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Came on with bad intentions. Great stuff.

Yes, although pretty certain the additional optional year is new.

Genuinely, does that not mean playing preseason games against weaker teams rather than top class opposition to get up to speed? Unbelievably stupid remark otherwise.

Been gagging for a "The sun always shines on Eddie" for years.

Jones coaching Isak again?

I had the same thought, almost looked like he was trying to protect his legs. Was weird if it wasn't that.

That break he broke is a total mystery to me.

Yes, we massively need to make up ground on the middle tier.

How many pints for PSR has he sunk yet?

His very professional big brother Elanga turning up might be a good influence too.

Yeah. ASM's issue was his body started exploding under the new pressure. Which I think gets forgotten when talking about prospective Eddie hires - they have to be physically able to survive a lot.

I know, I had to Google his name for the post

Unless his job is to be Eddie's servant (which it might be, which would be ok by me), I disagree. DoFs need to be accountable and their actions visible - otherwise they can skulk around in the dark, casually wrecking things and unfairly destroying the reputations of their higher profile colleagues. He doesn't need to be all over the media, but realistically he should be somewhere.

Totally agree. Can't expect perfection, but you can destroy a good thing.

I see David Hopkinson has done a thing for the foundation around mental health day. Nothing remarkable, but nice to see he's easing into being a public presence for the club.

Sincerely, I always saw his goal mostly through Murphy's header - boyhood fan who was so close to getting deservedly drummed out, who turns his career around and helps win the club's first competition in over half a century via a header that he normally almost never competes for and wins.

And the crowd go mild! Hopefully a good step forward for us.

That actually sounds like him trying to gently let down a patriotic and expectant nation...

Agree with that. Also, he seems pretty artsy so I can see him being romantic and not just purely driven by business considerations. I won't count my chickens, but I think we should bed in to enjoy him.

This has to be the year.

After this summer, it's a perfectly understandable way to be...

I sound very naive saying this, but in all fairness to his agent he's made very nice noises towards us consistently. Suspect he thought the gambling ban was going to destroy his own reputation too. He gives the impression he'll try and conduct any business in a respectful fashion.

Which is totally fine. I somewhat disagree as I think games will bring him development, but I also agree with Tiresias beneath that in general we're gonna have more rotation and games will come for him either way. But other than that I'm detecting a bit of hunger for us to finally have a proper flop. Christ, Murphy himself is evidence that you shouldn't overemphasize a few duff performances.

Not sure why there's a vibe from some that they want to jump on Elanga. I'm not claiming I was ecstatic with the signing or that it's all gone brilliantly, but he seems like a nice, hardworking guy who has some unmatched physical talents and Eddie Howe's firm backing. That's enough for me to give him plenty of time to see how things mature. I'll embrace the good bits and go easy on the negatives for the foreseeable, he seems like someone who does better with positive energy.