TRon

We'll only really find out if City take the PL to High Court for anti-competitive practice. That is why I am hoping the PL keep backing them against a wall so eventually they have to come firing back with the canons. Unfortunately I am no longer sure the Saudis see us as a vanity project, so even if they were allowed to pump millions into making us a top team, would they bother?

They might if refs crack down on wrestling in the penalty area on set pieces.

Good footballers and not just good athletes. Gold.

Let me be clear, I don't want to sell Barnes, I think he should have been used more if anything. But if we are serious about selling players before they start losing value, then it's something we have to do. He's 28, the offers will only be downhill from here.

I personally think the DOF/CEO didn't really have any plans in place for a replacement, they probably figured we'd finish the season better than we have once out of Europe. There is also the risk of bringing in a new manager which doesn't fix things, and everyone would be kicking off that we got rid of a successful manager to bring in worse. It would take big balls to make such a call, so I can understand why they hedged their bets. Hopefully Wilson will be buying players that he/Suds have prioritised and Howe will have less input. That way, even if he can't make it work, the new manager should be able to work with what he's got for a possession based style.

Unfortunately that's the only hard nosed way of looking at it. We have to look at our growth model, and the only way of doing it is by selling well. Don't blame the players or the club for this. The directive comes from how the SCR has been implemented.

Probably still waiting for Liverpool to jump in.

Welcome to the real world though mate. Why do you think we have a cartel running the Premier League here, and a bigger one which operates throughout Europe? It's a closed shop, and that's not by accident.

That's something else to ponder. If there is a big turnover of players, how likely is it that Eddie will be able to gel them into his preferred formations or methods to get us off to a good start to the season? Given he's had all season with Woltemade and Wissa and we are still none the wiser come the end of the campaign? He would need players who fit exactly into his system, ready to go from day one (PL ready! ) and then if it goes tits up, the next manager would have to use the same players for what might be a totally different system.

Exactly.

Did Chelsea have to pay all the money back to Abramovic which transformed them into a superclub?

IF it's true ( and given Caulkin is more of a fan than a journalist these days I have my doubts ) then it would have been Ross Wilson who made the call. Either he didn't rate him that highly, or just felt we had too many forwards on our books already.

I like Willock as well, I think he's actually a very skilful footballer. But yesterday was just another example of him threatening so much and delivering nothing. It's not one poor season any more, it's been consistent every season other than his first here on loan.

George Caulkin. What surprise.

Yaeh they should just hand Man U the title from back then and rotate with Liverpool for every season henceforth.

He always seemed to be moving in the opposite direction to the ball going past him. Really strange tbh, I don't think I've seen it before.

I think what makes today worse was that last week was one of the few times we look like we'd clicked with the 4231 formation. We actually played good football and let the ball do the work. Then today he switches it all round to go 532 and every player was clueless how to implement it.

They were waiting for th Right Honourable Pep to retire so as not to besmirch his reputation.

They were in the third division when Howe took us over man.

Howe will get another shot at it. But between him and Wilson they have their work cut out. My fear is that if he doesn't get players who slot right into his methods he won't have a clue what to do with them. A bit like this season.

Howe will have a hard job living this down.

I was doing a proper LOL when I saw that Murphy was back in the team instead of Barnes. Someone said it was so he could have a farewell send off. Well he might have helped to give Howe one.

It was about as well thought out as some of our formations this season.

Probably pissed that everyone else has got a big money move lined up and he's missed his window.

Well if the idea was to put him in the shop window, Fulham might be thinking again after this first half performance.