The College Dropout

I don't think Rice has "many" options. If he goes to City - he's playing in defence or on the bench. Arsenal and Man U are the other options. He has a few options. Many is strong. Players demanding that salary don't typically have "many"options.

This is the first time he’l have played less than 25 league games for us.

Seeing people want to sell him so much is so annoying man. He's been instrumental in us getting some major results ffs.

This is a big blow to our CL aspirations. Is that his season done then?

Who do you think we would sell? I don't think we're selling anyone with sizeable minutes or value this season. I think we sell Targett. Dubs, Krafth, Murphy, Manquillo & Lascelles go for pennies imo and I don't think we sell all of them. ASM & Almiron we keep.

I think Rice would want closer to £300k than £200k and I don't think we'll do that.

We're spending £200m+ if we sign 6 imo (assuming we qualify for the CL). We spent £180m on 5 this year. How are we going to spend £150m on 6 while being int he CL?

There's not going to be a bidding war though. Only PSG, Barcelona and Chelsea have spent £110m+ on a single player. None of which can spend that amount now.

He's also a slight looking lad. Joelinton is a unit and gets stuck in a bit more. Joelinton is also more useful on his left foot and in the air iirc. Personally I like them about the same but Joelinton is more versatile and is defensively a little stronger both on the ground and in the air. With the ball at their feet they are similar and we need an upgrade. I'm not as sold on Joelinton as others, or as down on Willock as others. I think avoiding injuries/suspensions are key to us finishing in the CL but I think we just need 2 out of Joelinton, Willock & Longsaff fit. No single one of them is as important as Bruno or Isak for example.

Casemiro literally held a press conference where he broke down in tears about leaving Real Madrid. Marcelo, Ramos, Ronaldo all left as heroes and legends. Only one to leave by the back door was Bale. And that’s because he had given up club football for about 3 years while earning £100m. Had he left after the overhead kick, he would’ve been celebrated. The British media slagged off Real fans for their treatment of Bale but when Bale came to Spurs and could barely get a kick under 3 managers, people realised he was done. Then he retires at 32/33

Joelinton has to behave himself better. 15 yellow cards in a season is crazy,.

They've not shown this type of form all season

No we actually do need some depth at the back and some more quality up top. But that is some midfield. If we filled the other roles with highly rated youngsters, I wouldn't be mad. Like Levi Colwill level.

Bruno, Isak, Schar, Botman, ASM, Wilson, Gordon, you need 2 of Joelinton, Longstaff & Wilson, TRIPPIER, Pope etc. Injuries is the biggest danger imo. Keep that lot fit and we'll be fine.

£200m on Rice & Bellingham - one can dream

City do it but they dominate possession next level - both Silva’s are an example of this. I think Odegaard plays more 10 than 8. I don’t see him in the defensive positions Henderson or Willock get into. A Klopp 8 gets back and plays infront of the fullback at times. But Aye Mount can do the Odegaard role.

His Xgi per 90 minutes is as high as you’re going to get from a non elite winger. He consistently creates chances.

I'm usually more pessimistic than most on here. But we are a legit team these days. Isak, ASM & Gordon have freshened up our attack. Backline + Bruno is the foundation. The rest has brought Wilson back to his best state. We just need to keep players fit - the results will follow.

6 points or more from the next 3 including a W against Spurs - I'm not thinking about Liverpool at all. Liverpool are 12 points back with 9 games to go. If they finish ahead of us - 1) we'll have imploded & 2) they would have had a fantastic run. It would be our own fault but they also would need to pull an amazing run out the bag. This isn't a relegation battle where we have to be overly concerned with other teams because it's a "who is the least shit" mini league. We are winning team - winning more than 50% of our games and losing 3 games all season. If we keep that up at the exact same level - we are Champions League comfortably.

As good as we can be - they are all winnable. Keep our lads fit and we could go unbeaten for the rest of the season.

If we implode, we don't get CL. Win 5 of our remaining 9 - including a win against Spurs. We'll be in the CL. Could probably get away with winning 4 including Spurs if we pick-up another 2 to 3 draws. We've been doing that all year. We've been doing that for 15 months.

He'll miss Villa but if he can play and be fully fit for the run-in - alongside the other key 12 players. We'll be in the CL. No doubt about it for me,

I fancy that they go unbeaten at Anfield for the rest of the season. But they drop 6-10 points on the road. If not more. Nowhere near the CL spots.

They lost to Bournemouth. They are bad away from home. They keep conceding. They've given up hope as a club. They will not finish above us.

Liverpool need to win all 9 games to have any chance of getting in the top 4. I don't even think they win on Monday.