ponsaelius

I mean they'd subbed off all their likely penalty takers. Poor that neither the forwards seem to volunteer to go up first.

I don't mind Sevilla winning it when they start in the competition, but dropping out in the CL groups and delivering it irks a bit more.

Load of defenders taking penalties, never going to end well.

You can see why Abraham has 8 league goals and Belotti 0. I'm amazed any striker even gets chances to score for Roma.

I respect Mourinho as a manager a lot but would never want him to manage my team.

This is gonna be carnage.

Have they? Not sure they've had a shot yet.

Alaves in 2001 was last one I think.

Haaland only played 24 games in the Bundesliga last year (even if fully fit throughout you still play four fewer than PL) and wasn't sole penalty taker like he has been at Man City. His goal rate is basically identical across the last two seasons.

With any London club you could simply include the real estate value of their stadium and training ground within an estimate in value. It doesn't seem so inflated if you consider it that way.

He absolutely screams Brentford with Toney's injury.

Not sure what kind of fee they'd ask for but I'd much prefer a move for Eze than Gallagher if it was possible. Think he'd slot in brilliantly into our current system and could play centrally or wide. Probably only the previous injury is a red flag. Tbh I'd probably even prefer him to Maddison.

I can definitely see that. In corporate and manufacturing industries getting your workspace/production layout wrong can have a huge affect on productivity. With football it's probably far more of a factor when you think about how crucial the intangible elements of team spirit, motivation and mentality are to a club's success. Leicester were a club where the success was built on being a smaller club punching above their weight. Think it shows the importance of getting the architecture of any new training facility right and that being biggest, most comfortable etc is not the only thing that matters. It's clearly not the only thing that has gone wrong at Leicester but it would be churlish to ignore it completely IMO as a factor.

I raised this a couple of weeks ago. It's really interesting to see their fans discussing the same points. Moving a training ground miles out of the city is not necessarily a good thing IMO - in that it can disconnect the players from the club. I definitely think there is an argument that has happened at Leicester. I don't think that will happen for us - all of the potential sites are within the city boundaries even at the rural edge. The cost of it has to be judged as slightly misjudged by Leicester too - especially since they were not able to sell their old training ground to help play for it (it is protected by a sporting covenant). Again I'm not sure that would be a major issue for us - as the cash cost isn't really an issue in the same way as long as it is not included in FFP calcs.

I don't think we'll keep Gillespie as third choice. Howe doesn't trust him enough to be that high in the pecking order IMO. He's out of contract this summer + he is not club HG.

Clark is out of contract. The other two I'd imagine another subsidised loan or paid off. Hayden had an agreed fee based on promotion. His injury problems perhaps make it unlikely they will buy for the agreed fee I reckon

FC Sudtirol beat Bari 1-0 in the play off semi final in Serie B. Still got a second leg to play and if through then they'll play either Parma or Cagliari in the final. That would be up there with the Luton story if they got up. Tiny club in German speaking part of Italy near Austrian border. Stadium only holds 5500, only came up from Serie C last season.

If you look at it that pot 1 is the 6 top champions + Europa and CL winners then it seems less unfair. IE that the 7th best league only gets a place in pot 1 through clearing (a bit like 7th getting a European place in England once the cups have been won by top 6 clubs). But in reality it is nearly always going to be the case that the CL winners have enough coefficient to be in pot 1 anyway.

Aye were both in the same group in Europa a few years back. While both fall in the MK Dons category for me in terms of opponent, they're probably up there near the top in cities I'd like to visit out of the potential draws. I've been lucky enough to already visit most of the cities in pots 1-3.

Miggy's goal Vs Fulham is probably the best, but there's something about it which means it just doesn't do it for me aesthetically. I voted for Maxi Vs Wolves.

Haaland and Mane are the exceptions but there's been quite a few Red Bull flops to the PL now. Both of those had an intimediary step before they went to a top PL club rather than direct. Keita and Werner at the expensive end. Leeds have had a nightmare with them - Augustin, Adams, Aaronsen, Wober etc. Not really a hit amongst them. Patson Daka at Leicester, Hwang at Wolves. All cost far more than their output. Minamino was on the cheap cos of a buyout clause but wasn't much cop either. RB clubs have a pretty distinct style of play and recruitment model that gives a platform for players to thrive but have enough money behind them that means asking for big £££ when they sell.

A creative attacking midfielder who can play wide, #10 and in a midfield 3 against weaker sides does sort of make sense. It's a profile we don't really have. Particularly if they can also shoot from distance and take set pieces. I don't watch much Germany football so don't know a huge amount about the Hungarian but from what I have seen he seems a bit more robust and physical than Maddison and more likely to adapt to our style of play. But Maddison has the advantage of already being PL proven.

Better wages?

150 million would be about what I expected. That should definitely get four quality players if spent effectively. Don't think we will actively try to sell any key players but also think the club would definitely be tempted to cash in on some if a team came and offered decent money for the likes of Maxi/Miggy/Murphy etc.

Yeah exactly The 20 million euros Spurs paid for Bentancur wasn't massively undervalued at the time, to be honest. He had been shite for Juve for a while and had definitely depreciated in value up to that point. Probably slightly under value but not hugely. I would definitely say Kulusevski being the more expensive of the two was reasonable.