brummie

Pickford.

The defending for Brighton's second was absolutely world class fucking rubbish. Brilliant stuff.

Just watched the highlights, Bournemouth were outstanding. They would have beaten just about everyone today. They were like that against us, got a 96th minute equaliser but tbh they were unfortunate to have been losing in the first place. They're tenacious as fuck too, what a great job that guy is doing.

He won't be going for anything unless it's insane, mind blowing money - as in, stupid money. Signed a new contract a few months ago.

Maatsen has had Digne in front of him playing better than he ever has - that's the idea, two quality players in each position. We've played 30 matches already this season, and he's (Maatsen) featured in at least 20 of them.

Not really. Look at Cameron Archer and Philogene, both home grown players since they were children, both of whom we have now sold twice. Archer - sold him to Sheffield United for 19m, they paid 9m up front with the agreement that if they went down, they could send him back and not pay the other 10m. They sent him back, so we sold him again, to Southampton for £15m. £25m for selling the same player twice. Philogene - sold him to Hull for £5m with an agreement we get a 30% discount on what anyone else will pay if they want to sell him in future. Ipswich offered them £18m for him, we took the option and brought him back for 13m and are now selling him again for £20m - to Ipswich, which is kind of funny. Diego Carlos is a Gerrard signing, so no big surprise there, it's not like the same manager bought him and moved him on, he's clearly just not up to it. Onana has done very well but been injured, Maatsen has done very well coming in for Digne. The only place you could really point and say we should have replaced him is probably Diaby. The reason he's looking at Malen, I think, is Bailey's form has fallen off a cliff this season, and Malen is a bit of a Bailey / Diaby hybrid so it makes sense. The big hole, really, in the transfers is at right back. Cash just isn't good enough, Nejdelkovic looks really promising but isn't really ready yet, and if he plays Konsa there, it's not his natural position (though he does OK there) but that also forces him to play Carlos as the right sided CB. The thing to remember is, all of the above is done whilst pushing PSR to the absolute limit. It's absolute fucking horseshit that it means we're forced to wheel and deal like this in the first place.

I want to buy one of those black shirts.

I hate this fixture. I used to hate it when i lived in Newcastle, too. It never went well. It's just one of those places where I always think "it's going badly" with no reference whatsoever to league form. Having said that, it's going to be a draw. 2-2. Get on that straight away, that's some serious free money for you. We are slowly emerging from the first rough period under Emery. We've started to recover from some injury problems and had Onana and Kamara together for the first time in ages yesterday. It's not a continual upwards progression, there will be ups and there will be downs (I said that on here re you a while back, and got shot down with 'that's easy to say when you're doing well', but I still believe it, and do so now it is us coming out of a rough patch). That goes for both sides, so who knows how it will pan out.

he has been out injured for a while. He’s done very well. He does get caught up in the “we really needed a right back so why have we spent so much money on him?” argument which is about PSR limitations. Notably as Kamara was out so long, we didn’t get the chance to play Onana and Kamara as the defensive duo until now. Kamara is a fantastic player and him alongside Luiz was a big reason we did well last year. We sold Luiz (right decision) and Onana was to fill that role.

This is a really great season to be good but inconsistent. We've just come through a ropey as fuck patch* but are still up there, your trajectory seems the same. There isn't any real consistency beyond Liverpool and maybe Chelsea, so it's all to play for. * actually, may still be in it tbh

because of the absolute clangers for their goals. The first was a tap in anyone would have scored.

nah. We were the better side by a country mile. two absolutely brainless defensive moments almost tanked us. Men against boys otherwise.

The impact of PSR can be seen with us at the moment. If we were not (for another window, apparently) so shackled by the constraints we’d be spending money on better players to move on now. We’ve got owners with plenty of money who want to do it but are not allowed to. It is a textbook example of how the system protects the entrenched six (well, five plus the one with the big money spinning ground). The only way we can compete is to raise more commercially and on match day. So now we’ve got endless commercial and GA+ ticket options - which means hoping someone will pay 700 quid to watch us play Southampton - meaning seats unsold whilst people can’t buy tickets at normal prices. The other option is to extend the ground which was the plan until the new commercial guy realised that’s minimum 120m plus to rebuild just behind one goal. So that’s on hold, we have Comcast (huge stadium builders) as part owners and no doubt at some point we’ll end up in a new stadium, probably somewhere else north of the city. So English football loses another of its traditional stadiums and becomes even more like the NFL (only the NFL is more of an even playing field. Imagine that). it’s a well intentioned mess.

Eze and Wharton both off crocked for Palace.

Can't wait to see Arsenal twats all over twitter later tonight going on about it being some sort of conspiracy worthy of national tragedy that they've got a load of injured defenders.

Without having watched you a huge amount this season, nine games into the season is absolutely nothing, like.

There is no way that is a penalty

I like it.

I see someone like Morgan Rogers and what Emery has brought out of him, and I wonder how many other players are, of similar quality but we never get to see it because they're managed by Steve Bruce or Steven Gerrard or some other fucking chancer. To think Boro fans couldn't believe we gave them 14m for him.

Yes, to be fair, it does make beating Bayern Munich much easier. *wink*

Witchcraft shall not defeat us. Also - Boubacar Kamara back on the pitch, and Mings back on the bench.

This Champions League is different level, I am starting to think we might concede a goal at some point.

He is astoundingly good.

We've made tons of money by selling academy products in recent years. Grealish 100 everyone knows about but then also Chukwuemeka 20, Kellyman 19, Iroegbunam 9, Archer 19 (and then again the year after), Aaron Ramsey 15m. Just read we have the 4th most proftable academy in England, and the 19th in the world. It makes a massive difference - even Man City who seem immune to financial concerns understand how important it is, and do it.

Exactly what I was thinking, he's such a fucking cunt. "I'M A FUCKIN SCIENTIST OF FOOTBALL ME, LOOK AT ME, NEVER SATISFIED, ME, LIKE"