TBH. Cleary either not motivated to try or just not good enough.

We need 2 first teams competing but we currently have half a 1st team. Not too upset about going out though, 1 cup run is all we are equipped to do at the moment.

[Ragatino]

I enjoyed the match immensely! A good old fashioned FA Cup match.

Open, end to end, frenetic!

I enjoyed both their goals and think our lads did a decent job. They showed their level. Isak looked different class. Wednesday wanted it more than our lot want to be part of the project is all I can say.

Opportunity given, opportunity missed.

We move on to the League Cup match and luxuriate in the rest days afforded by events at Hillsborough.

Botman is still unbeaten in the Premier League, We are still 3rd, We are 2 matches away from winning a trophy.

We defo need a few in but 1 or 2 is gonna be the limit, this window is so tight and stingy.

Here's hope 2023 ramps up to be the year we are all day dreaming it could be!

[GBruno]

The draw has made it all the more frustrating. Wednesday vs Fleetwood, City vs Arsenal.

Just hope Howe is as disappointed as us and is making plans so that we never have to field a team as weak as that again. We could have gone all the way. Every FA cup weekend is going to hurt this season now.

I don't expect many changes this month, but in the summer we'll have a very different squad.

I'd like to see around 10 of the current squad gone, including ASM.

I was annoyed at Howe at first, then the players that didn't perform, but really, as someone else in another thread mentioned, its fatty and cabbage head's fault. Half of these players should not be at the club.

[Zippity]

Opportunity given, opportunity missed.

That's an excellent way of putting it.

[Nufcian]

If we win tomorrow night will need to add at least 2, hopefully 3, more games to that list of fixtures… it’s after Feb we’ll see the real benefit of not being in the FA Cup (or Europe) this season.

Semi final 1: w/c 23rd Jan
Semi final 2: w/c 30th Jan
Final: Feb 26th