Dan Gleebals

3 points was the most important thing today, but many elements to improve on . Think this will lift everyone though, what a week to come. Think the CL is a bit like the Cup Final was last year for some of the players, a distraction but not a positive one. Once the CL starts, I think we will chill out a bit and start to relax and play our game again. Strange the intensity seems to have vanished but I was glad to see Longstaff back in the side, besides some of the comments about him today. Think he does so much off the ball and breaks stuff up - something we have been missing this season IMO with the prior midle three. Remeber, this is a young squad with much to prove and improve. It will come, we just need to believe in EH and it will come good.

Fuck off. Fuming. Anyone else but them. Big lesson learnt for all tonight, hopefully.

My hatred for this lot is probably not normal. The one team I really really hate losing to, the one team a win against has you feeling abnormally happy. Time to give them a proper hiding. Hopefully the 4.30 kickoff will fuel the atmosphere and it's all out abuse.

Agree, hence Hall being loan to buy. Not sure what is in it for Chelsea, other than gauranteed money next season (which is a decent fee!) and probably a decent sell on.

All these long winless runs come to an end at some point. I know it covers many teams, but remember our 3-4 year run from 1997 of 30 odd games in London without a win? I nearly lost my shite (in a good way) when Robert scored in the 90th min at Highbury, it was a great game to be at. Anyway, back to this one - possibly the best time to play them for the reasons mentioned already. Key thing is we go there without fear and play for the win, which is exactly what Howe will be drumming into the players all week. There is certainly no harder place to go at the moment but we have to keep our philosophy going, win or lose. Shades of 2001 win at Arsenal in 2001this one for me. I reckon 3-2 to us.

As soneone rightly said to me, we are now a club that has 40m players on the bench. How far we have come!!

This

That is class. If only we could something like that as a whole ground. Would be unreal.

He has been here literally 3-4 weeks. It's pre-season. Some of the comments!! He will be class.

Not so long ago today, people are saying he has been poor pre-season! I am sure they are all holding plent back for next week TBH.

Might happen elsewhere. Surely they will get a top ACL consultant looking for any issues from last injury.

Agree. Years and years of extremely poor management, lack of investment and terrible decisions are ultimately to blame, not FFP. The club was totally fucked when they took over. We had got to the point where we had virtually no players of any resale value. Howe has improved many of the players he inherited but aside Joelinton the rest are not at their peak in terms of sale value or age (Wilson, Almiron etc). Obviously some of the new players who came in (Botman, Bruno etc) have the potential to significantly increase in value. We have to accept that selling will be one way of playing catch up, so if a big bid came in for Bruno for example at the end of this season, I think we would have to seriously look at it. We just have to trust there is a pipeline of younger players with significant potential on the radar to support this model. Commercial revenue will also take a while to build as well.. Success on the pitch will certainly help with that.

No way we are selling him IMO, whatever the bid - even if there was one. If he stays fit this season, which should be easier to achieve as we have a lot more cover in Isak, Gordon, Anderson and even big Joe - so he can be rested more. He is good for 15-20 this season... That is virtually impossible to replace without spending £60M+, which was cannot do. He is a good character, Howe knows him inside out so he is going nowhere.

Will be a tough game this. They were really good at their place last season and for the first time all season, we looked totally undone. They finished the season strongly and have signed good players. However, first game of the season and we have a lot to be excited about. We will need our defensive solidarity to return for this one, a quick start and a very strong performance and I think we will deliver it.

On form alone in pre-season I think it is likely he will start or be very close to it. Definately in my FF squad given the price!

Ultimately it is quite clear we are aiming to be at the very top (1st) and with that comes a high level of expecation. With that also comes the need for sustained and considerable investment and growth both as a team and club, all of which takes time and has been pointed out many, many times already, FFP gets in the way of doing this sooner than the owners might hope. However, we are clearly very well run and will be pursuing all avenues to make things happen as quickly as possible. Expectations might be high, especially after last season and rightly so, but I hope the club and fans remain relaistic as to what is achievable both in terms of team results, and investment. Personally, I would think top 6, ideally top 5 would be an incredible achievement this year. Chelsea and Tottenham are out of Europe and can focus on the league. Liverpool will most likely be in a transition season, but have some great new players that need to gel quickly, so they could be a very strong team this year. Villa look strong, as do Brighton.. So its going to be a very competitive season and possibly one of the most for years. We have a tough start to the season, and for me that could set the tone as to how we do over the course of the season. Sure, 4-5 games are not a good indicatior, but if we got say 8-10 points from the first 5 games, things are looking very encouraging.. As Howe has said, we need to make a rapid start and if we can get some decent points before the CL starts, we could have a great season.

Great he is back in the fold, although not really sure in what capacity! Having people like him around can only be a good thing IMO.

Feeding off bruno, tonali, isak etc, he could end up with 15+ goals...

Barnes/Gordon/Joelinton | Wilson/Isak/Gordon | Almiron/Gordon/Murphy Joelinton/Willock | Bruno/Joelinton/Tonali | Tonali/Longstaff NEW/Burn/Targett | Botman/Schar/Lascelles/NEW | Trippier/Kraft/Ashby Pope / Dubs /Karius Anderson and Miley likely to get a fair amount of game time as well, espcially in the cups. If we can get in a another LB and CB, we will have a very good squad and versatility as well..

Happy with this deal, will add more goals to the front line and think Howe can improve him further.

He has premiership experience and has 2 years left on his contract, so I would have thought that is quite low, albeit would take it and get his wages off the books. A decent backup for a lower level team, but probably not first name on the teamsheet. Been reliable for us, nothing more really.

If we did get Theo Hernandez and that was our business done, would you be happy? Personally, I think I would. Edit: I am not saying we will...

I thought the same thing!!!