STM

I can't be having this mind... Pope will start vs Brentford and that means 3 days was the difference. On the other hand, I hate seeing this thread bumped, because I love Howe and I'm fully behind him.

5 times we've allowed that. Bad coaching.

Right? And then the added time to go with the wait.

I've never seen refs that are of a high standard. When I do, I will change my mind.

Aye but I'd rather have one wrong decision than two. There's too many downsides to wait for competent officials.

This is a fair take. If he can't see Trippiers performance tonight, he may end up with problems next season. No matter how much experience he might have, pace is pace.

Let's be honest, VAR didn't even see the rake on Gordon for the pen. It's not corruption, its downright incompetence. Get rid of VAR, we will never have the officials with the brain capacity to make cognisant decisions. Bin it.

Don't make rustiness excuses from Trippier when he did exactly the same thing during our poor spell in December. I know its a cliche but I think his legs have gone. People slated Burn when Burn never made a chronic mistake like that. Fair is fair. Also, like above, why is Trippier getting corners when Gordon is better.

Genuinely the worst take I've ever seen. Longstaff is invisible, Anderson not much better, Trippier has his zimmer frame out and this guy is calling out our best player.

We will score here.

Excuses for who?

Any idea what contract Hall will get, bound to be 6 years? His fee was reported as 28m + add ons, I would assume those add ons are appearance/performance based and unlikely to kick in until next summer... If his 28m is amortised over 5 years, that's around 5.6 we have to account for this season. I'm not saying it's nothing but it's also not alot.

Perhaps not, it was a rough guide. I should have known better.

Well I'd suggest our scouting department disagrees. From all accounts we have a serious interest in Sesko, before and after Isak joining.

That's just a lack of imagination on my part with the strikers. This is where we need our scouting department to know where to look. If we can find a 21/22 year with some experience but plenty of room for growth around the 30m mark, that's where we should go. Joao Pedro really was that deal. If we can get someone like that to dovetail with Isak, I think we are in business.

Spot on. I made a long post at the start of the year along the lines of "there's always 2 of the big six in crisis". You can absolutely rely on one or two imploding, simply because 2 of the teams can't be in the top 4, therefore by extention are deemed to be failing (Spurs can get away with a couple of top 6 finishes). This year its crisis city centre for Man United, Chelsea (until late), last year it was Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs for parts of the season. You'd put good money on Liverpool dropping back next year, Villa having to deal with extra work load, will Spurs kick on? I doubt it. The only thing I can say with some certainty is that Arsenal and City will be 1 and 2... and that Chelsea will be much improved. In short, don't worry about what other clubs are up to, they will always cut each others throats.

More than anything I've learned that when predicting results it's less about who's better or who's worse, but more about timing. We seemed to catch Brighton just as they have hit some form, after beating Villa, in the same way that we caught Spurs in shite form a few weeks ago. You'd think that this is Man United in the worst of form but..... I dunno, I felt that they weren't bad against Arsenal. They weren't good either... but they weren't bad. Arsenal batter most sides and Man United made one sloppy error to lose. Its also at Old Trafford, we are inconsistent at best on the travels and even when shite Man Uniteds home form is never terrible. One thing is for sure. I will be able to tell you within 10 minutes of kick off whether we are getting a result. We must start strong.

Where has he said that? I watched a video with him the other day where he said 15 IIRC. Selling Wilson for 5 is a waste of time. Might as well have him putting the cones out.

I actually entirely agree on the 2 players thing. Something like 100m. If I were to take a stab at how our transfer window went, it would be something like this: Tosin IN free (ish) Kelly IN free (ish) Miggy OUT 14-19m Wilson OUT 10-15m Something like: Neto/Williams/Olise IN 50m Solanke/Sesko IN 50m Then towards the end of the window, it would be a case of assessing what offers we get elsewhere. We might get a worthwhile offer for Targett or Krafth and the reality is that you just have to try and let them go. Anything we get back for them two, might allow us to do a Lewis Hall type deal (Loan with an obligation). If the above happened, we've had a good window IMO.

I think it's as likely someone like Willock is sold late on and we replace him, than Bruno goes.

Why we not keeping Diallo? He seems to have loads about him. Certainly will find a career somewhere.

Worst I've ever seen City play.

I'm 36 and I've seen them win fuck all too. Your extra 20 years counts for fuck all. Let's just thank the lord the club doesn't employ "realists" or it would be another 50 years before we win something.

Genuinely seems like it could be done next week. Likely to let the lad go and have a holiday.

Give us 15m, sounds fair to me. 18m for Miggy. Plenty of FFP wriggle room back off that. Perhaps even a 5m for Krafth/Targett too...