James
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jbmitchell.bsky.social
James
@jbmitchell.bsky.social
Shameless NUFC gossip mongerer
Not much has changed, despite the City win, from my tirade post-Brentford. (+Pope needs resting,+ 1 or both of Bruno or Tonali too). Everton isn’t massive, it’s already too late (for UCL qualification). There is 0 indication that our away form is going to transform suddenly, let alone sustainably. 😒
Some loosely-connected thoughts on NUFC at the moment. Firstly: football discourse largely fails to recognise/remember that two things can be true at once. e.g. I love Howe, want him to stay, and want him to turn NUFC around. But I'm also annoyed at us being largely inexcusably crap, too.
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Frustrating game. Pope error cost us and our two best CMs run into the ground ahead of a difficult away fixture on the weekend. Feels like we’ve put that Everton fixture at massive risk with the way we’ve approached the midfield selection/rotation today.
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
When was the last time we scored a direct free kick?! Genuinely can’t remember once since Trippier vs Everton?!
November 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Lack of composure the only thing between NUFC and being 3-0 up here. Hope we see some changes to keep up the press and not knacker this lot out for Everton.
November 25, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Love the UCL. *Hate* the refereeing.
November 25, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Had a vivid dream that NUFC lose in routine fashion to Man City 0-2 on Saturday. Yay.
November 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Another thing about Wissa coming back: if it’s going to help massively, which many think it will, then that simply shows how different he is to NW. And if that’s the case, why have we not found *some* way to use NW better/differently, in the meantime?
November 10, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Some loosely-connected thoughts on NUFC at the moment. Firstly: football discourse largely fails to recognise/remember that two things can be true at once. e.g. I love Howe, want him to stay, and want him to turn NUFC around. But I'm also annoyed at us being largely inexcusably crap, too.
November 10, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Just think, Amorim put Sesko on to press home the advantage. 😂

Bullet well and truly dodged, #NUFC.
November 8, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Usual caveat that plenty of people know better than me, probably good reasons why not etc etc: but I'm surprised Joelinton hasn't been put back at LW recently. He'd improve the press, be more of a goal threat than HB or AG on current form, and JR in midfield would improve our on-ball quality. 🤷‍♂️
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM
General thoughts on NUFC at this point of the season:

Joelinton needs to become a specialist OOP squad player. Not a default starter.

Perhaps 4-3-3 just doesn’t suit NW. Potentially simple as that. Not every formation can be adjusted to, some just don’t suit a group of players.
November 2, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Once a season we make a *dross* West Ham team look good. Infuriating.
November 2, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by James
When Woltemade doesn't score he still has massive impact on the game.

When Isak didn't score, you got nothing from him at all
October 21, 2025 at 8:43 PM
That’ll teach me.

The 0-0s against Villa and Leeds are starting to look really costly results now.
For some reason I’m calmly optimistic about NUFC’s chances at Brighton tomorrow. 1-2.
October 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
For some reason I’m calmly optimistic about NUFC’s chances at Brighton tomorrow. 1-2.
October 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Elanga has been absolutely woeful today. No idea why Murphy hasn’t come on yet.
October 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
October 5, 2025 at 2:19 PM
This has been dross. Forest will nick this.
October 5, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Expect Tino to come back in the new year, too. You simply can’t trust a NUFC injury timeline.
Well colour me surprised.
Minor setback for Yoane Wissa - after specialist chat, recovery from knee injury drifts from 6 weeks to 8, now looking at West Ham away in November for his comeback. Jacob Ramsey could be involved this weekend however.

#NUFC

www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...
October 3, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Well colour me surprised.
Minor setback for Yoane Wissa - after specialist chat, recovery from knee injury drifts from 6 weeks to 8, now looking at West Ham away in November for his comeback. Jacob Ramsey could be involved this weekend however.

#NUFC

www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...
October 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Don’t have a great feeling about NUFC tomorrow*. I don’t like the fact that on current form - and even inclusive of our defensive solidity - it will take very little for Arsenal to outscore us.

*(caveat: when do I ever…)
September 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by James
Marvellous result. Sounds like I didn’t miss much but I’m very happy to see United digging in these days. That was a tough gig after Barca. Win home games, get draws away, utilise the squad. A good way to approach things.
September 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Please for the love of all that is holy, get Willock off this pitch.
September 21, 2025 at 2:10 PM
We could easily lose at Bournemouth with a fit and fresh first XI, so I’m glad Howe is using the squad. As much as it’s heavily rotated, there should be few excuses for a bad performance; without wanting to sound too Roy Keane “that’s your job”. Come into the side and contribute.
September 21, 2025 at 12:24 PM
I enjoyed that Barca game. Frustrating we didn't score early, but we played well and limited them. Thought Thiaw looked great. Elanga very effective. I think we'll kick on based on that performance (no Wissa for a few weeks might delay that a bit mind), and the back line is going to get better too.
September 19, 2025 at 7:17 AM