Chris_R

The cartel will wise up to this. Chelsea kinda have, hoovering up all the youth in the world and trying to flip them for profit. They've gone to extemes though and fucked themselves a bit in the process but the intent was there and it might yet work out. And we've already had Man U take Ashworth off us. That'll be the next stage, that instead of buying our players for silly money they'll buy our recruitment teams and scouts. There's no long-term benefit in being held back financially.

These are features, not bugs. System is working as intended.

I don't think that's an over-reaction. Bruno, Tonali and Isak are all players who could play in any team in the world. That's not to say they'd improve any team in the world, but none of them would look out of place or out of their depth at elite clubs. To have 3 such players is a real boon and a sign of how far we've come and how much we're closing the gap on being described as an elite club ourselves. Add potentially Botman into the mix too and we're putting ourselves in a great position to compete. And THEN there's the "Already great but still improving" list of Gordon, Hall, Livramento. Genuinely exciting times.

Since you keep referencing page numbers as some kind of badge of honour / legitimisation of the existence of this thread, I guess you're saying Liverpool are 3x as big as Man U? Got it.

Sorry what, sold it to who? If it's to a third party, that absolutely stinks. Because if Arsenal can't / won't pay it and West Ham need it, someone's dodging a punishment here. That should be illegal, if that's what's happened.

I think the PL and even the cartel 6 like a Newcastle / Villa / Forest / Leicester occasionally being in the top 4. It allows the cartel to point at that team and say "look, the rules are working" and "anyone can succeed!" - which they can get lucky as a one-off but can't long-term because those very rules are designed to pull them back in again and give the 6 their massive advantage. Problem is that if Forest finish in the top 4, that'll be the 3rd year in a row that another one of the cartel has to miss out. We're also in with a shout which would make it even worse.

Trippier's too short to be a centre back, surely? No thanks.

No. None of them. That's not because I don't think any of them would improve us, they surely would. But fuck them. They're in a PSR hole, let them rot there. It's great to see and we shouldn't be thinking about helping them. Remember how they were over Lingard? They can eat shit. There's plenty of good players elsewhere.

This is the key. Dubs has looked great but has barely had to get his kit dirty for 4 games. If we just want someone who can play a bit on goal and we won't be facing any shots, you might as well play an outfielder there. Stick Miley in nets, he could do with a bit of game time and is good with his feet. Dubravka has shown in the last couple of years that when he needs to stop a shot, he can't. Lauding him for games where he's had almost no shots to stop is fundamentally flawed, and I doubt he'll have that luxury against Spurs who, despite being leaky at the back, are all-out going forwards. Whilst ball-playing is lovely, we need a keeper who can actually keep the ball out of the net too and I don't think Dubravka is that man.

Are you suggesting Zirkzee is a midfield powerhouse?

Re: Schar's card, I thought he took one for the team. They looked about to break, and he hauled their man back to stop it. I thought it was a clever foul, but a definite yellow that we had to take. Only seen it once and I'm 5 beers deep right now though, so maybe I'm wrong in my recollection.

What happened in Isak's interview? My dodgy stream cut off as soon as he spoke.

Harsh on Larne.

Yes, that was the point I knew we'd won. Part of me expected "8" to go up on the board and us to be under siege for the remainder, but that "3" just calmed me infinitely.

No. They've looked soooo much better since the first-half sub, think they've created everything of note since then. Not that that's much, but we've created nothing since.

Me too.

Couldn't give a solitary shit.

GET IN

Fair enough. Missed all that, been out all day and just logged in for the lineups.

What's this about, just general twitter hatred? If so, I hate Musk as much as anyone and hope he dies broke and miserable, but I still want the team lineup.

I'm no legal expert but I think it's that this place is moderated. Racist posts are taken down and racist posters banned. It's about the forum taking action, that's what keeps you safe. This place does that. Over there some of them have realised they'll all have to behave and change their ways, or the mods will have to do their jobs, or the forum will close. They don't like any of those choices.

Well they have to all stop being racist, homophobic bigots, or the forum dissolves. They're basically fucked.

He might be about to spearhead a second unfancied club to a top-4 finish in just 3 seasons....

Yes, if we sold Isak (IF - I don't think we want to or intend to, or that he is pushing to go) then we'd bring in someone fantastic. Probably a couple of players.

Yes it'll be tough, we're away against a massive club. They might well win but in my mind the aura, the spell they've had over me as a fan for 30+ years is broken. No longer am I writing the match off before kickoff and just waiting to see how many we lose by.