Andy

Thanks Ian, I wasn't aware of that Murphy would start on the right with Gordon as a back up on that side, assuming we bring no one else in. You lose far less than you do selling literally any other player IMO. Murphy is no less a PL player than Almiron either tbh, they're both average. Miggy is dining off one purple patch in his entire time here.

He has a reported market value of around €30m, so if you can get between that and €40m for him as "fair value" then it's a sensible transfer with Murphy and Barnes due back. His energy is unparalleled but at some point you have to trade that in for actual quality.

This is my thinking too. Our entire attacking setup is built around Trippier, unless you can replace him with someone else creative in midfield, we would basically be throwing away any hopes of a European push imo. In fact I think we'd drift further down the table if anything, taking the injury crisis into account too. I get the long term side of it, but as a January sale I'm certainly not thrilled to see him go.

In fairness, the club will push this line to the local press for any player who large chunks of fans like, even if they were actively trying to shift him on. It just makes for better optics. Local press for both clubs are often the least reliable sources in deals like this.

The problem is that £25m doesn't replace the goal contributions we'd immediately lose. Our entire attack is structured through Trippier's overlaps. We could deal with that in the summer, and would obviously have to deal with it eventually anyway, but with the finances as they are, and other positions being a priority, it's hard to see how you replace those assists between now and the end of the season.

I reckon Spurs fans probably said similar about Kane tbf. Bayern are a massive and extremely difficult club for a player to reject, the only saving grace is that Trippier has previously been abroad and returned due to home sickness.

As I said in my previous post, severe loss of form, reacting to a fan and arguing with him which was completely out of character, looking rattled as fuck against Chelsea.. And, well, accepting a deal to leave the club to move to a foreign country when he previously left Atletico because his family was home sick abroad. It could all be coincidental, but to me there has been something going on with him

Where did I mention anything about the rumours regarding his extra-marital activities? Is the burglary at his home not a personal issue as and of itself? It could certainly warrant him wanting to leave if his family don't feel safe in the area. There could also be other issues going on behind the scenes that involve neither of these things. There's clearly something up with him.

It seems like something has happened with Trippier behind the scenes, the signs have been there a while - leaving the England camp, his proceeding massive drop off in form, the argument with the fan.. As hard as it is to take, it's entirely possible he's asked us to find him a move. He's shown in the past that he's willing to make sudden career changes for personal reasons.

Would obviously be mental to let him go. At 33, no club is going to make an offer that matches the value of his influence and leadership, as well as how vital he is in our system. I'd rather see pretty much any other player leave, except for maybe Joelinton. Pretty jarring how much this transfer window has felt like an Ashley-era one like, complete contrast to the last few.

He had a few good moments and a handful of half decent games, and that's probably about as much as I can really say about him. The definition of a forgettable player. Was surprised to see how many games he'd played for us tbh.

I think this is absolutely the case. Pope is very good at "sweeper keeping", and it's definitely one of Dubravka's weaknesses. In his first few games back in the team, it was exploited massively, and since then we have visibly played with a deeper line.

Obviously this kind of thing can happen against a team like City. I understand some of the frustration at the second half performance though, the issue is that it's a continuation of what we've done all season - get into a good position then just try to to dig in, and ultimately fail to hold on. Our ball retention is seriously poor, it's no wonder we're knackered when we're constantly chasing the ball and being moved across the pitch. We need to pull something out of the hat this month in the transfer market, even if it's a couple of loans. We are absolutely desperate for a midfielder who can actually plug gaps on transition and has a bit composure on the ball.

Gordon was back on the pitch strolling around in the centre, he had ages to get back into position. The issue was that Burn got sucked inside despite us having plenty of bodies in the centre. Actually watch the replay back instead of being condescending, maybe.

It's a free kick for me, but there was plenty of football played afterwards like, defending was extremely poor and that should be the narrative.

PIF won't want to weaken their own league. Unless a player is actively pushing for a move, I don't think it's just an open market for us.

Has that been confirmed or just conjecture? The first two points I mean

How can we reject bids for Bruno if he has a release clause?

They were shite. We came into the game rattled, nervy, fatigued, on our worst run of form for ages, and yet they let us play at walking pace for most of the 90. Derby aside, you'd expect a lower league team to have given us a real working today and got the crowd behind them.

The "foul" wasn't a free kick imo. Would be annoyed if that was given against one of our defenders, it's just on the right side side of strong defending for me.

I've never really understood what Ashworth does to get the credit he receives. Brighton already had much of their framework in place before he went there, and have coped fine in his absence. And as was mentioned above, most of our best signings were also either made or already being pursued prior to his arrival. Not saying he's shite and I'm sure the hype is there for a reason, but in terms of our success last season, his input can only have been absolutely fractional at best.

This is something Howe will have to adapt to though if he is to take the club a level further. You don't get much time on the training ground once you're fighting on all fronts, so the limited coaching time you do get has to stick. Obviously it helps if you also have better/more intelligent players who need less coaching.

Fair enough the Bournemouth game we had injuries, but the team we had out was more than good enough to do a job against them like. The only other team they had beaten to that point was Burnley. The other games (Milan, Brighton, Wolves) are subjective, but we were backs to the wall in two of them and the wolves game turned on its head when their best player went off, before that we were under the cosh too. The point is, Shef United aside we have obviously been unconvincing away from home. We have 5 points on the road and have conceded 20+ goals, it's not some outlandish statement and not all of this can be attributed to the injury crisis given that the home form hasn't mirrored it.

Were they though? Milan, Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves (until Neto went off), Dortmund were all very poor performances before the injury crisis really kicked in. Can only remember us playing well against Shef Utd (obviously) and we were "okay" against West Ham who mainly sat back. We've set up differently on the road to how we do at home all season - we're much deeper, more passive, the full backs don't push on, the striker is isolated, there is no intensity etc. Could just be a mentality thing since we don't have the crowd behind us I guess, but I think it's at least partially instructional.

I think that's partially true, but the away form in particular this season is worthy of criticism, taken in isolation and disregarding what happened last season. We have 5 points away from home, second worst in the league, and one or two games aside, the performances on the road since August have been shocking - that is obviously not good enough and needs solving, but we are just taking the same approach every week. We may be limited in player choices but we don't have to be backs to the wall for 90 minutes struggling to keep a hold of the ball - that just adds to the fatigue if anything. Anyone who's played football knows how difficult it is chasing the ball constantly. I don't think he should be under pressure, but he definitely shouldn't be immune from criticism.