Theregulars

3 hours ago, 54 said:

 

 

Infantino must feel particularly female today.

On 20/08/2023 at 16:25, MrRaspberryJam said:

Post of the decade. 

I think the answer is simple. Just another crass automaton who has likely risen to the top of an organisation due to a total lack of conscience and morals and an absolute obsession with money and perceived power. As long as organisations continue to rely on sociopaths / psychopaths / people with severe personality disorders to be the face of their organisation - because they’re that grotesque and stupid that they’re able to be the meat shield - more and more of this is going to happen as the world wakes up to what the capitalist class is doing to it. 
 

It’s really fucking entertaining I think. Fuck him, he’s cornered and he’s too much of an imbecile and narcissist to concede. Guaranteed downfall on a growing bed of hubris. Passez a moi le popcorn.

6 hours ago, Kanji said:

ya, validated with my contacts stateside. Genuinely nice guy and brilliant businessman 

I got 10 mins or so with him before the Philly event, I really enjoyed speaking with him. Obviously a man who speaks corporate and plays that game well, but didn’t come with the normal feeling of vortex of poison and malevolence when you’re near suits. Very amicable and happy to answer all questions, and seemed interested in what I had to say. If it’s an act it’s a convincing one.

If it’s true I really hope he gets a massive send-off. Seriously underrated captain and bloke. I accept it was probably a great deal for him and his talent level but he did some very useful things in some very shit times to stop things getting shitter.

1 minute ago, Skeletor said:

Even putting aside the fact I'm gay, I don't think if I was a footballer I could be tempted to live in Saudi Arabia. I know the idea is to earn several careers worth in a year or so but even still living there would be hell on earth.

While I certainly agree that it would be extremely difficult given your sexuality, I don’t think it would be hell on earth for footballers. Some of them are devout Muslims, some come from insane poverty which we can’t begin to understand, some will just enjoy sunshine and living in new lush buildings like living in a holiday resort. It has genuine appeal to people - I don’t personally feel the appeal, but I get it fully. And that’s before the nuts money is thrown in. 

4 hours ago, Keegans Export said:

That's a completely different thing though - you're rating the squad there, not the transfer window in isolation.

I disagree. I am giving the transfer window a rating on the contribution it has made to the squad, that being the primary objective of actively participating in the transfer window. 

It would be a better transfer window, in my view, if we added another player or 2 in positions of use to the squad. It would have been worse had we added less to the squad or added inferior players to the squad. 

I'm not sure there is an objective numerical answer. Even if we assigned the window a "10" on grounds of (presumably) buying more players and keeping ASM, we wouldn't know whether ASM would have continued to be peripheral (likely in my view given obvious defensive limitations and, to my mind, equally obvious physical limitations) or whether all the signings would have worked out. 

I think essentially it all depends on your expectations, which are inevitably tempered by excitement and a steady diet of inaccurate information and boredom with daily life. My expectations and hopes were a bigger squad which was obviously better than last year's vintage and capable of competing on 4 fronts. I'm happy we've achieved 2 of those 3 and it remains to be seen re: the third. 

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

Aye but we’ve spent £50m on a new CM. Not sold any. And our academy lads in that position have developed. Hall can also play there. We’re much stronger there now compared to Jan. 

Completely agree - we've significantly improved. 

23 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

I think for a team to improve from our position is done by buying better players and creating more competition for places.

 

It is then up to those new players to take the spots held by Schar, Burn and Miggy. In the same way it is on them to put in performances so they remain first choice.

 

I can’t imagine a position where we say that we shouldn’t buy better players in those positions because other people deserve to be guaranteed starters and not challenged.

Sorry - perhaps I didn't make my point as I intended. I meant to say that those players have earned the shirt and the right to play such that I don't think having rotation / better competition for them now is an immediate priority (in the same way that another midfielder was, and cover for Trippier was). I completely agree that the ideal scenario would be more competition across the squad to raise levels, but (regardless of what we think of them) clearly there are spending and acquisition limits. 

I think it all plays into what @The College Dropoutis saying: 7/10 is reasonable simply because 10/10 or 9/10 would mean the squad is closer to flawless / 2 purples for every position. People who expect that perfection or close to it will always be disappointed - the owners and manager have said evolution not revolution etc. 

I do think a lot of it is shopping syndrome - more is better.

15 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

It almost feels like rewriting history but saying that we were not light in midfield when we didn’t replace, we didn’t struggle when Longstaff was out with the balance of midfield and and that one injury to Bruno who was struggling badly would have seen the wheels completely come off.

