Chris_R

That's why I placed Shearer higher, he could do anything with a free kick - Curlers, net busters, close in, 30-yarders. He had great variety and was a bit of a combination of Robert and Solano in that respect even though he was clearly not quite as good at either bit as them. You'd never think Solano might knock it in from 30 yards and with Robert 20 yards often felt too close provided the wall was set up well. Shearer was always a danger, so if you gave Shearer, Solano and Robert 100 Fks from various points I'd not be surprised if Shearer beat them both. All great strikers of the ball though and a fun hypothetical.

Early days in his time with us, but it'd be interesting where people think he ranks alongside our other decent FK takers... Trippier Shearer Robert Solano Ryan Taylor? Shit player but he could hit a ball Emre Liam O'Brien - Showing my age a bit now but he was always a good bet from anywhere inside 30 yards Philippe Albert - Remember him taking a cracking one vs Man U in the League Cup, time is dulling my memory on how often he took them though, I suspect it wasn't much given the other options we had Probably missed someone really obvious. I'd have Trippier at the top of that list based on what I've seen so far, think that's roughly the order I'd put them in based on a quick think. There has been a real dearth of talent in this regard for a long time at the club though. You could argue for Shelvey after Leeds, but before that he's done nothing from set pieces even though you'd think he should have that in his locker based on his long-range passing.

It's almost as if their desire to watch a sport they enjoy means they can, for a couple of hours, forget about the regime who runs it and just be entertained. Who'd have thought such a thing was possible?!

I don't care if they come up. Now we're a competent football club, bring it on. Be good to play them twice a season without fucking Pardew and Ashley running the show. In terms of probability though, they could finish anywhere this season. They're clearly not great, but the championship is open enough that they could get a playoff space. Similarly they could sink and fight in the bottom half again. We'll just have to see.

All the Man U fans think he's shit and want him out the side. So no thanks.

Good. We'll take £100m please.

Where did I say we should or would do that? I was just answering your question, he won't hang around long if we're not in Europe. I don't think any of us doubt that.

Bruno?

Redknapp was undoubtedly a good manager, but clearly dodgy as hell and a bit of a wide boy which doesn't exactly do much to enhance his reputation. That said I've met him briefly at a petrol station a few months back and he came across really well, and everyone else I know who's met him (he used to do charity work for a company who shared our building, so that's quite a lot of people) say the same - that he's a really decent bloke. So since he's finished with football I've revised my opinion on him upward quite a bit.

Yes I figured they were discounting WF on that basis, the fucking oddballs.

I mean I'm sure their display was great, but that last bit's just an outrageous, provable fucking lie, isn't it?

It's difficult to hold a club to ransom when they'd rather not sell anyway. "I know you said you want £40m, but if you don't take £25m we'll walk away, we really mean it!" "Erm, bye then?" It's not a tactic that's likely to have a great deal of success. As we're perhaps finding.

Let me save you the bother... "Saudi is worse than Dubai" "It's OK for the mags, so why shouldn't we?" "We're not actually 'owned' by them, they just invest in one of our owners, it's not the same"

Anyone posted it over on there? Would love to see their reaction.

I'm a big fan of his generally because he's our best attacking outlet and he was great v Forest. I'm not going to get too annoyed at a flair player having a bad game. I was glad he got booked for diving though. Hopefully it discourages him from trying that shit again.

That was terrible. We created nothing, absolutely nothing over 90 minutes. I don't recall even getting excited once during that.

Seb is their Giggs. Exactly the same.

Never mind aliens, I'm yet to be convinced there's intelligent life on Earth.

Given that we're likely to be pushing for a top half, maybe European place this year, and definitely looking to build to assault the top 6 in the coming seasons, I cannot imagine for a single minute that any of the top 6 will lend us anyone. I mean there's nothing wrong with asking because you never know, I just hope we've got a better plan than that behind the scenes.

I mean at least part of that could be that we have signed nobody since June.

I mean I don't doubt that's accurate, but how come teams like Everton seem to be able to just do whatever they want? Commercially they're not ahead of us by any meaningful amount.

However good Almiron looks, he'll need replacing unless he can develop some end product. He had none of that on Saturday. I say this as someone who is desperate for him to come good, and has felt like this since he joined. But time is running out for him, he needs to (quite literally) start delivering.

Would absolutely love Pacqueta. Just seems insane not to really, if he's available for the alleged price and if he is keen on the move.

Similar goalscoring prowess though.

Our insistence on trying to buy £50-60m players for £30-40m really seems to have no end in sight. Not saying Gordon is worth that, just that's what Everton will want, and so we'll just waste another week before getting told to fuck off.