TRon

If he got a walk on at half time on his own, the roof would come off St James.

Just for tonight I would rather have him on the bench than not.

Quite fancy Hall playing as a wing back/LM tbh, it means we keep our balance. I'm a bit more worried about Trippier down the other side though, he could be vulnerable if he gets caught up the pitch.

They are just bad business in general because of those hefty loan fees. If they don't pay off with results you are left much worse off later down the line.

The bit about them scoring twice in the first 15 mins? I think I could do without that tbh.

Wtf?

Read about how Slot dealt with Bournemouth's manic press by getting his defenders to switch play to the other side of the pitch with crossfield balls. I hope Eddie read that same article because we seem to have no idea how to deal with it when we come up against it.

Was confusing him with Yilmaz for a bit there. Not sure what he's doing these days, but looked pretty handy a while back.

I agree to a point. But for me, Isak is almost a generational talent. How would you replace him? Bruno I would be sad to see go, but for what we'd lose in technique, we could probably gain in other aspects where he's not so good, like pace. Not that I'd want to lose him either tbh, but that's the way the game is rigged.

I just don't think sitting back at home against a team like Arsenal will work over 90 mins. Feel like we have to go out with the intent to beat them. If we are still level at HT, then we can maybe look to go 5-5-0 for the last half hour or so.

Realistically the only way to close that gap in the short term, is if our meg billionaire owners put their money into the squad. The rest of the PL know it, and that's why they've gone to such lengths to stop it happening.

Sounds more like he's trying to sound a positive note rather than be disrespectful tbh. They got beat 2-0 on their own ground, can understand why he has to now overcompensate to show they believe the tie is still there to be won.

I know the PSR talk drives people up the wall, but until that restriction is lifted, being able to generate income is the only way to stay in touch with the top clubs, and a new ground seems to be a big factor in doing that, now and in the future. As for the traditionalists, I can remember before John Hall you couldn't drag people to St James. I get the emotional attachment angle, it's genuine. But the reality is, a successful team is what gets people excited, not the football stadium. When Keegan transformed the club, suddenly there were 10,000 waiting lists for season tickets where previously you could walk in any game you liked. So anything which allows us to continue challenging for honours has to be a priority for me personally.

Honestly that was my impression as well. I can't really tell the difference between the atmosphere at old grounds and new ones, apart from West Ham since they moved to the London stadium. Upton Park used to generate a louder atmosphere but that was because it was a lot smaller and tighter area I think.

Is that the general consensus of fans whose clubs have shifted to new stadiums? That the experience/atmosphere is artificial? Do you reckon they would go back given a chance?

From what I read, it took him a year or two to clear out the old guard at Monaco as well before he could really start the rebuild. It is probably a bit harder here because we are doing relatively well so he can't disturb too much. But in the same way Brentford and Bournemouth have bought well, you would like to think he is ideally placed to bring in some rough diamonds who will be the equivalent of the ready made stars without too much polishing at a quarter of the price.

Fair to say just about club that has built a new stadium has had a vocal percentage of fans who have opposed it, usually for heritage reasons, which is fair enough. But given the choice, how many of them would want their old stadium back?

I think for PSR to work as intended, in our case we would have to sell the best players at a profit and reinvest. Otherwise they will gradually become depreciating assets. We aren't going to make up the difference by selling shit players for peanuts. A case of two steps forward, ones step back.

That just looks like one of them bogs with a square lid instead of a bowl.

Are there any modern stadiums that don't have a bog seat design like?

Wasn't that before PSR had started to kick in? Arsenal certainly don't seem to be as flash with the cash over the last 12 months even with strikers going down ten to the dozen.

We don't have anyone sat on our bench who we can sell for £60m.

British defenders are usually pretty good tbf, the ones who have gone over there have done pretty well. Kelly's main weakness is in the air, that won't be much of a factor over there unless he's just shit positionally.

Pretty sure it has.

He could at least have come up with a figure which was somewhat believable.