Shak

Loved this from his press conference. "It's not about taking it on my shoulders. Thursday night doesn't direct me in what I do and think. We're an easy mark at the moment, obviously making a semi-final is an absolute disaster." He's such a petty wanker.

I don't think it'll be the long term plan but the way Willock has been playing recently I have a hard time not seeing it as our best option while Joelinton is out. Burn at LB is obviously not ideal, used to drive me mental at times, but I do think Hall's ability on the ball in CM would be a huge asset versus what we'll get if Longstaff goes in there. Maybe Howe will give Miley a run there but I'd be surprised.

Have those five ever started a game together? We dropping Bruno or Tonali? Or just putting one of those lads at RB?

(Unless it's someone who has done legitimately horrible things, I'll caveat that with )

Being pleased about serious injuries is a bit gross IMO.

Hope we'll see a very strong team, as has been said we have a team who has shown they aren't a pushover for anyone so the goal should be to win this thing. I could see a couple of changes from last night if the staff thinks any of the lads are carrying a knock or are really in need of a rest, but I don't want to see wholesale changes. Team will be buzzing, ride the wave. We've a full week off after this game and then another full week before the next one. Put these tarts to bed in the first half with a strong lineup, then ease off and make changes in the second half.

(Assuming Botman is fine...) I'd like to see us give Hall a run at LCM with Burn at LB and see how it goes. Solves the CB issue. Botman has to come back into the team but Burn has been wonderful all year and doesn't really deserve to lose his place so he moves to his old LB role. This allows us to to back to the system of shifting into a back three when in possession, which has the knock on effect of giving our three midfielders more freedom to get forward as they have three sitting defenders behind them rather than two. The more freedom we can give Sandro to roam the better and this facilitates that. I'd also be intrigued to see a left footed player in the LCM role in that system. Both Willock and Joelinton have previously done a great job of getting wide from that position and providing an overlap but obviously neither of them are much of a threat to get to the byline and whip in a dangerous ball on their left. Hall is a different story, putting him in that spot I believe has the potential to give us a massive boost in terms of our ball retention from the midfield three (something Joelinton is always going to struggle with) while also not really sacrificing much in terms of the width that Hall has provided at LB as he'll still be providing it from that LCM spot.

We could build a retractable roof on SJP and then airlift equipment in to take advantage of the easy access the retractable roof provides.

Turkey seems to be producing some cracking young talents at the moment, hopefully this lad can be another one. Or we've signed him to suss out the place for Guler when he moves over.

What if the A1 was extended to lead directly through the Gallowgate? Is that an option?

Will be extremely fondly remembered by all of the fanbase (apart from a few whoppers, I suppose) I'd imagine. Some amazing moments and was a key part of a team that gave us some great memories.

Endrick and Guler both went to Madrid a couple of years too soon IMO. They're both immense talents but it's so hard to break into that Madrid team regularly and at that age playing every week is so beneficial.

It's 10 initially but will fall to 8 if he makes enough appearances for them.

Man, would have been a real bonus had this guy fucked off.

He went there yesterday, lads.

Decky hates him as well IIRC.

This is where Paul Mitchell needs to be earning his money. We should have one more year of Burn, so this summer bring in a youngster on the cheap that will have a year to bed in and take over from Burn as backup in 2026. I was hoping we had that in Alex Murphy tbh but I've heard nowt about him all season in terms of what they make of his chances at the top level. This is in addition to a RCB who will be ready to start immediately as Botman's long term partner, of course.

I do think he'll ultimately settle down and become a very solid replacement for Burn as the versatile squad defender. That said, if there's decent money to be made off selling him now it'd be foolish not to take it IMO.

Started reading about this Spurs game and turned it on and they scored that literally within ten seconds Good goal tbf.

We have that though in Osula. DCL being added too means you also have a striker with plenty of PL experience, one you know won't be out of his depth starting a run of games should Isak get injured. Osula is still very raw, I'm not sure he'll be ready any time soon. I can't say DCL has ever particularly excited me but I reckon he'd be a very solid second choice CF who would also add something different to the team in having a target man who is a physical presence and is good in the air. Would be useful trying to break down teams who put men behind the ball and give us back that element we had two seasons ago where we'd put Wilson and Isak on together late in games.

We've saved the game and are at school but have decided to accept when we load it up again.

Aye, does feel like there's a real appetite for more of your posts TCD and people will resort to any measures to get them.

Another who has benefitted so much from the Tonali and Bruno switch up. Can't think of a time where simply switching two players within a team has had such an effect, it's been weeks and I'm still nerding out about it. The balance of the team is so good now and it allows Joelinton's strengths to shine through. We don't need him to be a particularly creative force in the final third, just let Tonali and Bruno dictate things while Joe goes around powerbombing people through tables.

I think we'll make a run at Dibling at the end of the window. Southampton are already double digit points off safety, I'm sure they still believe they can rally but their next three games are Man U and Forest away, followed by us at home. Let's say they get one point from those three games. 7 points through 23 games is dead in the water, surely? No massive reason to keep him and risk him getting an injury, just get some money in and start planning for their summer. As an addition he's pretty much ideal. Has played plenty of PL football already so he's not going to be completely out of his depth, yet he's still young and raw enough that it will be perfectly logical to expect him to be a backup to Murphy in the short term while the team is still in top form. Let him bed in slowly, meanwhile long term he's got the potential to be an absolute star. If the deal isn't there then we won't buy a RW for the sake of it IMO.

Fingers crossed. I suspect it's pretty close to the 100k mark. He'll have been bought with the expectation that he'll be a fairly important member of the squad, challenging to be first choice LB from the start and being a versatile squad member. Given that we didn't pay a transfer fee, it's not an outrageous outlay in terms of the overall deal for the role we were buying him for.