LionOfGosforth

The toy ambulance in mid-air, not once but twice, is fantastic. Just watched the BBC interview, seemed a lot more upbeat in general, not just about the win.

Lejeune could be even better, look forward to them being a partnership

Merino was very good on the ball but a lot of the freedom he got to express himself was down to the work done by Hayden, excellent today

Unsung hero tbh. Goalline clearance at one end, followed by a goal at the other. Brilliant today along with Ritchie and Hayden.

Great win and even better that it came from an excellent performance.

Where's our LB ffs?? How can it be so fucking hard to find one? Can barely remember the last time we had a class LB

Terrible defender according to Chelsea fans. Best going forward and/or as a winger Pretty sure a lot of them thought De Bruyne was shit as well. Well renowned bastions of knowledge those Chelsea fans.

You don't think he'd let Riviere leave? He hasn't even been given a number FFS. Was thinking more about De Jong when I said that. Riviere man ... what a ridiculous time he had here. Just awful. Why would any sane club want Riviere? You'd be actively admitting you don't want to score any goals ever And SDJ has been about as reliable as a Trabant trying to get around the Dakar Rally I'll believe these deals when they actually happen

Proper pass that

Is it? <b>Are you actually staggering around?</b> The local lads that spring to mind are adored and legends. Shearer, Beardsley, Waddle, Gazza, Ben Arfa, etc. The s**** ones are called out for being s****, not for being local. Easy myth to bust. Picturing someone reeling around like an extra from the Walking Dead at the unfairness of it all

He played one game got injured and returned to Chelsea because of it.

Failed to make any impact at Watford on loan according to that article. Don't know when that was or how much he played but that sounds shite tbh, hardly inspires confidence. Still, a signing

They'll rise in late August, if anything, the absolute fuckwits

Looks like Mick Hucknall got it on with our Matt...brutal

He's got a threshold, Mojo. He's got a threshold for the abuse that he will take. Now, right now, he's a f***ing race car, all right? And Mike's got him in the red. And I'm just saying, I'm just saying that it's f***ing dangerous to have a race car in the f***ing red, that's all. He could blow. Sounds like fiction to me.

Enjoyed the way Shelvey avoided the (admittedly crap) tackle from the defender to setup Atsu, subtle bit of intelligence

Holy s*** That's bonkers that man. How could they not know where they were in the league table? I knew where my team was in the division when I played 5-a-side at the Rec man

Jonny Gently in that thread is a good read: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/smoggies.1379067/page-4#post-25857849 "Typical of the jealousy of Smogs and mags who have aspirations way above their capabilities. <b> However we are loved by other fans because we are everything the mags purport to be </b>. Quote 'Man City fan'. Of course the difference is we know we're crap and can take the p*ss out of ourselves. The mags and smogs by and large can't. They still live in a Bobby and Bryan Robson wonderland. So sad so funny. " Where on earth does this notion come from? That Sunderland are "loved" by other fans. What exactly is it that they "are" anyway? Far as I know, they're a total non-entity as a club, haven't won owt since the 70's and are more generally known for racist fans and an empty stadium with rubbish on the pitch. Creased at the patter

Depends on the agenda mate

Purebloods, I like it. Hope he's watched Our Friends in the North ffs

When you are paying £12m in this day and age, hope has to be a big part of it. I'm glad it's Rafa taking the punt though, his judgement should be better than most. I wouldn't doubt Rafa's judgement and certainly not his ability to manage or coach, but in fairness it was mostly his decision to go for Sels, Lazaar and Gamez. Don't think anyone ever said his transfer record was perfect. He signed a few duffers for Liverpool, can recall him wanting to get rid of Alonso and sign Gareth Barry ffs. But anyway, back to Murphy, hope he's a big success, he's certainly bringing something to a position we were desperately short in.

He's quite obviously not worth 50m even in this climate like, and that's not a detraction from his talent either, it's just a fairly obvious, inflated price. I wouldn't say it's about right for him considering it's now made him the most expensive defender in the world and, as he's obviously not the best right back, let alone the best defender in the world, people are going to use that as the yardstick to measure him by. Walker + Stones for 100m. And this is about right these days? 100m for 2 defenders, one who is a good athlete and not a lot else and the other who plied his trade at Barnsley 3-4 years ago and looks like he's wearing cement blocks for boots half the time? It's aalreet though, he's young and English. Aye, i'd say the sport is f***ed like

Really? Good for Rafa and us on a whole if we can (could have) get them in quite early so that we're strong and ready when the season starts. Exactly. 9 out of 10 of our transfers get dragged out to a ridiculous degree at the expense of team integration and chemistry, and for what? To save a bit on wages or to knock a half million off or whatever? Ever see the media yapping about other teams targets and then those teams take 2 months to conclude the deal? No, you read about it and it's generally done very soon after. Even hugely expensive deals like Lukaku were reported on and done in a matter of days. We're talking about signing lower half of la liga defenders and championship wingers for around 10m, not 80m strikers ffs. Lukaku took over 2 months, just because the bit where the fee was agreed to signing the player was short doesn't mean there was a lot of courting going in the build up to that. As usual big clubs agreeing with agents contracts and terms way before fee (another conversation) Lukaku knew who he was signing for since before the end of the season. Maybe that is true and therefore not a good example. Still can't help but feel like every single one of our transfers is purgatory. In a season as critical as this one, early business in the key positions to be strengthened should have been an absolute priority and the groundwork done ages ago, so we weren't taking weeks and months each time. It already feels like we're at our 4th or 5th choice player in that position when we sign someone. Then again by the time we're done, if Rafa is content with what we brought in, then it probably doesn't matter how long it took. Hope this deal gets done and he's a success.

I'd say we are buying more potential than the finished article at the moment, I would prefer a more experienced winger tbh. Don't know the lad but, on the face of it, it would look quite the step up to go from a 'decent' season with Championship Norwich to a starter in the Prem. Would be nice to get a couple of proven PL players, rather than a bunch who haven't ever set foot in the league, but they cost real money which we can't/won't spend. This kid could be the second coming of Garrincha but i'd hate to see him flounder after being plunged straight into a tough season, rather than eased in behind a more experienced player maybe. Hope he's what we need.