Dandy Man

Been on Reims forum and general consensus seems to be that deal is too good to turn down but it would be a bad move for the lad's career at this stage. They also think we are rubbish so assuming they are a fairly knowledgeable bunch.

His agent gave us a decent deal for Trippier so only fair that we give a bit back

Will also be off to Oceania WC Qualies at end of March presumably?

Ambivalent about this, certainly not a blood pumper but needs be as needs must etc. 25m obviously high but fact that deal can presumably be finalised quickly when everyone else is seemingly determined to fuck us around and we are weakening a direct rival makes it bit more palatable.

Likely be same team that did well enough against Manure but without Wilson/Manquillo and with addition of Trippier, given Wilson only played 45 mins there and Murphy has looked reasonably lively lately, I don't think things are quite *that bad*, yeah it's not great to be going into it without a recognised ST and really don't want to see Ritchie coming in at LB but a 3-0 defeat is hardly a foregone conclusion either

Be worth it just for ASM to troll Romano on twitter tbh

One of his red cards was for this tasty tackle (also giving away a pen for good measure) https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/football/ligue-1/lens-reims-penalty-et-rouge-pour-ekitike-apres-un-coup-de-pied-au-visage_AV-202110010505.html

Kylian Mradgie, love it

At least ASM might pass to him anyway

Would've been similar levels of bed wetting if he'd signed for 40m+ and looked anything less than world class on debut anyway so at least that's avoided. Zagadou at Dortmund another gigantic left footed CB that was tenuously linked in Germany last week so be interested to see if that one resurfaces now.

Started against Morecambe yesterday anyway, looks painfully lightweight to me

Think the relative speed and ease with which Trippier signing got completed (and some of the other fancy names that have been thrown around) might have given false sense of how attractive an option we are for most players right now - Trippier was obviously very keen on coming back to the PL and especially to a team in North and that's worked in our favour - we won't have that working in our favour with many/any other targets. No amount of money can change fact that we are not a particularly attractive proposition to most players currently and selling clubs/agents will tend to want to hold out as long as possible to get the best deals, we are desperate for pretty much anybody and if we have to lower our expectations to get someone in door sooner rather than later then that should be priority given current predicament, they can still go after the more sexy targets in parallel but suspect we are likely to get dicked round till end of month and most will fancy going elsewhere if the option becomes available anyway.

For all he's been total gash it's a bit of a jump to assume that his rapid decline this season is purely down to having got his bumper contract so now he can't be arsed like, not saying its not the case but we don't know full story. The change in his demeanour between this season and last is night and day, looked like was thoroughly enjoying playing football here last season but has the vibe of a recovering alcoholic at his own mother's funeral this season.

Not crazy about Wood and definitely not at 17m but he can do a job in short term and we would've been getting likes of Kuqi in this situation in past so I guess it's progress of sorts

I think Shelvey tends to get off a bit light and escape criticism given the glaring deficiencies elsewhere and because he can pick a pass or hit a shot. But it is criminal the amount of times he does that hunched over shite pretending to want to close a man down when really he has no intention of doing so. If we are going to have him starting every game in that deep lying playmaker/quarterback role till end of season then it's not going to end well, has shown time and again he hasn't got the stomach for a battle.

Almost certainly bullshit but.. Linked to Suarez at end of season here: https://www.elnacional.cat/es/deportes/barca-bin-salman-estrella-newcastle-luis-suarez_692294_102.html

Did a relatively good job ploughing a lone furrow up front against Liverpool and was good against Manure, was shite today and very frustrating to watch. Does drag the whole team down when he plays like today but is also the only one in squad who is capable of creating something from nothing which creates a bit of a conundrum. Still no getting away from fact he's been consistently worse since Bruce left and some questions remain about his ability to function to same level when part of a wider coherent system rather than as focal point for any and all attacks.

Aye was probably a lot of good variance with the goal scoring run he went on but at least looked like he gave half a shit and wanted to be playing football, looks like a sorry mess at moment.

Looks a shell of the player he was at end of last season, so lethargic and disinterested. Body language looks terrible now too.

Whatever about the quality of the current squad they are still easily good enough to beat that opposition. Too many passengers in midfield and no focal point for attacks aside from speculative crosses with Cambridge having nine men back defending. Current version of ASM a dead loss, takes ten touches and runs into dead ends.

Good job Trippier likes challenges anyway

Questionable decision for their goal but shouldn't need to be getting the right side of marginal calls against this lot ffs

Have had this in my head for a few days for some reason.. "Jo Jo, Jo Jo Jo Jo, Jo Jo Jo Jo, Jo Jo-Elinton" (to tune of 2 unlimited no limits)

Preferably we sign Digne and Botman for the potential of "Digne Digne Digne Botman"

Some links in Germany to Dan-Axel Zagadou from Dortmund, Manchester Utd also interested, out of contract at end of season