TRon

The problem is, we would be selling them for at best £8-10m, and a replacement who is under 28 would cost at least £35m, and for that money they might not even be much better. Look at Harry McGuire, he's stupidly expensive, and he's basically a rich man's Lascelles.

Oh yeah, that has to be said, none of them will be happy about it.

Break the rules and then break out the lawyers with restraint of free trade threats before the first legal letters even land on our desks.

On a separate note, what an emotional return for Tonali. That is worth the price of admission alone, will be an unbelievable build up to that on both sides I would imagine.

As I said already, if you get a slightly easier group, far more chance of qualifying and going through to the next stage. THEN you get to play these teams anyway, your profile grows even more, and you get momentum. My take is that we aren't just there for the sake of it, we want to go deep in the competition, and an easier draw makes that more likely.

A goal rammed in off the volley like he did on his debut would be the way to do it.

Revenge is a dish best served with spaghetti. Take no prisoners on your return Sandro. Destroy them all.

Well played sir. I'm reading it twice to see if I can convince myself of the merits of this argument.

Confirmed.

Well we already know what song is going to be belted out. Milan players will be wondering what the fuck a mackem is.

Personally I wanted to meet these teams in the next round. If we had got an easier draw I would definitely have fancied our chances of getting through, they you would be playing this lot anyway at some point.

I do feel we can mix it with either of those two.

Oh well. There's still the FA Cup.

Agree, I don't think you can be called an elite manager until you are winning trophies, Howe is still losing too many head to heads against the proven elites to dispel doubts entirely. But tbh, there's no manager in the world who can usually beat the best sides with inferior players, and when we are up against City or Liverpool, we are undoubtedly going in with less artillery. Where we are spending £35m on wide players, Liverpool are spending £70m. Where we spend £40m on a midfielder, City are spending £100m. It's actually testament to how good a manager Howe is that he is going toe to toe with these managers with some success, and not resorting to parking the bus and trying to fluke a win like an Allardyce or Bruce would do.

Yes we could have got Diaby instead of Barnes, I don't think anyone can dispute it, but obviously Howe likes Barnes more. It really comes down to who the manager thinks will fit our system best, and both Gordon and Barnes were long term targets. I'm assuming Howe doesn't rate Diaby's defensive contributions, and that would rule him out for our playing style.

He's 31, they'll have to find the next one at some point regardless. They had to do the same with Mane, you have to keep evolving, and Liverpool might be thinking of maximising his transfer fee while they still can. Yes we saw how good he still is, but at that age all clubs have to keep one eye on the future.

Sounds like a decent atmosphere tbh.

Isak would have scored if VVD hadn't taken him out. It wasn't an obvious foul because of the angle he came in at, but it was one of the few decisions the ref actually got right.

Unfortunately, due to our FFP restrictions, we've had to prioritise other positions. If we were allowed to spend freely I have no doubt we'd have brought in Diaby or someone of a similar stature with a bit more defensive responsibility.

Salah's in his 30's now right? Might be Liverpool's best chance of squeezing an almighty transfer fee for him, and if he's set on leaving, it will generate a massive windfall which they can use to buy the next Salah.

If a club was offering a permanent move he might be justified, not sure what we gain from loaning him out at this age. Unless it's a sizeable loan fee and they'll pay all his wages.

6 months ago I'd have thought we'd have no problem getting £15m back for him, but he's not really looked the same player since his comeback from injury. Hopefully he just needs some game time.

Howe isn't the type who would indulge players living a party lifestyle, if Lascelles was out, it would have been on an approved night off. I'm sure if it was up to Eddie, the lads would all be tucked up in bed by 9pm after a warm bath, but the reality is he'd just expect them to keep the nights out to when there's a week free of competitive football.