Pata

People are giving grief to Howe for last season's injury crisis but can't stand it when he tries to spread the fatigue. Tonali playing 180 minutes for Italy while Longstaff didn't play at all means playing Longstaff simply makes sense.

Wasn't even a foul, Timber had his foot on the ball ffs.

Caicedo just stopped playing before that shot.

I’ve always defended him but he’s been hilariously bad and soft in this game. That’s a shame but lovely move from Nkunku.

Think our performance was a lot better against Bournemouth compared to Chelsea.

Couldn't they have done that before Mitchell's interview?

Mine was ~£465 without breakfast straight from their site for 17th-22nd. Hope you didn't get fleeced.

Me and Brad are staying at Maldron which is a really good hotel.

Wish I could send that clip to whoever wrote that garbage.

Who do you think these clubs are that could also afford a 9 figure transfer fee for him? Genuinely interested. Barca and Arsenal are the main clubs that could do with a world class striker but Barca are skint and it's a lot of money for Arsenal without selling one of their key players. Arteta also seems to really rate Havertz which I understand considering the type of players they have below him and think a Martinelli replacement is more imminent than a striker if his form doesn't pick up.

Lineker was before my time, can't really remember peak Fowler either. Van Nistelrooy is in the top 3 of my just now made up all-time overrated/boring players list (alongside Cole). I can admit that he was extremely efficient and great finisher but that style of play has never done anything for me. If you can't go past a player or never score outside of the box and most of your goals are tap-ins from inside the six yard box, I just think you are boring to watch with good intangibles/senses. I know I'm very alone with this opinion and have got pelters for it here before. At least RvN was an elite finisher which I never saw in Man Utd Andy Cole.

As I said I never saw him play for NUFC and my view would probably be different I did. I’m basing everything on his time at Man Utd.

My image of him at Man Utd was that he was a pure poacher who was a poor finisher but still scored loads due to the sheer volume of chances they created for him. Hated him as a youngster.

He's a weird one as he's so revered by many NUFC fans but as I never saw him for us I have always loathed his play.

Andy Cole at NUFC was right before my time but I can't accept having Man Utd Cole being part of that group. His finishing was horrible despite the raw numbers and I always laughed at him. Would be interesting to see some xG data from that period but feel like he should have scored a ton more at Man Utd.

Yeah, forgot them. Think it's possible if they give up on Nunez although their next big money signing has to be a RW. I would say them, Arsenal and PSG as a wild card are the only semi-realistic clubs that could sign him in the next couple of years. Edit. And I don't want it to happen before anyone says anything.

Yeah, we have to sell players at some point but Isak is in a funny position where a realistic club that could sign him doesn't really exist right now unless the fee was massively under his market price. That IMO means we have to keep him happy any way we can and offer him wages he deserves.

It's interesting to see what happens with him. If we are brutally honest he's way too good to be playing for a fringe CL club but at the same time there are only a handful of clubs that could sign him considering the fee we already paid for him and how amazing he has been since. Real Madrid just bought Mbappe and moving him to LW isn't really an option as Vini also exists. Man City have Haaland. Barca would love him but they are broke. PSG seem to have changed their strategy. Bayern just paid massive fee for Kane and they don't usually splash on transfer fees as their status in Germany is so far ahead of anyone else they can just pick players on free. Then there's Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea but doubt they could afford him and just the thought is disgusting and in the case of Man United and Chelsea it could be seen as a sideways step. It's almost like he's been too good for us and has neglected his own career doing that. Obviously it's great to see as a NUFC fan and him still having fours years left on his contract leaves all the cards in our hands. It's entirely possible growing with us is his only option as he isn't a dickhead but we absolutely must pay him what he deserves. Disclaimer: None of this is Pardew-esque fantasizing of moving him on for a massive fee, more like a celebration of what a massive home run signing him was in the first place.

I don’t think he would be happy getting paid £120k a week for the duration of that contract when he is one of the best strikers in the world. Only reason his wage is so ’small’ is that he was getting £20-25k a week at Sociedad IIRC. Even giving him Bruno money would mean he’s well underpaid, think he has to make at least £200-250k a week for us to have a chance to keep him long term.

Yeah and he had decent technique too. Just absolutely brainless and gutless.

I was so hyped when he first broke through and looked brilliant. A rare case where a defender never improved after age 18, can easily see his intelligence being the reason for it.

West Ham still have an asset that's value is about to plummet from £60-80m to zero, could argue it already is that as no one would buy him with the ongoing investigation. At least they have the benefit of him still being a class player while playing. Wasn't the Sigurdsson thing a big factor in Everton's financial troubles or at least they tried to claim it was?

I would be interested in this if I fail in the ballot as I've never used the general sale in the current system.