 

 

This is all accurate, we gambled and got lucky in that regard. With that said, I don't look at our CM options now and think we're going to be light unless there's an unpredictably high concentration of injuries in that area. 

19 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

Leicester.

Yes - my mistake - Anderson did start. 

12 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I think no matter who we signed - if fully fit - these would all start the season with the shirt. 
 

 

If we signed Anderson, imo he would start on the bench until Schar levels dropped or rotation comes in.   Likewise I think Burn has the LB position to lose and even if he loses it - I reckon it’s more of a job share.  If Gordon plays on the left the problem with Miggy is that his competition is Murphy 

I undertand and to some extent agree with your reasoning: in theory we're light at competition for right centre back. My hope if we don't get one (and I still think it's an if) is that Howe will have Lascelles in the best possible condition to deputise. I acknowledge a bias but I'm really happy to give Lascelles that opportunity for what he's given the club in his time here. If we get shafted in a match as a result then I concede defeat. 

The Burn criticism I think is based less on watching him than just thinking "he's a CB at LB". I think Burn has been brilliant and felt a bit uncomfortable with the idea of buying a starting LB to demote him. Again it's an area where rotation will help - hence Hall - but I think Burn is plenty good enough. 

Re Murpphy - as someone who has slated him in the past - he's totally adequate competition and back-up. He understands the system through and through, is fit as a fiddle, carries out instructions and has goals and assists in him. You've got to have capable players who are happy to sit on the bench for most of a season and still give you everything - he is that, and is therefore such a valuable squad commodity in my view. 

I think, overall, we're a rotational squad defender light for a 4-fronted campaign. Proceeding without reinforcement is a small, but not insignificant, and in my view justifiable risk. 

6 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

The money could have been spent on a starting RCB that would improve the first team.

 

Last season we were in danger of missing out when we sold Shelvey without a replacement, Longstaff was injured and we were putting a cobbled up midfield together for some games.

Was it not just 1 game (Chelsea away) that we had a patched-up team? The game against Leicester our starting midfield (IIRC) was Bruno, Longstaff (carrying a knock) and Willock? 

I understand the desire for improvement but is there not a part of you which thinks Schar, Burn, Miggy etc have earned the right to start this year and try themselves at highest level? Each played out of their skin last year and improved as things went on.

It went well, we're obviously stronger and deeper than before. Shame about ASM but the logic is completely plausible and defensible. Arguably 1-2 players light but find me a squad not called Manchester City who aren't.

To what extent is Anthony Gordon actually Anthony Gordon? I’m sure I’ve seen him with a different hair colour.

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

 

Don't show your weakness, they'll pounce. You should know about that.

These internet virgins are carnivores

2 hours ago, LV said:

I’m fucking sick of the negativity from some quarters me like 

 

Why haven’t we signed a player yet in the first 2 weeks of a 3 month transfer window?
Why is it taking 3 days to announce a player?

Why can’t we sell our shite players for money?

Why didn’t Bruno get his ankle operated on and stop being shite? 
Why is Miggy not being replaced? 

 

Just no sense of the bigger picture whatsoever and it’s a total drag. 

 

 

 

Why focus on personal improvement / fix your own problems when you can just project them onto the one thing you spend all of your spare time consuming? That's what it is for me - people getting so personally invested and involved and literally creating news for the sake of just having some news. Sometimes I think we're living in a self-perpetuating nightmare.

1 hour ago, BlueStar said:

 

 

 

 

 

Disagreeing with hypothetical decisions is very RAWK.

People do it on here regularly. I’d say it’s very football fan.

I'd have hoped somebody in Howe's team will have told players in no uncertain terms that they should not read, use or interact with UK media or social media, because fuck all good will ever come of it. Case in point. Nature (and collective IQ) really does abhor a vacuum.

9 hours ago, Superior Acuña said:

I've never been to an NO get together. Do we wear badges with our forum name on?

 

(I think I can only come to the football part. I'm only back from Canada for a week I think, hoping for ticket to the match with dad and we normally meet old mates after for dinner)

 

 

 

We normally help identify ourselves by wearing full tuxes to the game a la Mbemba

I, for one, will certainly forget about this quickly amid the Greenwood brouhaha.

Ah, lovely. 

14 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Football day is going to be bloody fun. I’ll have my wife with me, fyi. 

I really don’t think she quite understands the level of sporting excellence and athletic prowess she’s about to get served. Like a hundred hand slap of pure goal

23 minutes ago, Pixelphish said:

Where do we think he'll end up. Italy, Turkey?

Everton; Sunderland.