27 Jan 2026 17:04:28
Well siblings, seems to me a lot of opinion is divided dependant on expectation. I blame Sunderland for a lot of this lol. They seem to be held up as an example of what we Could have achieved. Ain't quite that simple, two different animals and they had more room for manoeuvre under PSA. They went rubbish or bust, gambled, paid off. We on tge other hand took a more pragmatic approach, decided on following a certain route, changing strengths ie more solid, hard to beat, bringing in players of a certain age, height and experience. We bought in 10 so could not spend £70 million on say 3. We had to buy quality at a realistic price like Stach, Gabby, Bijol, Longstaff and Okafor and who would say they have not been value for money.
Perri is questionable but DCL and Nmecha were great free additions. Such an important season and so much hangs on staying in the prem, the development and even our future survival. We are playing high stakes at the big boys table and making a fist of it. Stay up, PSR pressure wanes and we can consolidate. There is no quick fix to success, say Sunderland qualify for Euro Thursdays so soon, they are stretched and it could likely destroy them. Remain, build solidly and play the long game to challenge in 3/ 4 seasons, get the dosh coming in, build the stadium, strike when the time is right. Act in haste, repent in leisure.
27 Jan 2026 17:10:41
Longstaff a waste imo especially at 15 million.
27 Jan 2026 18:53:49
It mental what I am saying here Cork, but 15 million is nothing nowadays for a premiership footballer unbelievably so .
I presume panic may have set in, and we had to get an experienced midfielder
Albeit sub experience moreso but he had a good spell there before he got injured, obvs will take a bit of time. now. again to get back to impactful performance's
But again 15 million is run of mill lolly nowadays in football.
27 Jan 2026 19:12:04
Vid, I think the main expectation is not on individual performances but on how the team reacts and doesn't in pressure games - which one could ague they all are pressure games. But if yesterday is any inclination of what's to come we are in trouble.
Once again at half time we laid down tools and gave in, not one or 2 players that people want to point the finger at, but the entire team just quit playing - just like the games up to Chitty. That is more worrying than how much we spent or didn't spend.
27 Jan 2026 19:21:31
Long staff was on the pitch for nine minutes after having close to two months recovering from injury.
He's a great player, give the fella a chance.
27 Jan 2026 20:19:03
Agree MoT he is a good player.
27 Jan 2026 21:02:51
Sadly I think many fans these days expect far more from their team than is realistically possible. I hear it all the time but I choose to ignore it, as the expectations elevate and then descend into a pit of despair from one game to the next.
For me this flip flopping of emotion is tiresome.
Vid is correct in his analysis that we see Sunderland as our team of envy. But, they did have a very fortuitous situation regarding PSR and spent their very large wad on good players.
For us whether fans like it or not, we will walk a tight rope to hopeful survival,
There are some fans that will believe on the basis of entitlement that we deserve much more, I personally can’t subscribe to this notion as it is too far removed from what is now.
We have a good chance of beating relegation, the work effort and desire is very evident along with the determination of our coach and his staff to find a way tactically how we can better our opponents home and away.
I don’t care how we stay up or if it’s by only one goal difference, the sole objective for this season in the Premiership is to survive.
If we can achieve that then we can start to build on our future in the Premiership.
To get a draw against a coach who is in my opinion, an expert in not losing games, was pretty good, especially away.
Reel yer necks in and touch base with reality.
Onwards and Upwards.