timeEd32

Noble is such a dick.

Good awareness from Atsu, thought he would definitely shoot. And great ball by Merino.

GET IN!!!

Ayew got kicked in the head by Merino (unintentionally). Think his day is done.

Would need to see it again but pretty sure it was deflected. Should have been a corner.

Ugh, would feel sick if that was us. Probably good that happened though, Bournemouth likely to be one of our main rivals this season.

Yeah, he's invested to get us in the Premier League or keep us there when desperate because he wants the PL money, the exposure, the free advertising. He's in a different place now than he was in 2009 and I just find it unlikely he'd sell us at a loss. I think the only way you can think he would is if you believe this is all out of incompetence. I think there's a lot of that but there's also a level of vindictiveness and spite. I think his only exit path is to profit massively from a sale, otherwise we'll drift along aimlessly for the foreseeable future.

The one thing I'm becoming convinced of is he won't sell us just because we've gone down and stayed down. I think he'd prefer to let the club rot away than sell us at a loss, which he would need to if we were in the Championship or lower. I think our best, and maybe only, chance of getting rid of him is to stay in the Premier League and hope someone really rich decides to make a go of it.

Agree, they also didn't have Antonio against Man Utd. They are much better with him involved. I'd be shocked if we kept a clean sheet so we're going to need to score multiple goals to win. If we can't do that at home against this defense we are in a lot of trouble.

That's basically free in today's prices. I realize he'll be on fairly significant wages, but well worth a gamble at that price.

Yeah, that's dreadful. I assume that's from the Chronicle.

Yeah, but it's like Carroll being 35m because of what Liverpool got for Torres. Obviously on a ridiculous scale.

Understatement of the year.

For a billionaire he's pretty dim. I have a President I'd like to introduce you to One of the few backwards steps we could make as far as our owner goes.

I'm confused, he was linked to Chelsea in May. Everton and West Ham a few weeks ago. One article had a quoted price of £15m. How did it end up between us and Atalanta? And I assume he's not going to be that expensive? The descriptions of him sound exciting though and would give us a lot of flexibility.

If we suddenly have 15m to spend, the first third of it should be going to Napoli for Reina.

Why?

We have no match winners in this team. No attacking players that can make a goal out of nothing (maybe Atsu can become that but he's a long way off on today's evidence) and certainly not a keeper that is going to save everything (like Krul vs. Spurs however long ago that was). Even with no new additions I have no doubt we'll get a lot better as the weeks go by (as long as Rafa's here), but there's a lot of work to do.

My bi-annual "how the fuck is a professional sporting event in <insert year> not broadcast at all?"

The difference is it's a bit easier to deal with shit talking from someone who actually accomplished something in the game.

It's obvious he reads the game really well. He's going to need some time to adjust to the league, but I think once that happens, he shakes off some rust, and settles his nerves he'll be a solid player for us.

Merino convinced him to not punt it long once and then three passes later it got back to him and he booted it into the sky. He has no redeeming qualities aside from the occasional reaction save. I feel like a broken record but it's criminal we haven't upgraded this position. Keepers are ridiculously affordable in this market.

Everyone needs to take a couple steps back from the edge.

I'm ready for the Joselu era to start.

On what planet is that a booking?