HawK

Fuck off Ally McCoist

Phillips loan-to-buy obligation if we're lucky, if not, no-one imo.

That'd be the first installment

Missed that, can you fill me in ?

Anyone else feel that Bruno's too good for PSG? He'd not look out of place in any team's first XI imo - Real, City is where he should be aiming for if anywhere.

With FFP and a low-quality squad, you cannot just go and buy world-class players every summer in the positions you want to improve, you have to generate revenue to raise the level of the whole squad. I've said it another thread, but Spurs sold Bale, Modric, Berbatov and others as part of their journey to become a club that's sustained a top-6 presence for a prolonged period of time. Levy was infamous for getting top dollar for players he sold. We need to keep making shrewd signings and hope more come off than don't. Bruno's one of my favourite players, and he's the best player at the club, but if we want the club to grow and regularly challenge at the right end of the table, then we as fans need to accept that this is a process we'll need to go through and some of our best players won't be sticking around for the entire duration. I'm not saying we actively try and shift him, but it won't go well for us to be seen in any way as actively blocking moves to some of the biggest clubs in the world if they come knocking, we'll not be seen as a good club to sign for for players with high potential.

Imo, the most recent example of a club breaking into and staying amongst the top teams is Spurs. To become a sustainably there-or-there-abouts team they sold Bale, Modric, Berbatov as part of the journey to name a few off just off the top of my head. That's how FFP is going to work for us, if we want the squad to get stronger and stronger in all positions, there might come a time when we just have to accept we might not be able to keep our current stars and we'll lose the likes of Bruno, Isak, Botman to fuel the growth and to reinvest to become established at the highest levels. To have a sustainable trajectory that takes us upwards, unless there's a way around FFP to directly inject money in, we'll have to sell these sorts of players at their maximum value and continue to find replacement players with the potential to grow with us in turn, thus increasing the overall squad value over time which will reflect in more points on the board at the end of each season. We don't have the base level of squad quality outside our stars to sustain a galacticos-style approach to transfer strategy. Buying more players like Hall, Livramento and Gordon is definitely the way forward. We're just in a painful period at the moment where nothing is going right, but 2 years after the change in ownership from where we were to where we are now, all things considered, the trend line is definitely going firmly in the right direction. No better manager for me than Eddie Howe at this stage of our journey. And maybe, even beyond.

I don't think he' a winger, inverted or otherwise, he's an inside forward who works very hard off the ball. He doesn't provide/create and is a one-dimensional player. As long as he's scoring it's fine, but when he's not, he's not doing his job as an inside-forward and the team doesn't benefit from his presence when we're in possession. With his very high-tempo pressing and work rate, he'd be an amazing impact sub for any team at almost any level I think. He's got 5 goals for us this season, if he can finish with 10 or more I think that's a good return for his position and I don't think we can have any complaints really. If we want 10+ goals and a good amount of assists, you're looking at absolutely elite wide players and they don't come cheap.

Oh god I feel for Trips.

Was my immediate reaction, I'll have to see it back on the replay

Great hit, needs better closing down. What was Lascelles doing ffs.

I don't think female ex-footballers have any weight at all in dealing with men's football, be that punditry or co-commentating. But a professional journalist / commentator / presenter can of course fulfill the same role as a male in the studio. However, females need to be picked on merit, not because of box-ticking. It's the box-ticking by filling programs with sub-standard female journalists, commentators and presenters that harms the reputation of and creates a negative slant against all female workers in the industry.

I don't see the owners moving out of the vicinity of the city centre, a portion of the local economy exists largely on the income generated from home games throughout the season. Upping sticks and relocating could wipe out many businesses and put people out of work. For everything the owners supposedly are, you can't say they're not engaged with fans. Creating unemployment in the city centre won't be getting much traction from any focus group either.

Didn't see those options on the sliders myself

Beyond satisfying

Most regen name I've ever seen.

I had no idea who he was when he signed, but now I'm not sure I'll calm down any time soon. He's so good he makes Gordon look ordinary. What a player. As I said in the match thread, he's already got a claim on our best ever PL left back, and he doesn't even play there. I'd start him ahead of Enrique, Pearce, Bernard, Domi. To have the ability to be this good, at this level, at his age is Shearer (Southampton then Blackburn) levels of quality. He might just be our best ever young player in the PL. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he carries on like this he'll end up with Real coveting him. And that's if he doesn't even improve further. Bale trajectory, fuck me, what a scary thought.

Chelsea (H) PSG (A) Man U (H) 7 points - all with the same team, in the space of 7 days.

Because Miggy has the vision of a fruit bat and sucks the life out of our play just as much.

He's already one of the best LBs we've had in the PL imo. There aren't many to choose from, mind. Enriqué, Pearce, Bernard, Domi et al?

What game are you watching

Stick Schar on right wing

Almiron so poor, stops all our play going forwards. God I miss Murphy.

It's like clubs want a ball-playing keeper at all costs, regardless of the rest of the skillset. I'm sure there's a Disney parallel here.