leffe186

I think it’s natural tbh. Sometimes coming from outside I feel like I’m being the voice of reason telling people it’s ok, you’ve got a great manager and money, it’ll be fine. Then I look at how anxious I am about Arsenal’s spending, West Ham’s good buys etc etc. It takes time to recover from trauma . They’ll get there.

Holy shit that’s amazing.

Said it multiple times. Someone’s got to win it, and in the unlikely event of it not being Spurs I’d rather it was a club that I couldn’t give a shit about. Oh, so you got a free(ish) stadium and infinite money. Well done for winning. I’ve always hated Arsenal and Liverpool. Never hated Man U as much as a kid. As soon as Chelsea and Man City won the lottery then any gloating from their fans couldn’t hurt me.

Lest we forget, Spurs beat them home and away last year.

It’s like, he just does all of the basic football things that you’re taught as a kid/youth, but he does them about as well as it’s possible to do them. And he does all of them, with both feet and his head. He’s not fast but he’s not slow, he’s not tricky but he’s not clumsy. There’s a goal he scored earlyish on against someone in claret (West Ham? Burnley?) where he knew exactly what direction, bend and power he needed to get on a shot to squeeze it into the top corner. To get exactly that direction, bend and power he needed to contort his body in a very specific, awkward-looking way (a bit like Beckham used to do) and he just did it. It was so bloody impressive. Just feels like he’s basically made himself as good a footballer as he could possibly be with his talents - like Batty say, or Beckham tbh - by dedication and hard work.

This is sweet:

Was exactly my thought when I saw it. At least the bench is OK. Sort of.

The big question again is whether you can sustain this spending without CL. If they get CL this year then they have completely justified the gamble and they’re beautifully placed to capitalize. They’ll be able to re-sign the guys whose contracts are winding down as well. If they go yet another year without CL it’s going to be a real problem.

I predicted Arsenal third and I’ll stand by that. After tonight they have seven fairly easy games and they should be full of confidence. The one thing that cheers me up is that I look at their bench and it doesn’t look scary at all. One or two injuries will cause them serious problems, and then there’s their CM to consider.

No I agree, just pointing out that the huge sum involved means that it wouldn’t really affect Chelsea’s spending this window either way.

Nice little table:

Yup. Perhaps more so, given that PIF can actually pay that debt to Ashley while Boehly etc can’t pay the debt to Roman. The overriding point though is that if the debt doesn’t affect FFP then they can (for now) spend shit-loads. If things change and it does affect FFP then it’s effectively a £1.5bn loss which would dwarf any potential income…so they may as well spend whatever they like as it wouldn’t make a difference. They’d never be able to square income/loss over three years.

Was so confident that 2k was Sheffield Wednesday. Edit: didn’t realize there’d be a page of pish before this post. The badges on the previous page.

Leeds did sell Phillips and Raphinha.

Haven’t they lost a couple of their best players from last year though? Genuine question.

I seem to remember them saying on the “View From The Lane” podcast that wider context was also taken into account.

Not sure he’d be a regular for us under Conte. He’d be cover for the front three alongside Richarlison, because Conte doesn’t seem to want a player like him as one of the two CMs. General feeling at Spurs seems to be that the fans would love him to come but Conte isn’t interested, so that’s that. Allegedly Paratici suggested him a while back and Conte said no. He seems to want Zaniolo first, then maybe Paqueta. Don’t think we’re in for him unless our other guys fall through and Levy puts the thumbscrews on. Pity. We need homegrown players too.

This sort of stuff: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/62373108 “Help us rank this season’s shirts” No. Do some fucking work yourself. Get a kit designer, a fashion designer, a marketer, an old-school fan, a kid - whoever. Just don’t put it out to exactly the same army of people who always vote on this shit and usually do so on club lines. At least I might be mildly interested in what the first group might say. Couldn’t really give the slightest shit about the second group, and I certainly wouldn’t learn anything.

We’ve just put Defoe and Yaya Touré in a similar position. Tom Huddlestone was one of my low-key favourite players. I just love players who are so comfortable with either foot.

Used to go there with my Dad and his good friend John Ward (Watford fan). Park up in Bushey, hit the pub for a few and then the long walk to the ground. I loved the fact that you walked up to it through an allotment. Lot of good memories tbh. It’s cozy. Compact and bijou.

Wondering if Cucurella price will go up or down tbh.

“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Transfer Rumours”

They’ve got a better coach in a better position though. I certainly wouldn’t say their window’s been terrible. It’s been OK.

Forget which game it was (France?) but England were so good at the time wasting shithousing at the end.