ponsaelius

Christ, talk about acting fast.

A lot was made of Napoli's player turnover during the summer and there's no doubt they lost some huge characters but I actually think they've freshened things up well at probably the right time. Khvicha is a huge upgrade on the 2022 version of Insigne, Simeone is a proper backup for Osimhen, Kim seems a good replacement for Koulibaly. Fabian Ruiz is the one loss on paper but tbh he never convinced me and I think Spalletti's teams look better with the energy and physicality of players like Anguissa in midfield. Ndombele if he ever sorts himself out could be a good player in Italy.

Kvaradona on flames

Watching Mudryk last night for Shakhtar and I think we should drop everything on him as our wide player signing. Move Maxi across to the right.

Something light hearted for the thread

I highly recommend people go and watch some non-league footy some time. It's good to detox from the PL for a number of reasons - but the lack of any TV cameras or VAR is absolutely delightful. A goal that is offside goes in, fans and players who had a clear view have a whinge and a shout at the liner, everybody else is non the wiser. The game moves on seconds later. It makes the idea of sitting around looking at a slowmo replay from multiple angles to find any stupid fucking reason to disallow a goal seem as nonsensical and detached from the sport's soul as it is.

Gonna be a frustrating season if we keep getting injuries to creative and attacking players. Won't be as bad as we started last season but probably won't ever have the kind of form that we did in the second half. Overall can envisage a marginal improvement on last year's league finish - getting into the top half. Think it's a lot more calming if you accept the reality of our squad depth now and embrace this as a transition year rather than getting too down about frustrating games like that. I just hope we have a really good crack at both cups.

Considering the context of being able to actually watch a slow motion video of the incident right in front of your eyes - it is genuinely the worst decision I've ever seen in my life.

Should have bought Toney instead?

Can't believe we allowed VAR into the fabric of the sport, so the useless cunts can look at a screen, and they still manage to then make that decision. It's an absolute disgrace.

What an absolute joke

Willock's been really disappointing. He's a player who looks better coming off the bench.

Really poor quality game. Kind of game where you need your £60 million striker to put away a 1v1.

Aye defo

I think we'll see a back 3 at some point definitely. That'll probably be the way to compensate for the loss of midfield depth. Did so away at Chelsea when we had a load of midfielders out.

We're going to have a problem again next summer in that only Ritchie and Dummett are out of contract (and Shelvey - although you'd imagine he triggers the auto-renewal when he returns from injury). We might also have Hayden and Hendrick back to deal with. It seems unfathomable right now but we really need the likes of Lewis, Manquillo, Murphy etc to positively contribute to the on-pitch effort this season and rebuild some of their market value so we could ideally shift them for even nominal fees next summer. The same also goes for Lascelles, Almiron, Wood, Longstaff who would probably be next on the chopping block.

We're already public enemy #1 in the league. The media frenzy after the perceived timewasting and antics this week has fed into that. This just ramps it up further. I don't think a siege mentality helps when we're still 2-3 years away from having a team good enough to compete at the top. I think we need to be quiet and calm rather than stoking the fires with comments like that - even if it is true. We obviously had interest in Gallagher, Pulisic, Maitland-Niles on loan this week and were basically told where to go. I wouldn't even mention it.

Just think it draws unwanted attention while everything he's done so far has been about quietly and confidently getting on with the job with decorum.

Honestly I'd rather he didn't come out with this stuff. I'm not sure it's productive in the long run to be whining - even if it's true.

I understand but I think it's clear that the club and/or Howe have no interest at all in stop gap signings on loans or frees. Any signing clearly has to be a long term move for the club - with loans requiring the potential to be made permanent. We'd clearly rather muddle on with what we've got and even play youngsters rather than sign a player for the sake of it.

Bondswell doesn't need to be registered as he's 20.

Based on what exactly? Played all his games in pre-season in the midfield 3, started there against Tranmere and he came on at Wolves for Willock. Liverpool is literally the only game where he has come on in a wide forward position.

Said it in the other thread but 8/10. We need quality over quantity to avoid re-buying and that's what we're doing. The shift from January is that we've started targeting a younger age profile too. 22 is about perfect to get players who are ready to step straight into the team as improvements but also have loads of room to grow. That gets an extra point from me. Marked down because we haven't signed a wide player - which is the weakest part of the team. Would be a 9.5 if we'd landed one of them of a similar profile.

Quality over quantity which is what we need. 8/10 for me. Would have been a 9.5 if we'd signed a wide player too. If we keep adding players of the age and quality of Botman/Isak every window, even if it's just 1 or 2, it's not going to take us too much longer to build a very strong XI and subs bench.

Whoops