ponsaelius

Barkley looked incredible from their highlights last night Seems to be having a bit of an Indian summer as the main man. Fair play to Edwards for getting it out of him.

He should have hit it earlier into the corner so it was a mistake I'd say. However he did the same for his goal against Palace earlier in the season where he settled himself before finishing into the corner and it was the right decision that time.

Reasonably confident we've got a draw.

0.64 XG on that Longy chance Mate

9 minutes gan for a walk

This is horrific. But you can see what a difference having decent subs can make. We'd kill for options like Ramsey, Zaniolo, Bailey off the bench right now.

The injuries this season man.

Dare we say crock

We were on our way down the bottom of the stairs on 93 mins to leave when Guthrie's goal went in. Stood around at the exit in case of an equaliser. Madness when Cabaye scored.

Last year they varied between 19:15, 19:30, 19:45, 19:55 and 20:00. Personally I'm already in Yorkshire that week and a slightly earlier one would allow me to get back by public transport (if it's Blackburn) - so I'm pulling for a 19:15!

Announce new contract at end of window to distract from lack of new signings. It's like Ashley never left.

Exactly the case IMO. It would suggest they're worried about his long term durability if they were even entertaining it.

Onana is not really my kind of footballer but I think he's proven this season he's actually very good with a big upside.

Athletic are likely to be in the CL next season and their players are usually loyal. He will either stay or go to another big club with CL football.

Miggy out for MGW is a strong move even if it left us a bit short out wide. I'd get Minteh back if we could too, even at a small cost. We'd be overall stronger and younger and it would have brought forward a large amount of what would happen in the summer anyway.

That'll be nothing happening in terms of incomings then.

Until we have revenue streams to avoid it we definitely have to start getting solid fees for older players rather than letting them run down their deals and leave for nothing/next to nothing. That means cases like extending a player's deal to protect their value and moving them on when there is clear interest. Almiron really is a key case in point here. Obviously there also reaches a point where they have no value and there's basically no point selling the player - and you might as well then keep them for their offering on the pitch. Trippier would probably fall into that category if he didn't go this winter. But we definitely have to start making more sales at the right time otherwise we back ourselves into a corner.

I'm personally pretty excited if we're looking to have a massive rebuild in the summer like. Love this team and what they've done but the idea of reloading and going again with the operation we've got now is exciting.

Nah he definitely started in midfield, as Howe said it in his interview after the game that they were 'trying it out'. It was particularly weird considering we had Hall playing too but it was what happened.

In normal circumstances where we didn't have FFP and we had unlimited resources then I'd agree just refuse any bid until it got to stupid money. However our theoretical infinite resources are artificially limited by the restrictions in place. We need to sell players to keep moving forward and to keep signing players, otherwise we are going to be hamstrung. From an accounting perspective even a £20 million sale can unlock significant investment in the transfer market. This is why we have to consider selling aging players, even if they're influential like Trippier is. By the time next season starts he is 34. I'm convinced it would look like a good sale in hindsight if it went through, even if painful in the short term.

I disagree with this. MGW is definitely technically gifted and his game - first touch, ball carrying, dribbling past players, outside of the foot passing - is fundamentally similar to Paqueta. There's an argument that Paqueta is smoother and easier on the eye, but I'd have more faith in MGW in other positions due to being quicker. Both of them have the same deficiencies in terms of shooting IMO.

I'm not sure you could run a National League club selling tickets for less than £20 a pop. Most (if not all) at that level charge around that or more.

FFP means we can't do that though. We can't just let the likes of Almiron and Wilson run down their contracts down to leave for nowt. We have to extract value while we can like we did with Wood. It's frustrating and sad from a sentimental point of view but it's the way we are going to have to operate.

If Murphy had been the one fit and firing at the moment there would probably have been a market for him from other PL clubs and I have no doubt he'd have possibly been the one out of the door instead. People have to start to understand that the club will effectively be open to selling anybody on now to get the squad to where it needs to be and when the market is there we will be ruthless. FFP encourages it but we'd have probably done it anyway and it's how all well ran clubs operate. We cannot afford not to sell players. Any player hitting that 28/29 bracket where is at that prime point to go we will be open to sell. These kind of moves reduces the likelihood of Botman/Bruno/Isak needing to go at their peak.

I love the lad but if we can get an inflated fee for him at this stage of his career it's good business. In a years time there will basically be no market for him. People need to put the sentimentality aside and trust the club here IMO - they're operated shrewdly and ruthlessly.