Colos Short and Curlies

Even Pardew managed that man

+2

10 ahead of this lot, 10 ahead of Spurs after Saturday.

But only played 2 and a bit games

A stretch using the Hughton version of HBA, swap him and Colo round

Egg on the face prediction….. he’s going to score the goal that wins the league cup final for us this year

That's the one. Looked very assured, looked for the ball and a threat at set pieces. Don't know if he's got another step up in him but definitely a solid championship player.

I was surprised with the quality on show with Swansea and Luton. well Luton I expected to be bad with their league position but Swansea are supposedly one of the the better possession teams in the league and they were pretty abject. Really fun game but not for the quality. the Swansea number 6 (Darling), was the standout.

Dodgy keeping for Lutons goal, pantomime villain ref missing at least 2 pens for Swansea, red card and injury time winner right in front of us. so all in all a great first game for them 😊 also a comedy moment where a Luton player went down ala Schar in the 90th minute but the ref called the physio on so he had to go off for 30 seconds before he could be substituted, which had been planned before he went down

Boys first game today …. Swansea vs Luton. Gonna be a memorable one for them 😂

it’s still the same argument though, quick glance down the squad and I think we have 24 players in the squad today who we would look at registering, which includes all 4 goalkeepers, and then you have Miley who is a ‘freebie’. I may have missed someone. I guess you would not register Ruddy and Vlach plus 1 more so the question remains is the squad stronger at this 21 plus Longstaff and Miley or do you make the 21 stronger by selling Longstaff. We’ve got a bench padded with list B on players regardless. Its not an easy answer either way

Howe - Bruno Bruce - Wilson Benitez - Lascelles McLaren - Wijnaldum Pardew - Ben Arfa Hughton - Enrique Keegan (either spell) - Albert Allardyce - Beye Roeder - Martins Souness - Kluivert (super sub) Robson - Robert Gullit. (Manager) Dalglish - Given using the version the manager got ‘rule’ centre half was the difficult bit, Albert came in at the end but that took Shearer out. there is no protection for the back 4 at all, we’re simply gonna score one more than you!

The prime version is a bit of a get of jail free card, we had a high managerial turnover between 96 and 00 and then again 04 through to Pardew and that gives a high cross over of players. much more difficult and interesting if you have the version that the manager did

We don’t NEED to register 4 academy players, it’s just that we restrict our squad if we don’t. so the question isn’t who is better that Longstaff but rather can we put out a better 24 player squad if he is sold which then reduces the reliance on the homegrown quota. The answer to that is probably yes, but it will take a little thinking through. I’d argue certainly another forward or centre back who you would be happy with would be better than Longstaff as a reserve centre mid IF that is the consideration.

doesn’t that only apply if you were in the competition in 2023/2024 and have a manager with the initials EH though? oh shit…..

Champions League qualification could be massive for the summer. we should be looking at £40-£50m additional revenue with that and some additional sponsorships off the back of it. Allowing for the wage savings in SteV’s post we should be able to add £500k a week in wages (£18m) and drop £100m on fees before any sales

there is still the ManU badge though so clubs in Saudi etc will look at the players ‘because Man Utd’

My 6 year old explaining very deadpan to the missus that he’s called Big Dan Burn because he’s quite big had me in stitches earlier. He actually thinks his name is BDB

An early goal could see them crumble, but if they keep it to nil for 10 mins then you can see the game going their way with a scrappy goal. basically we need to start fast and not let them get their foot on the ball

I dunno, Bruno loves being in and around the action in the box

So its a combination of Old Man Cas, Old Man Erik and Mainoo in the middle? Mainoo is more than decent, but our 3 should absolutely run rings around that

I could see them going back to a previous manager to hold the fort. step forward the old cunt

Gordon needs a couple of goals, can see the logic in sticking him upfront rather than Osula this week.

Zola then Vialli