Rich

Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Celtic, for me.

#MayMadness

He’s a proper fruit loop.

Iwobi is made for this sort of approach, like. His Joelinton arc is back on.

What a performance this is.

Nee ta.

What a cracking game this is. Totally unexpected.

Are Brighton giving 100% though?

Mike Maignan if AC Milan don't qualify for the CL next season? (That's the extent of my knowledge of non-PL keepers.)

It's why CL is so critical, isn't it? It feasibly allows us to address all of the weak points with Botman/Bruno/Isak-esque signings in a single summer, and probably even more besides. It's hard to see us dropping off at all with that sort of business, especially with the way Howe works and the mentality we have. Comparing this to where we were just two summers ago when signing Willock and doing nowt else is an absolute madness.

They swapped quite a bit against Southampton, and Joelinton started on the left.

I do actually agree, he's always looking to move the ball forwards, plays it off either foot, and more often than not picks a good option. It's more the time he takes to get the ball out of his feet and get his body into a position to play a progressive pass that he needs to keep working on. He's clunky in that regard, but will improve. He's also got fuck all to his left, which doesn't help. Thought he struggled in almost every other respect, though, unfortunately, but I don't think Schär was much better. Tough day at the office, while both fullbacks defended pretty well. Still, there's only one of the back four I'd be trying to replace with any urgency. Then you're into Pope territory with Schär and finding someone who has all of his good parts but can score a few set piece goals and run faster than 5mph.

Aye. Get the glaring weak links sorted first, then Pope definitely enters the discussion for an upgrade, along with almost everyone else in the team. No player is perfect, which is the point I've been trying to make, but you can build a team to cover for each individual's deficiencies. Howe's already done that brilliantly but he's had a lot of individual deficiencies to cover. As he gets better players, the job gets much easier and everyone else is elevated as a result. If Pope's deficiency is just his technical ability in possession, that is coverable, and we did a good job of doing it throughout the first half of the season. We barely used him as an outlet. A bit of athleticism in at left-back and a top-class defensive-minded midfielder make a world of difference to our overall solidity, not to mention what they'll offer going forward when combined with an exciting right-winger.

Concern over Zinchenko and Willock not being the most diligent defensively at times?

Definitely. Better footballers than Botman and Burn would help with Pope's lack of ability on the ball, too.

Pope's at least as good in his position as those three are in theirs when looking at the rest of the league, like. You're basically asking for an Allison or Ederson if you want a goalkeeper that does everything else Pope does to the same standard and is also top class in possession. Allison was £67M in 2018. Ederson was £35M in 2017, but the second most expensive keeper ever at that point. Eventually, aye, we'd all like one of the best two or three keepers in the world between the sticks, but the one we've got is right in the mix behind those two in league terms as far as his overall game goes. I would also take a Bruno with more robust ankles/a bit more size and athleticism, as well, just while we're at it.

Can we get three defenders that are equally as good characters and defensively/with the ball as Trippier, Botman, and Schär but a hell of a lot faster while we're at it?

Aye, loved that today. The speakers in the Gallowgate being completely off helped.

Still got third sewn up, apparently.

Oh dear.

Some were saying they’d easily beat Spurs and would stroll this one, mind. Many were basically saying they had third sewn up at one point, too. They’re absolutely shattered and missing their starting centre-halves, while Rashford’s hot streak is as dead as Miggy’s. Anything is possible.

Froggy must be fucking shitting it with Liverpool right up their arse, they’ve been tragic.

They’ve offered him £200k a week to extend, apparently, and he hasn’t yet committed.