LionOfGosforth

Yeah 100%. Think it was @timeEd32 who made a very similar point the other day. You can mayyyyyybe find a player with his general ability somewhere, though he'd certainly cost a lot more than we paid for Bruno. But trying to find someone who combines that ability with his level of passion, leadership, personality, all the intangibles, the way his family have settled into Tyneside life....different story altogether. He knits the whole squad together and if anything, though it might sound overly-romantic, lets you believe as a fan that almost anything is possible when you have a player of this calibre playing for you. We lose just too much by selling him, would be absolutely gutting.

Can't help but think a player with a past history of injury like DCL wouldn't fare that well with getting through a pre-season under Howe, can see him falling to bits . That said, if there's truth to it, EH will probably wring the best out of him.

He has bad BO?

Feel quite sorry for Ipswich and their fans in all this. All the excitement of a brilliant season and first one back in the big time for 20 years and their manager immediately touted around. It would never happen but i'd love one of these managers to come out and say something along the lines of "I'd never want to go to a club that chews up and spits out their coaches like Chelsea do. There's more to life than London and money".

Ugh. I get the ambition angle but Chelsea...disgusting place and he'll only end up like all the others.

Lacking managerial stability is fine when there are a ton of quality candidates to assess and potentially hire. What Chelsea are doing is mad. If Poch is "not a strategic fit", why on earth did they hire him in the first place? Well, probably because he was the biggest name available at the time and therefore the right man. I saw Nagelsman mentioned somewhere. Why would he want to uproot from Germany, only to get the boot 6 months into a new life in London and have to go through that hassle? Stability matters because there's a huge squad of players that have been bought under several different coaches and regimes. A squad of human beings who were starting to buy into the manager's beliefs. Now a new coach has to come in and mould that into something. He better do it quickly too because the next shiny new toy is already being looked at probably. There's a human cost that they don't seem to give a flying fuck about. There may come a time when the allure of West London and a top salary will fade next to the inevitable upheaval and instability that getting sacked brings and suddenly the conveyor belt of good coaches will dry up. Judging by the current candidate list, they may already be at that point.

Success in a sustained way obviously. Look at the top 3 clubs in the country. Just because Chelsea had success chopping and changing previously, doesn't make it a good call now. Their structure and personnel was very different and they could throw limitless money at it before PSR. You can't seriously think getting rid of Poch in the manner that they did, after improving considerably, was a good move?

Astounding stuff Chelsea. Those owners might have all the money to throw at the problem, but not an ounce of common sense or humility to learn from what other clubs around them are doing. The key in most cases, is trust and stability in the manager and that is something that Chelsea just never seem to want. Crazy. But also fucking amazing for the rest of the league. They were an undoubted threat to the 3-6 spots next year, now they'll be bringing in another coach with different ideas and strengths up to speed and once he's getting things right, they'll sack him and start all over again because some Yank nerd with some expensive software said so. Brilliant.

Not sure if it's Joe being Joe and just being passionate or whatever, but there was a bit of a weird interaction between him and Isak after the 3rd goal, Burn almost had to pull him away.

kinell, gonna be a fun summer reading utter bollocks like this every day

It's Josh Murphy's world today like, 2-0 great goal

yep

Murphy!!

Didn't know Josh Murphy was at Oxford

Good to see Dan James is still useless

Not all that fussed who comes up, all have spent recent time in the PL, but pretty glad it won't be Norwich all the same

Worse than Wes Hoolahan, who's a right little cunt

He came across on that Overlap episode as very very thin skinned tbh

Man Utd were oddly and uncharacteristically clinical. Their performance didn't warrant 3 goals, that was on us and we only have ourselves to blame for that, plus missing gilt edged chances at the other end. Tough to take in such an important game but we have been a bit flat for a while. Weird season.

Don't think i've disliked or felt such little confidence in a player ever. Give me Gary Kelly (all 5ft 4 of him) over this useless excuse of a professional.

I think a lot of his issues are upstairs, combined with carrying an injury. He never ever looks confident, or even happy on the pitch. When we score, he just looks flat, i've noticed it a lot this season. Not suggesting he doesn't care, just that he seems elsewhere mentally and has for some time. Can't dislike the lad but he's played far more games than he should have or would have expected to.

How lucky are Liverpool man, literally everything drops for them, crazy impossible misses by the opponent, VAR decisions

He has had some class moments, no doubt, and often appears a major threat, just feel like he doesn't quite reach his potential and yeah, would never swap him for AG.

Might be a minority opinion but I think Diaz regularly promises more than he delivers

How much did Diaby cost again