clintdempsey

Bit the bullet and ordered a DHgate special. Home kit with Bruno G on the back. I’m a mess. ?

Don’t get me wrong. He’s a good player. Just not…super exciting in my opinion. There’s just something to be said for a “wunderkind” from abroad from my perspective. ?

Another one for the ”spoiled tag”. I’m not super excited by any of them three. ? There must be cheaper/more exciting alternatives in Europe? If the papers are to be believed (I know) we’re more than a tad PL-leaning at the moment.

Ibanez loves a yellow card. Made a few quid on him last season.

I've no issues at all with the owners taking their time getting bodies in and I do trust them. I also happen to think that we will fill the attacking positions before the window closes in on way or another. All I'm saying is that should the window close today we haven't done "enough" to keep the momentum going IMO. And as @SiLvORsaid I WANT more. The only communicated stuff about ambition is from when the takeover went through and some snippets from a couple of conferences here and there. And it doesn't seem to be "Finishing 10th - 14th". But hey, I maybe wrong. My point is we have a great opportunity to grow and build something really special. And we probably will need to take a shortcut or two along the way. In no way am I advocating unreasonable signings or throwing XX amount of extra millions on players. Squadwise we've upgraded our GK and CB department so far this summer. Hopefully there will be a few attacking signings as well. The foundation is there and we're starting to have a professional setup after so much time of neglect.

I don't consider myself insane or on the wind-up (but I guess that's not for me to decide ). All I'm saying is that should the window close today we have some gaping holes in the squad which should have been fixed. A striker and a winger is really, really needed and if we could somehow sneak a midfielder in as well that'd be an awesome window. That's not taking anything away from the work put in during the January window or the signings made so far. It would be nice though to miss out on the "frustrated at exorbitant prices"/"in line with FFP"-stories that seem to come up with every link. Hopefully we are just keeping our cards close to our chest and will get the required business done. It's not so much the final position in itself that's important. It's more how we look during the season, how we treat the cups and so on. We have a great opportunity to build something special here and ride the wave of good will from the takeover and the second half of the season. Momentum is key and I'd hate to lose that.

I agree. But the noise coming out of the club (if true) isn’t exactly building hype for the “project” either. If we won’t be flexible on transfer fees and won’t be flexible on wages for free transfers (for example) it will take a VERY long time to keep up let alone overtake the other clubs in the top 7-8. No one else seems to care an awful lot about FFP but maybe we’re going for Last Man Standing Trophy Football Edition? My point is that we can’t haggle over every deal (not that I have an idea about any of this). But there’s still a long way to go before the window closes. The positions have to be filled and I have no problems with not paying 60-70 million for each but surely there has to be alternatives out there who are better than the current options? ?

It’s a bit shitty with all these reports of us being frustrated and players being overpriced blah blah blah. Our new owners have done a splendid job this far but if we don’t strengthen in attacking positions they will have failed this summer IMO (that in itself does not make the business we’ve done poor or bad but on the whole). You don’t hear talk of other clubs pleading poverty (except for Barca who seem to be buying players anyways ?) four times a week. It’s a tad embarrassing IMO.

I feel spoiled saying that Harrison (to me) seems like a boring signing. Coupled with Sesko and Paqueta on the other hand. Sign me up. ?

It’s under “Upcoming” for me.

Cmore will have the game on at 16:00 for us in Sweden as well. Nice!

Paqueta would be dreamy AF. He’d cover the right side of the three and also would be able to do a job out wide as well. Seems like a no-brainer if we can get it done.

Kit looks lush. ? Nice to see ASM releasing the ball early and Miggy with two well taken goals. Can’t wait for the season to start proper tbh.

I got kicked out. Started over at number 27 373...

People in line doesn't half take their time purchasing.

6750. Yay.

No worries mate. I’ve no reason not to believe you or your info and I could see if happening as well. However, I'm coming in strictly from a marketing angle and I’d argue that they should do better. And most likely could as well. But I’ve no idea about their commercial nous, after all the main people at the top of the club are finance types. And I would be a bit disappointed if they couldn’t come up with an OK solution for a year or two while we build and hopefully climb the table. After all, there’s absolutely nothing anywhere that says we HAVE to sign multi-year deals?

That’s most likely bullshit. Neither of us on here have a clue on how to call this. I’d bet that it’s all about presenting it in the right way. If we can build a case as to how and why our sponsorship is worth XX million pounds there’s not a chance in hell that the PL can reject it.

Wow, condescending much? As I said, I really don’t give a crap who the sponsors are. Scratch the surface enough of 99.9% of the Fortune 500 companies and there’s bound to be dirt somewhere (and in a lot of cases Saudi dirt at that). But again, from a brand-building perspective they’d surely want a nice brand attached to the kit. There are shitloads of gullible people out there after all.

From my perspective it’s not that much of a concern who’s the sponsor or not. What I do feel though - from a marketing and brand-building perspective - is that there are probably about 4-5 000 better brands to be affiliated with than a betting firm. It would be a stupendously easy win for the new owners to get in a ‘good and pleasant’ brand as shirt sponsors. After all, PIF have invested in a shitload of different companies. I would not bet against a clean-tech company of some kind - someone mentioned Lucid Motors which is a good shout.

Go figure. Even more likely to be bullshit then. On top of the pic being a badly done fake/mock-up. ?

I’ve honestly not seen enough of Botman to know if he’ll be a miss if he signs for Milan. But I do have faith in both Eddie Howe and the rest of the hierarchy to get in a suitable alternative. IMO opinion there’s loads to like about him but I’d rather have a bit more recovery pace to be honest. The PL can be a brutal place for the ‘slower’ defenders.

I don’t think that is a legit pic. As some of you’ve said, the watermark’s placed under the FUN88-logo and (in my eyes at least) the green is a different shade of green from the collar, arms and crest. Most likely BS in other words.

Really enjoyed that half. Best we’ve looked in a long, long time. High tempo, frenetic pressing and everyone seems really up for it. Can’t wait for next season when Eddie’s had a whole pre-season and a few more signings integrated as well.

Must say I’m a tad disappointed watching this. Very energetic and aggressive first 10 mins in each half. Other than that we’ve been second or third best all over the pitch. Haven’t really been super solid either with all these chances they’re creating. Fingers crossed for a final push.