James

Darlow against Man City in the cup then, bye bye Wembley

If both have taken pay cuts and are going to be back up players it’s a good move. Probably haven’t though

For some reason I’d rather have Man City than Leicester or Arsenal, feel those would be much more challenging whereas a fluke 1-0 win against Man City is not infeasible. Could feasibly be Norwich, Sheffield Utd and Chelsea in the semis in my opinion which would be my preferred opponents.

First time I’ve seen him play, first time in years I remember us having a proper right winger in the side, been an Achilles heel for years and so refreshing to finally sort out.

Sheffield United were shocking tonight. I am not a fan of them and I still think they are overrated/useless. If we draw them in the quarter finals then we will beat them. This is from someone who thinks the Toon are rubbish by the way. Overrated and useless. What about the 86 team below them then?

Obviously not true but it’s more likely a manager would order a test for recreational drugs eg what happened with Mutu

I’d only give player ratings of less than 7 to Darlow, Bentaleb and Longstaff

No he wasn’t, held the ball up well and had a hand in all three goals.

Excellent first half because we had the ball in midfield much higher up the pitch

That was probably the worst goalkeeping I’ve seen for some time by Darlow. Once he started flapping in the second half the panic seeped into the rest of the team. Please always play Dubravka if fit.

Don’t see the point of Darlow

Nicky Butt trial cancelled due to lack of victim support

It really doesn't matter how many "people" are interested in buying us, as long as Mike Ashley is involved in negotiations, it's always going to end in disappointment. I have no doubts about the interest/bids for the club in the past. I think they've all been genuine but the 1 and only t*** blocking any potential sale has been Mike Ashley all along. You really still believe that BZG, Kenyon, Barry Moat, GACP sports (I've probably missed a few more obvious ones) are all genuine? You really think they’re all not? Undoubtedly, some have been/are bollocks, but if you genuinely think they’re ALL that way, then you probably believe the moon landings were faked also. Name one that you think was genuine ... Peter Kenyon with GACP. Think they are all genuine, just not credible in being able to match Ashley’s valuation at each specific moment in time. Think for a sale to happen this season it will take £420m and for that to happen need to get in a league position where safety seems fairly assured.

Tad harsh in Odin there, it is widely expected that Coronavirus will dampen the worldwide economy, and disproportionately affect companies who rely on Chinese supply chains. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/feb/10/will-the-coronavirus-outbreak-derail-the-global-economy It is certainly going to dampen annual results for companies like Sports Direct, although at best it would stop Ashley going into negotiations with a very strong hand. At a minimum you’d expect SD annual accounts to refer to Coronavirus or wider global shocks as a mitigating factor.

I’ve had my first proper read on this thread and this forum for the first time in some months, I only usually have time to briefly pop in and out nowadays and the club aren’t really making me want to be too involved. Anyway I’m stunned with what’s happened to the football section. Of any regular posters within this section still left, only Ian W has retained his sanity.

I personally believe that there’s something in this. There are essentially four parties / six high profile names (buying or selling) and I would have expected one of these to say something if it wasn’t true. The reality is that all want to keep it out of the press, and the press have all jumped onto a single story from the WSJ. They all know jack shit. First we’ll hear is through Ashley himself or way or another.

Perez was never shite just had a few consistency issues

Just wiki’d him he’s from my part of Manchester too!

Seems like a steal at £1m. Should be all over that one. Isn’t he a left back? Would have been good cover for Rose if so!

Corridors of Outsourced Power

Heard of a player, good hold up play, half decent goal record, looking for a short term loan due to the indefinite postponement of his domestic league. Comes with even better manager if we can get bought by someone. Would fit the bill perfectly.

Yep in the context of everything he was the best we could have got. He was in the CL final less than a year ago

It’s odd because he’s only had 7 official injuries his whole career

In his whole career, Danny Rose has had only 7 injuries lasting more than 2 weeks, 4 injuries lasting more than a month and 1 injury lasting more than 3 months. He’s not made of glass.

FWIW if Ashley was born a Saudi Prince he’d probably be even worse than MBS