80

Ha, you might have a point.

Sunrise, sunset.

If he's not a specialist CB, he's not a specialist anything...

It is a bit, but I guess you have to see the decision through rather than risk creating confusion or media tittle tattle.

We lose Trippier, we lose Miggy's PS5 controller.

I guess we have to consider the possibility this is going to be a tight tight league this year i.e. almost all the conventionally good teams will struggle against all the conventional makeweights, and the victors will be those who grind the most points out of each battle. Haven't had enough games to see that play out yet. Hope it's true, for our sake. As I've found myself saying several times before before, in spite of various negatives I could talk about, there's a team spirit in the club which keeps driving us through. So long as we've got that, we've got a chance.

Feels like he's playing for his career at the moment, in the best sense. Felt like he was too within himself last season, like he was trying to be a good boy and double checking everything he did was the right move. Now he's just going for it a lot more and it's working well for him.

Will be a big loss for us if it does end up being serious. Feel bad for him.

Can we finish this off within 8 posts?

It's why I think it's weird when I see people say things like Isak is the only one they'd be gutted to see go. Brunos are rarer - they're the kind you build dynasties with. The ones we wonder how come only Liverpool and Man United get.

I'll be happy if we win the thing, but I honestly think the competition shouldn't exist. If all we had was the FA Cup and the league, no one would be suggesting inventing an extra junior competition that finishes midway through the season.

Said that same the other day, McCormick's got me excited to see him.

I don't totally disagree, but we probably need that character up front rather than in defence.

I'm inclined to agree with banning her, but wonder if she's actually playing for that outcome to stir up some controversy.

The Tonali interview is another massive statement of support for Bruno's leadership position within the club.

It was still the right thing to do. Only dead fish go with the flow.

I think the league is the only thing that will really count on that one.

God it's like the spirit of Freddy Shepherd lives on in him. When you're making signings to make statements, you're losing. @timeEd32's post earlier about the sheer range of possible explanations for what's going on at the moment, and the lack of sense in assuming any of them are exclusively true, is spot on, by the way. The idea of the club holding out on spending and thinking of having a super splurge next year - probably under a new manager - has crossed my mind. But it's way too premature to start shouting about it and, as he says, only destabilising the situation, probably unnecessarily.

Well, valid about Popey being too big for most to hook that high, but I don't think the guy is selling at all. He's genuinely taken down.

Thick of It style

I'd be foaming if it happened to Pope, to be honest. And that's including the fact his arm was down across his chest rather than over his throat, too.

I wasn't having it when many people said it at the time, but in retrospect it looks like they were right - Bruno's form improved as soon as he got a new contract. In other words, he wasn't playing well because he wasn't happy. Hopefully something similar happens with Gordon.

Stepping back for a second, it would be pretty fucking funny if we managed to get ourselves yet another owner that does fake "we tried" transfer sagas.

This was the moment. He absolutely wasn't very good for Howe for 15 months. Him getting replaced by Murphy was a big part of getting us out of our goal drought and back in the CL hunt in early 2023.

This has been bugging me. Yadda yadda usual caveats apply about believing what Eddie says, but you're right. I reject the idea that good players who can be moulded through tactics and training into being effective parts of serious teams are as rare as rocking horse shit. It sounds like we're unnecessarily narrowing our potential talent pool. Being very exacting about what we want is great, but not to the extent it paralyses us and/or leads to PSR bankruptcy. Would Joelinton, Willock and Murphy have been on our shopping list in January 22 if we hadn't already owned them? Pretty obviously not. We need more of the make it work mentality.