Raconteur

Just reading that article - he left Celtic in March (just after Lennon left). So... he's the guy that oversaw the time Celtic when from unchallenged champions of Scotland to also-rans?

I don't know that we can read too much into his departure from Celtic - much as I love Aussie Ange, he's a bit of a control freak with a tiny splash of "This town only needs one sheriff"... EDIT: Also, we can't credit him with signing Furuhashi, given Postecoglou had been watching him in the J-League

Ex-Reading DoF on a short-term contract. There are people underwhelmed in another thread, but if it's just until the Liverpool guy is available, then at least we've got someone in for January

No wonder you've got such a weird take on Joelinton if that's what you took from what I said. Don't be such a relentless knob and come back to reality

Leeds, as you say, but Watford are also pretty vulnerable and Brentford are an injury or two away from being seriously exposed. Plus Norwich and Burnley - there's a lot of dross that we should rise above after the transfer window.

Righty-o, got you now. No clean slate

He's asked to play a Kante role, and you're pissed he didn't put in a Mount-like performance? Okay...

1) A good performance against Liverpool 2) City, despite their dominance, only put two past Man U - they don't always turn dominance into goals (but, Tuesday...) 3) It might get called off due to the rona That's it, I'm out of positives

The director from the local am-dram society must have been in the crowd - the way Dean wrote down bookings before flourishing the yellow, glorious flowing movements, clearly trying to win a role

We tried to start a "Lerma to the Toon" rumour earlier in the week - is he still playing well?

Absolutely; the team I started this thread with was a 4-5-1/4-3-3 - however, Eddie seems fond of three at the back

I like the idea of trying Almiron at wingback, but I don't know if Salah and TAA is the best first test. For the same reason, Ritchie simply cannot play at wingback against Liverpool

Outrageous generalisation - trackies 100% of the time to protect the knees.

I guess my response is that I don't really buy into conspiracy theories (like refs trying to relegate us, or others...), I can easily believe that the PL would take the opportunity to send us down. In corona times, the rules are whatever the rulemakers say what they are

Really don't want the season suspended while we're still in the drop zone - I'd certainly be changing my relegationmeter vote if it were to happen!

Trippier

There's a piece in The Athletic about us conceding six pens this season. It includes this 'speaks for itself' comment: Alarmingly, he is the only player in the entire Premier League to have conceded more than one penalty in 2021-22, and he has given away three.

Conversation over

Ritchie on Friday morning, rocking back and forth while Clark mutters "I've seen some things, man"

Pretty sure it was mentioned in this thread his contract expires in 2023?

Probably my favourite non-Toon player of the last decade. In the top handful the PL has seen

We currently have zero players near the England squad, hopefully getting one in soon. Wonder how many we'll have by the time the World Cup rolls around?

Yes, and I'd imagine there was interaction when Howe went to Atleti for learning sessions during his managerial hiatus. There's a lot of reasons to believe this is on

People talk about the Big Six as if they’re etched in stone - but in the PL era we’ve had the Arsenal-Man Utd duopoly, and a Big Four. I’d argue the Big Six doesn’t even work as a monolithic entity any more, with a Big Three and three other Big Clubs fighting to cling on to their revenue streams. And who knows, in a few years, it might be a Big Four again that includes us?