Yorkie

So his previous injury record is relevant to this one, is it?

I don't think it's misguided optimism because I'm not saying Gordon will lace Isak or Wissa's boots. But against Villa his play from that position wrought a red card from their CB, and he was fantastic against Liverpool until the moment of madness. The lad has a significant amount of raw talent so I wouldn't rank turning him into a competent CF as Howe's greatest ever challenge, like.

Absolute disaster if he's done his ACL, like. Would feel like the season's over before it's even begun if that's the case as the guy was easily our best and most vital signing this summer, despite the fee. It was crucial we had a sure thing to replace Isak's goals and even in the unlikely event Woltemade is ready for being first choice, we can't expect him to lead the line in the PL and CL and cups. Massive responsibility back onto Gordon if this is true. I'd back him to take it but still, fucking hell.

Levelling any blame at the club for this injury because we should have influenced how he represented his international team is absolutely ridiculous. Regardless of Liverpool, Isak and Sweden.

thanks for signing for us, btw can you immediately fuck off representing your family in that absolutely crucial international qualifier?

We could've signed a player with an absolutely impeccable injury record and the outcome wouldn't be any different. We've got an immediately adjacent example in Wissa, who's injured now despite being previously unavailable for approximately ten minutes of football in his entire career.

His injury record has absolutely no bearing on this injury, unless there's something about his game which gives him form for having his ankle clattered by recently-departed midfielders trying to prove a point...

Well yeah but the injury he got against Leeds could've happened to anyone.

Fucking hell.

I dunno, I was being a bit flippant. I wasn't an avid England fan for the majority of Rooney's time but my recollection of him is being dependable in qualifiers, then offering next to nowt in the tournaments other than Euro 2004, but still being immovable from the team. Think he got like three tournament goals after initially setting the world alight in Portugal.

Kinda wish there just wasn't a Bellingham tbh. Seems like a total arsehole and despite delivering some big moments I can't remember him ever standing out for England performance-wise. Basically Rooney but with added crotch-grabbing.

Get the logic but the bloke's undroppable for me.

Clickbait.

Incidentally I'm highly annoyed we didn't get a (... as my other half revels in saying) video where the new guy does a load of high fives and has to take his top off for a bit. Same for Wissa.

Yeah good point and something I was gonna raise in the 'rate the transfer window' thread but had already waffled on plenty. It felt like - during those lean weeks of the transfer window - those were the signings loads of people on here were yearning for us to make. But the gamble was too great at this time. Clearly we were engaging in a pretty big squad churn this summer - with very well established squad members in need of replacing/upgrading - so it was crucial that we sunk our finances into as sure a thing(s) as possible. The strikers, wingers, centre-mids, full-backs all have a sense of being 'resolved' at this point (obviously pending performances!) The next signings at goalie and CB may still require that low-risk/high-reward type of investment, but elsewhere you think there could be room for those higher-risk signings like you say.

Not watched but nice to see something a bit more inspiring. How the fuck did we only put three past bloody Andorra across two games, man?

Really can't be arsed with more from that idiot.

Absolutely no idea what the point of his existence in the team was supposed to be tbh. Miserable performance from Germany.

Pity Woltemade couldn't play but at least we might see a bone-crunching, mutually-assured-destruction 50-50 tackle between Wirtz and Bradley.

What a class goal

Champions League qualification, as opposed to a points deduction that has us nowhere near (plus the inevitable distracting sub-plot as we made a legal challenge) offsets it. I hate that we're not enjoying his progress as much as the next person, but there's an argument that it was actually a brilliant deal, seeing as he was only going to be a fringe player anyway. But I don't think you can measure it like any typical transfer anyway tbh.

Sorry to hear that mate but thanks for letting us know. If anyone is reading is umming and ahhing, please don't hesitate to join in. It's always a great day.

Ah sugar, that's an error. Should be C. I must correct this.