midds

Then he doesn't want it 'that bad' at all. He either wants to move or he doesn't If he's prepared to sit tight and take his Palace wage then it's fair enough. If he wants a little bit extra then he'll push for it. It's really simple imo

Not disagreeing but if he wants the move that badly then he'll put in a request. If he's just 'open' to a move then I'd prefer us to move on and look at other CBs. If £70m ish is the price then he's going to become one of the most expensive defenders of all time. He either wants it or he doesn't

I know it's easy to say from a distance but I'd have walked away from this whole deal the second that slimy spiv cunt opened his mouth last Tuesday. Huge red flag for me, going full public on a private sale of a player to pacify his own fanbase - fuck that. Move on. There are more CBs in the world other than Marc Guehi. He's very good but he's not worth this amount of hassle, especially considering the wanksplat we're having to negotiate with

Pushing it. Leeeeetle bit too obvious...

Big, Beautiful Man

That would be a canny compromise It's not an enviable position to be in for Mitchell and I'll understand whatever he chooses to do. He seems a smart bloke and I'm sure he's working as hard as he can for the club, just because little is leaking out doesn't mean nothing is actually happening. In years gone by I'm sure Charnley was 100% sitting on his hands without any intention of spending a single penny but this lot absolutely want the club to be as good as it possibly can be. I'm totally convinced they're working on things behind the scenes and making the decisions they think are correct for the club. If nothing happens - ok, go with it and see what the crack is like in January If they go big - we've got target#1 and we're sure he'll slot in immediately If they go medium/small - it'll refresh the squad a little and we'll probably get value for money with money still to spend in January I'm just going to trust them and try and enjoy the games personally

I broadly agree mate, I'm just trying to weigh it up myself. Spend nothing and wait until target#1 becomes available or buy badly and be saddled with target#3 for 4 years. We're in the unfortunate position where we have to get our buys correct or it'll fuck us 3 years down the line. We need direct hit after direct hit after direct hit and settling for a player we're not 100% convinced about could potentially shaft us. It's not an exact science, we all know we're short but it's stick or twist time

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