Shak

This generation's Pirlo. I've been drinking aye, fuck you he's Pirlo.

Absolutely dominating a game but lacking quality in the final third is particularly frustrating given the lack of signings to this point. Hopefully we can find a goal or two here, will be very annoying if this shit keeps up for another half.

Maybe they wouldn't be so poor if they didn't keep spending shitloads of money.

With Leicester apparently wanting to fund a bit of a rebuild I assume they'll want to get it done quickly rather than wait until the end of the window. Gives them more time to get the right players in with the cash. Sounds like this could happen sooner rather than later.

It's the present perfect tbf.

I'm not sure the word 'disappointed' is quite as strong an adjective as you seem to think it is. Nobody is saying it'll be a disgrace or that anyone needs to be fired, people just think he looks good and hope we sign him. That's it. Hardly outrageous.

I think that with the other midfielders we had in our squad it made sense to play Bruno further up the field as he was head and shoulders above anyone else in terms of ability to create in the final third. Couple that with Shelvey's distribution being really good in the deep lying role and it made a lot of sense. Were we to sign someone like Paqueta then we'd have another player on (or above, from what some have said) Bruno's creative level that would allow Bruno to operate from deep. Think Bruno could be fantastic in the role we saw Shelvey in under Howe last year. He's basically better than Shelvey at all the things Shelvey is good at while not having the weaknesses that Jonjo has. Having a defensively solid holding midfielder who is also fantastic on the ball would be a huge asset in terms of our ball retention. If we did sign Paqueta, a Bruno-Joe-Paqueta trio could work well IMO. Paqueta would obviously be the most advanced of the three, Bruno as the deep lying playmaker and Joe just charging around the pitch wrecking people. On paper you'd have Bruno as the deepest of the three but in practice he'd basically be going where the ball goes and looking to always be available for the pass. You'd want Joelinton bursting forward whenever we're on the counter attack obviously but in situations where we have possession in the final third I'd like to see him then drop deep and sit in the holding role ready to break up any counter attacks which would give Bruno more license to get forward. Out of possession you'd have Bruno the deepest of the three and Joe and Paqueta pressing further up field. Paqueta is supposed very strong in this regard and we know Joe is. It's all about having players the complement each other well in the midfield trio and on paper I do think that trio looks tasty. As others have said, I'll be disappointed if we're not willing to spend big if the right player becomes available. By all accounts we have plenty of FFP flexibility over the next few years, even if there is a budget in mind this summer they can go over it somewhat and maybe scale back in a future window if it's really necessary.

It's a bit odd people being so strongly against signing the guy because his agent is a dipshit Do think it's a valid worry that if we get him and he's good we might have to deal with some bullshit from him every summer but the club have clearly identified him as someone they really want so there's no harm at all in leaving our offer one the table while also looking into the next options on our list.

Fuck's sake, spent too long laughing at the idea of what an 850 billion pound stadium would look like and missed my chance to make the joke first

Really exciting signing, obviously no gaurantees but the guy has clearly been our main target in the transfer market since January so they obviously like him a lot.

I agree with the notion that Ekitike on his own is probably not quite enough to feel really good about our options up front. One more whose best position is left side of a front three but who also can play centrally if required would be ideal. Ekitike seems like he'd benefit from mostly being used as an impact sub for a year or two until he's filled out a bit. Assuming we see his long term position as a CF.

Not for me, I hadn't seen it.

Oops, you said the all caps part lowercase and the lowercase part all caps.

Graeme McDowell would have been proud.

If they think those three aren't any worse as options than the other players we have on the list then by all means get them. However, the focus should be on getting the best player, not the guy we can get a bit cheaper. If the choice is Asencio for 20m or spending double that to get a player that we think is genuinely top class then I expect us to go for the better player.

I'm all for making shrewd additions with FFP in mind but I would definitely be surprised if the bulk of our signings are players we're getting on the cheap due to a contract situation. I would hope we'll try to get the players that Howe/Ashworth really feel will be the best players on the pitch for years to come rather trying to primarily get what we feel are the best of the affordable options. Your post reads like an ambitious Mike Ashley era summer rather than that of a team looking to make some real noise next season IMO.

Would go quite well with the Castore logo and the blue in the crest.

Yeah Ekitike as the understudy makes a lot of sense IMO, especially as he can play out wide too a bit so will get plenty of opportunities to start or come off the bench.

Would be happy to see Lewis get another chance under Howe, not hard to imagine that maybe there's a real player in there somewhere beneath the mountains of shite that were dumped on him from Bruce's immense backside.

I like the idea of being able to switch between 3 at the back and 4 at the back, do wonder if that is something Howe wants to be able to do as Targett seems like such an obvious signing otherwise.

I think signing just one forward player would be a huge mistake, three starting spots and we only have ASM and Wilson who are good enough as anything more than squad options for what we should be aiming for. Somebody like David would be an excellent addition, can give us an option other than Wilson to play CF but could also go out wide when we want to start Wilson. We need another wide player though, I'd have much more faith in Longstaff, Willock or Shelvey starting lots of games in CM than Almiron or Fraser playing lots of games out wide. Can Paqueta play out wide on the right? With Howe really looking like he wants very attack minded full backs I wouldn't be surprised if the players we bring in for the wide spots are more creative AM types than speedy wingers.

They're a few minutes from relegation man, of course they're giving it their all.

The weirdos being absolutely thrilled when ASM does something wrong is great

State of this from City.

Harsh on Murphy that.