Tooj

Was at the theatre last night and Alan Thompson was there.

Canny mint on FM actually.

Martin Hardy kept on talking up the relationship Rafa has with the likes of Chelsea to be able to bring in their players on loan with them having confidence that he'll develop them.

What's the point of loaning Krul out again with only a year left on his contract? May as well try and get a few quid for him.

It wasn't intentional man, I just thought that it was Incredulous that somebody would even mention Tuchel to Palace.

Nah man, that was my response to the poster mentioning it.

Tuchel to Palace, what the fuck.

No chance Leipzig would let Forsberg go for even £20 million.

Did he not just sign a new contract? That's before it being totally unrealistic.

Same on FM.

I know.

I don't think Walcott ever looked as good as Sane did in his first real season for Schalke. He's also got better technique than Walcott, so doesn't just rely solely on his pace. Now that he's settled I think he'll be devastatingly good next season.

I never said he wasn't a fantastic manager Are people incapable of detaching their emotional attachment to the man or something? in 2017 he's just not as good as the best coaches in the world anymore, that's a fact which has been proven again and again. I mean he used to get top 4 with scrubs like Denilson, Senderos, Andre Santos etc etc He's clearly not as good as he once was, whether you like it or not. He used to be a manager who would consistently get performances from players who had no right performing like they did, now he struggles to get the best out of them compared to his peers. There's nothing wrong with this, Ferguson wasn't the best manager in the world towards the end of his career in that moment. Age causes your performance to diminish and it happens to everyone. I don't know why people refuse to see the mounting evidence that has piled up over the last few years against him, over many 38 game seasons. That doesn't mean you don't respect him and consider him a legend as the two things are not mutually exclusive. But at the same time you honestly realise that in 2017 he's below his peers, that is possible to do very easily. I will accept that was probably a bad day for me to bring this up mind. To basically put in black and white, Wenger of mid 2000s would have had this team challenging Chelsea for the league and probably beating them and he certainly would not let Klopp and Pochettino consistently outshine him and in Klopp's case with irrefutably worse level of talent. That's not to say he's shite now or anything, but if you want to compete for the league he's not good enough and those who actually pay attention over a whole season will see that pretty easily. You're saying he's not a fantastic manager now, I'm saying he still is and that the issue is still with the signings he makes. I massively disagree that this current Arsenal team should be challenging for the league, like. How you think he's overachieved with previous teams but is underachieving with this one is beyond me. To me there's no difference, he needs to bring in better players and his managerial ability hasn't changed at all. Do you not class the buying of players as part of managerial ability like? I certainly do.

Missed the match as I'm currently camping but I'm glad I've recorded it based on what I've been reading on here.

Don't be ridiculous man, Conte will not let that happen.

Really interested to hear the off the field stuff involving Rafa in Martin Hardy's new book. Things like how he's improved the training ground, his thoughts on transfers etc. Could listen to him talk all day, much like how I could with Keegan and Sir Bobby.

Because he could have the opportunity to take Porto on a good run in the Champions League, which could raise his profile even further.

I'd rather we let Yedlin develop.

Got more strength/better at holding the ball up.

I'd bring on Kluivert Jr at half time as he's more direct than what they're offering at the moment.

I retract now HTT agrees with me.

I do think there's been better centre halves since the invention of football in 1992 but there's some serious underrating of Terry on here.

Although it'll never happen I still maintain Danny Welbeck is the perfect forward for a Rafa system.

I'd be happy with Gray like. Got a bit of pace and strength which is what Rafa likes in his line leading centre forwards.

Excellent.