Shak

Aye, we don't have to play Man City next week... They HAVE TO PLAY US.

Seems like it'll surely be a CB? Seems to be what most of the journos are saying. After that I could see us adding a LB or RW... but only if a deal we really like comes available.

Been seen walking the streets of Manchester in a dressing gown this morning muttering the Joelinton song to himself, allegedly.

Now that we have the Villa result on the board this seems like actually a good time to play these. Hopefully they'll not be in full flow yet and we can cause them some real problems. Them travelling and playing on Wednesday is great too. They're still an absolute machine of course and the most likely result is probably a loss... but after yesterday I'm inclined to think we'll hammer them

I'm going to go ahead and call it. If he stays fit and plays here for another three years, he'll come to be known as the best player NUFC has ever had.

I can't get soft again.

Creased at the idea of it being such a brave decision to move to the deepest, darkest beyond of Munich

Aye, I'd be of the opinion that Isak is our CF and Wilson's role should be to... - Come on for the last 20 minutes of games, either to play with Isak when we're chasing a goal or to give him a rest if things are going well. - Start games when we feel Isak needs a rest. With our schedule this year and style of play, that's going to be more than enough football for Wilson IMO.

I mean, Raphinha and Guler would both have been ideal. Would have loved Olise from Palace for it too but he seems like he's off to die at Chelsea.

I think both things are true. Adding better finishers like Barnes will help us a lot but I do think our wingers are somewhat lacking in terms of that final ball. I think when we do finally sign a RW it'll be someone who's more of a left footed AM than a Diaby type. Guler would have been perfect for it. Also think we'd have gone back in for Raphinha if Barca had got Guler or Messi. Going into the window I'd have said RW and LB were our biggest weaknesses. However, it's clear that if we can't get our primary targets then we don't go very far down the list. Maybe they think this time next year we'll be able to buy an Alphonso Davies or Theo Hernandez for LB and don't want to settle for a small upgrade now. Same for the RW spot.

We could do wirtz than Tapsoba and a current teammate to help him settle.

Joke was that Dan isn't actually American, hard as that is to believe. (And ironic as it is for me to be making that joke, yes)

I mean, just look at the first twenty seconds of this match lads

Appalling post here from SMETEX. Willock almost never plays on the wing. He does well linking up with a LW from his LCM position but it's a very different proposition just starting games as the winger. You Yanks just find it difficult to see what's happening out there like people who have grown up with the game.

Willock played almost all his football as LCM last season. He gets into great wide positions from that spot but saying he was our main wide man last season is absurd

Wonder if we'll go back looking for Rigg in a year or two, see he scored tonight. Thought we might get him in the summer but seems like he's going to get a fair bit of first team action there so was probably a good move to stay there.

My own feeling is that we're still one short on wingers. Barnes, Gordon, Almiron and Joelinton seems very short on numbers for a team who asks as much as we do from our front three in terms of pressing the opposition. And Joelinton will be playing plenty of LCM too so it's basically three and a half players for those two spots. Needs to be a lot of rotation of those spots or they're going to burn out after Christmas. I know we all love Murphy now and all that and I'm happy for him to continue to be a reliable shithouse sub but in terms of starting games I'd hope it'll be domestic cup games and half a dozen starts in case of emergency otherwise. Right now I think we're thin on numbers, and that's assuming everyone is fully fit. One long term injury and it immediately looks really bad IMO. If we don't add anyone I'm gonna not get worked up about it, thought we didn't do enough last summer and it was a mistake not getting a CM in January but neither turned out to be true. I'm reasonably confident that Howe has thought about this more than I have so if he thinks we're covered then I'd assume there's a good reason.

Sometimes transfer links are wrong Now it's time to all move on

Not that I think there'll be anything in this but where would he play in our system? RW?

Aye I'm up for that, bring him in.

I hope so but I just don't see him getting the game time. Willock injured, Barnes and Tonali still settling in and Anderson absolutely playing out of his skin in preseason. Yet I still don't expect him to start next weekend. Only going to get tougher for him to get playing time too. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets loaned out right at the end of the window, when Willock will hopefully be close to being back.

It's the real reason ASM didn't fit in the team IMO. Not because he couldn't press, or because he couldn't use the ball well and play with his head up in possession. His movement off the ball was diabolical. (And yes, I know there are numerous things ASM does better than Barnes could ever dream of before anyone goes mad at me )

Also, I do think that Anderson taking the step forward we all hope he does might mean that either Joelinton or Willock could end up being sacrificed to the gods of FFP in summer of 2024. If ASM going was hard to take, either of those two would be far harder IMO.

I still think the ideal scenario is for a year on loan somewhere where he'll be one of the first names on the team sheet every week. Even if he has taken the step forward we think he has, I think he'll struggle to get a lot game time. I'd expect he'll play primarily in the LCM position, perhaps sometimes at LW. The competition for those spots is going to be Willock, Joelinton, Barnes and Gordon. Even if the plan is to use Gordon on the right a lot, Anderson probably isn't starting many games of the two Joes and Barnes. Ideal scenario is probably a year on loan at a top Championship side who play a similar style to us. Meanwhile, we bring in a RW, even if it is a loan initially. DM - Bruno + Miley LCM - Joelinton + Willock RCM - Longstaff + Tonali LW - Gordon + Barnes RW - Miggy + New Addition CF - Isak + Wilson Think that would be a very nice group for the year. I just think that right now we have a lot of players who I feel confident in playing on the left... and far fewer I feel that way about on the right. Lots of versatility there, players who can play a number of roles. Means that we could afford to send Anderson out and let him get used to being a regular starter, rather than a bit part player.