The College Dropout

Man Utd. need Martinez in midfield.

AWB would be better in this system than Dalot. 1v1 he's comfortable. Dalot isn't. Aye. I don't rate our midfield selection and he would be dead last for us. He's not even effective off the ball.

Thought he was clearly offside.

Just got an assist - DW.

In his prime I really liked Danny Welbeck. Had a bit of everything but was never clinical. A bit of the Alvaro Morata about him.. Having a good game today.

McTominay is always hiding from the ball. When he gets - back or sideways.

Play to the whistle. The whistle went.

There's a lot to dislike about McTominay as a footballer

I don't consider Kane an "untidy" player the way say Salah is sometimes does. But I see what you mean, Kane somehow isn't elegant (at all) but regularly does elegant things without looking clumsy as well. Latter day Ronaldo is a bit like that.

Lampard & Gerrard off to crap starts as expected.

The reason he hasn't moved on is that he signed a megabucks 6 year deal when he was like 24/25. It's meant that it would cost £70m for Palace to sell him and no club has wanted to pay that money or hike his wages. Now he's losing re-sale value as well. Man Utd have a 50% sell-on clause on the profit Palace sell him for. So even selling him for £50m doesn't net them much over £32m - unless it's a crazy high fee it's never been worth selling him for Palace.

Aye. also - I’m not sure he’ll even be interested. He doesn’t have 3 years to see how this project will unfold. And we won’t pay him much more than he’s on at the moment. If I were him - unless an actual top 6 side came in for me (or European level abroad) I would stay at Palace. If he’s available for free next season that gives him the greatest opportunity to play for an elite side and get an even bigger pay package.

Overall, to position ourself for an exciting future around the top 6/7. Commercial deals, infrastructure, youth, coaching etc. Proof that we want to be contenders and some aptitude to get us there. On the pitch it depends on the rest of the window and January. As it stands, avoiding relegation battle and some effort in the cups. Like a Brighton. If we end the window with 2 quality attackers. We should look for the top 8, perhaps squeezing into Europe. Cup runs. Where you might expect West Ham or a Leicester to be.

High key West Ham are having the window I wanted us to have. CB, winger, striker. Still looking to get a central midfielder by all accounts. All highly rated or proven PL performers. Proof will be in the pudding.

It’s also probably too late in the window to get him. Palace probably resolved to letting him go for free and him helping ensure they stay up comfortably.

I said this earlier. He’s almost 30 but £30m we could get maybe 3 top years from him. He could help us bridge the gap to the next level up. Zaha on the left. ASM on the right. Teams can’t defend either wing 1v1. High wages, poor resale value yada yada as reasons not too I guess.

As has Saliba. He looks a top talent.

Anderson's been class

Aye. Tbf someone from TalkSport said they spoke to DA personally and he said a big announcement was on the way. Not sure who was first though but the info was the same.

Where's the evidence of that? I don't think JM for example would be sold for any less than £50m (probably higher) to any club. When we've seen the value we've been prepared to pay more than other clubs to secure our targets (Etikite, Botman, Bruno). In the main - we have been after players that clubs don't want to sell and don't need to sell. So the selling price has been high. That's why we don't have the incomings.

Fofana doesn't play right-back though. They've got Castagne who is a very good player and Justin can play there too. The injury sucks but doesn't impact Fofana at all.

Fair point. I don't think there's a naturally first XI role for him at either but squad depth and all that. In that case a £50m-£60m release clause would seem sensible but aye you do reckon in 12 months time he would be low hanging fruit for a solidified top 6 team. You can see Tielemans going for £25m-£35m in the last few days to Man Utd or similar as well. Such low hanging fruit, someone who hasn't done their business well so far - would bite.

I'd take Gibbs-White here. Was linked to CPFC - would like him there too.

Why? Probably a 2-year extension, double his salary - will be the man at Leicester. Decent chance of Europe and Cup success based on recent past. Will be 28/29 when he's available for cheap or free. I'd be shocked if he signed a 5 or 6 year deal though. 3-4 years and it's a decent move. Coming up from League 1 - he'll not be anywhere near as wealthy as some of his counterparts.

All Chelsea attackers wages are prohibitive but I would take any of them on loan.