midds

They'll just sell the bus to themselves for £127m a week before the end of the financial year. Easy

I'm just suggesting that spending on the wrong players could be potentially worse than not strengthening enough. We can all see that we're short in a few areas so it comes down to a choice of going with what we've got and waiting or signing a poor player who we're then stuck with and can't shift. It's not cut and dried imo

It's absolutely a possibility like. What's worse - spending no money or spending it poorly? I'm sure the club could go around throwing bids in like out of date confetti but would that end up being counter productive in the long term?

No sympathy whatsoever, he knew exactly what he was getting involved with, if he's already been deemed to be not required for European football then that's 100% on him. You sleep with dogs you end up with fleas. Fuck him

Think 1 and 2 are sewn up. After that anything from 3rd to 9th is pretty much in the air tbh. Several clubs have several issues whether it be a new manager or a strong squad but we do look like we're no stronger than we were 5 months ago. There's no reason why we can't give it a go a finish 4th or 5th but brining in Orsula won't frighten many - as it stands we're no stronger than the team that finished 7th. I like the fact we're being written off but there's legit reasons why we're being written off too.

Leicester simply stepped it up and got in and around them. Scored a good goal and hung on for the point. Not sure how long they can get away with playing like that but they ground a point out tonight so fair play.

Looks ok thankfully but he's going to have a canny egg on his forehead for the next week or so

Solanke winner incoming. We all know it's coming

Yeah Leicester are finishing 20th this year. Spurs have rattled them and they're a good side but Leicester don't appear to have a single PL player in the team. They all look substandard unfortunately

They'll be desperate to avoid having to overturn a red on the very first weekend. On field ref gave it, VAR confirmed it having looked at it again - how embarrassing would it be if they overturned it and highlighted how wrong both of them were to say it was a red. It's never getting overturned, they look after their own in situations like this

Not sure they're in a position to shell out £80m £90m mate

The timing of the goal set the pattern for the rest of the game. For the last 15 mins of the first half we looked a bit short obviously but still went after them, forced the mistake and scored the winner. We then went straight into the HT break, readjusted and tightened the formation, sat back in our shape and forced them to try and break us down. It wasn't pretty but it was organised and fairly rigid, we defended as a unit and scoring another wasn't the priority as we already had the lead, not conceding was all we had to do. Goals change games and Joelinton's definitely did. I'm also not ignoring how messy the first half hour was either, we didn't look great 11 v 11 it's got to be said

I was going for the PL but I suppose Autumn could be just as valid a question

Hands up who thinks Maresca will still be at Chelsea at the end of the season?

So they can complain about it on the internet straight away

He reacted to the shove. It's not a biggy and it's totally understandable but fronting up gave Diaz the chance to act up and get him a red. Massive self-control needed but staying down a few more seconds or walking away prevents the red. Not slating the bloke but his immediate reaction to the shove (and diaz's oscar performance) got him sent off

Diaz did him, he set it all up and Schar walked straight into the trap. It's understandable and I'd probably have reacted the same myself but he's been playing this game a long time and needs to react better. Diaz is a piece of shit but he executed that perfectly from his pov. Push in the back to annoy him, straight in his face and waits for the reaction, Schar bites and he drops like a sack of shit. Bet he's practised that scenario a hundred times. Unfortunately Schar bit and we lose him for another 3 games plus the hour today. Diaz will do it again as he's got little else to offer his team technically

Bumping this old classic Was nice to see us closing the game out with a bit of old fashioned shithousing. Excellent result and a welcome return, thoroughly approve of it, long may it continue

He reacted and took the bait that Diaz was offering, it's his own fault tbbh. Obviously Diaz's behaviour is disgraceful but he got the exact reaction from Schar that he was looking for. No idea how much contact was made but if Diaz stays on his feet it's a joint bollocking and a booking each at worst. Once they slow it down and look at it they're never overturning it and I don't even want to discuss the possibility of successfully appealing it, there's no chance whatsoever

Already feels like a big result if we can get 3 points here. Going down to 10 and still getting off the mark would be a huge boost for the start of the season

Shocking from Diaz but Schar took the bait 100%. Any time you stick your face into a confrontation like that you run the risk. The ref has made it clear he doesn't need any excuse to get the card out for us and Schar gave him that chance

Extra 15 mins to get the bets on the laaaads

Firmly of the opinion that we need to just leave this one alone and look elsewhere. I'm sure that £65m could be used to fill 2 positions and just wait another year if Guehi is really the one we want. Maybe £30m on a different CB and £35m on a RW, sit tight until Botman is back in about 20 games time and reassess the situation. Guehi is obviously a cracking player but that's a hell of a lot of money for what he'd bring. Also got no issues with Palace digging their heels in and demanding the full asking price, normally you'd expect a bit of compromise from both sides but they've set a price and we obviously haven't met it yet, if City were after Bruno I'd expect us to do exactly the same, can't have it both ways. Not a fan of going public like Parish did the other night, should have kept it private but I think that was more about his own PR for his own fans. Not the end of the world but they need to find a solution pretty quickly now, there is still time though

Boca (H) looks canny in long sleeves

Fair enough, I should have added an 'imo' into that sentence