Gallowgate Toon

Quite like him wider left but he's definitely more suited to a central role than ASM. His game is naturally more about quick touches and interchanges. As long as he's not on the right.

He's got a decent right peg, like; a couple of lovely deliveries today.

I think this might be 4-1-4-1... Darlow Murphy Lascelles Fede Lewis Schar Fraser Hendrick Mig ASM Wilson

His direct contribution has improved this calendar year and may well get better with an actual functioning striker to feed... But we all know he brings other things to the table. He can take a man on, can make excellent runs behind defences, open up opportunities for others, he wins us set pieces, and he works hard too. It's really not hard to work out why people would much rather he started games.

After all his shite about wanting to get on the front foot, he's still brought players in much more suited to the counter game. Keep the team compact, get ASM, Fraser, and Almiron buzzing about behind Wilson, and hope for the best. Anybody sane can see Andy Carroll just isn't made to start games in 2020 - he's an impact sub at most.

Looked sharp so far this season.

Class tbh

I think it's fair enough to argue that Rafa did a good job with the quality of players at his disposal, and that his managerial skills were very restricted by the transfer budget that we were operating with. What gets a bit irritating is the retrospective idea that the football he produced was in any way entertaining, even in the latter stages. The football in second half of both Prem seasons was pretty good, like. Far, far better than anything served up last season.

Good result, played well. Really like Wilson, style reminds me of a cross between Ba/Remy/Beckford.

Well done, he's #13.

Don't think this will make the deal happen, like, but it'd be fun just to fuck shit up a bit with the PL at Ashley's expense.

Not that he could get any worse but I think he'll have a better season this year, if we manage him well (lol). Get some confidence coming off the bench and playing anywhere in the 3 behind Wilson - he's much more suited to that sort of position rather than leading the line. Possibility he could play in a front 2 at times as well.

Good. Let's hope he can stump up some Rondon-like figures and scrape us through the season!

Murmurs of the 3 signings has actually piqued my interest more than I thought they would, considering I've so rarely thought about NUFC since the takeover news was announced. I'm cautious of Fraser & Wilson in that they've both only really had one standout season in the PL but they've both been prominent players in a Bournemouth team that did play some genuinely entertaining football going forward. Not sure how much more productive we'll be considering the systems will still be crap but it should at least be more interesting than some of the absolute dross we were served last season (patches of ASM and, to a lesser extent, Almiron aside).

doesn't have the composure or awareness to play the role imo, i guess if you're putting most of the play out wide through Fraser & ASM and allowing Almiron to ghost onto things it might work but he's not going to do the playmaker role Bringing ASM into the middle causes the same issue HBA had there - he's better picking it up in space and gaining momentum. Almiron can actually be a pretty smart player, his game is more naturally suited to quick lay-offs and touch passing which is rather what I'd have a #10 doing the majority of the time. He's also got some pretty decent off the ball movement if Shelvey is going to be playing regularly.

Thought Almiron looked quite handy at #10 in some games over what was a fairly small sample of games. With some more pace & movement around him then I think he could be pretty useful.

That's my feeling as well. Premier League aren't blameless, and their handling of the situation (particularly communication) has been awful, but they aren't the main reason this failed. The Saudis have made it impossible to wave through at almost every step, every time it seemed close something new came out. Personally, I think the most logical explanation is that the PL have strung them along to try and get some things for their own gain and have never had any willing to put this deal through. If they were that terrible to deal with in a real, legit negotiation then they'd have been rejected much earlier.

Is beoutq genuinely shut down now, or has it just been reskinned?

Back-and-forth isn't a bad thing, surely? Shows a willingness to compromise rather than flat-out refuse.

#womanchester was the turning point in him becoming the absolute mess he now is.

I'm pretty sure the two lawyers said the PL process couldn't start if terms of agreement hadn't been signed by both parties?

Tbf to him after having re-read his initial tweets and then his responses to various people. He seems to be referring to the media's indulgence of the cans meme, rather than the fans themselves excitement over it. I still feel like he's taking his argument to extremes but it does seem to be meant in a different way to how most have initially taken it. I was more referring to the other week where he was basically saying people deserve to be shamed. He might be right, but telling people they're shit for having a flag in their Twitter name (don't condone) likely isn't going to get him what he ultimately wants. Just feels very similar to the wall shouting politics has descended into.

Delaney has good points but has probably just been saying the same thing for too long so doesn't really consider how best to communicate and get the audience he needs on-side. A bit like many political journalists with Brexit. On the face of it, shaming fans on Twitter seems a bit of a waste of time of his cause, and I can see why that comes across that it's more about him than what he's trying to fight.

Even though I still don't believe it, I'm starting to feel fucking emotional

He's a poor athlete now; what's he going to be like in 3 years!? Would've potentially taken another year on him as a squad option while we phased him out but 3 years is a pisstake.