Tiresias

He's tightened them up a lot at the back by defending deeper and moving to a more counter attacking team. I actually think Lampard deserves credit for this as this wasn't his brand of football going in but the alternative wasn't working. Iwobi also seems a different player than he was now playing through the middle not dissimilar to Joelinton style role. I find him as unlikeable as anyone but whereas Stevie G just stagnated and stagnated at least Lampard changed things up and was pragmatic about getting a working system in. If they avoid relegation concerns this season I doubt he will be in trouble but he will be expected to get more ambitious in how they play moving forward.

Man U will offer vastly higher wages than we still are. It's dead easy to be pious and criticize that being a pull because we'd all play for free but of course that's attractive. Again though almost certainly agent agitating for better terms on new contract 'look he has options elsewhere'

probably agent trying to get us to raise our new contract offer

It's a riddle! Riddler is a batman character Riddler is completely mad Mad - dison Ta dah solved!

I actually don't think Fred is that bad, he is a scapegoat for a whole team never coached to play passing football and because he is a bit of a jack of all trades master of none. He looks a very handy player to have around, but probably not a starter for a serious squad looking to win things but definitely on the bench. Still would have Joe of course but I'm not sure Fred is as bad as some Man U fans make out, there's just been a total lack of technical coaching for a long time and they have been allergic to buying good midfielders to help him until this season when they got Eriksen and Casimero, and even now they are wedded to a 4-2-3-1 formation cos they have to play Fernandez but he doesnt work in any position but number 10, and so you end up with a flat midfield 2 that is normally overwhelmed in games unless one player has a barnstormer. Few things I hate more than the midfield double pivot.

I am sure his confidence will dip at some point and scoring rate will drop, but it is important that this season he is starting from much further up the pitch, has Trippier and Bruno feeding him balls (second half of last season Tripps was out for a while and we were breaking from deeper in general). He is getting more opportunities, I am moderately confident Howe has raised the 'floor' even though goal a game is completely unsustainable.

They sold 11% of the business for £750m so jesus the valuation will be rather steep

With patience and time he could be but doubt he'll get that at Chelsea. The Tuchel sacking was brutal, but also feel a bit like if he wasn't their guy and they weren't going to be patient they should have just sacked him immediately rather than let him start the season. Problem is now, Potter might be the guy to do a root and branch clear out of the squad and rebuild, but unless he rebounds and has them top 4 end of season (entirely possible) does he really have the authority to do so or will the board be not sure they want this guy spending their money. Arsenal did that, stuck it out and are getting their reward now but I doubt Boehly will be the same. At a certain point Pochettino will look an attractive option and the cycle will continue.

Man City are probably very glad they lost that bidding war. He was very good last season and I am sure he will find form again but christ that Chelsea squad seems mad to me, packed full of talent and yet even on paper looks a mess. Absolute definition of less than the sum of it's parts

Why don't Spurs try in the first half, every game shit first half then good second, I get it happening some of the time but every game!

Conte's spurs are poor, they want to counter attack and don't push high much so you want a rock solid back line but instead it's easy to pressure them into mistakes. I can't help but feel the premier league has moved on from Conte's style somewhat, they have the talent to still win plenty but they can't beat teams with their width with their mediocre wing backs

Dier hahaha

Howay Liverpool as much as it pains me to say

WIlson would not be smiling if he was injured Another game, another 4 goals, fuming we conceded like though

Bruuuuuno

Howe out

Miggy just giving everyone a rest pretty sure

So missed this going to visit mum in hospital nice to come back to us winning lol

While i really want Miggy to win as he's been incredible and would love him to win as much recognition as he can, but there is a goals bias here, actually Trippier is nominated and he has been absolutely incredible this month too but never stands a chance against goal scorers...(well ok miggy does deserve it but Tripps isnt outrageous either)

But buying a football club should be more than a 'business transaction'. So many clubs are bought and looted they are community assets not pure businesses. They are built on community loyality and tradition and so have been exploited. The reasons I have outlined a few posts back. The idea that buying it is purely a legal issue and therefore noone should be able to stop it is poor in my opinion. They have invested far and wide because partially if they are embedded in western economies it is harder for them to be sanctioned, partially I am sure it is to make money somewhere, partially to exert some influence on businesses they have invested in. I have no problem with anyone not being concerned about the sportwashing, as outlined above, it's not a business one can expect people to just stop going to, it is embedded in the fabric of peoples lives too much. If the argument from our fans though is they're not sportswashing though I would challenge that because that implies somewhat that you would have a problem with it if it is sportwashing, and i don't really know what definition of sportswashing there is apart from what is going on with our club. I would argue perfectly reasonable to also argue it is sportswashing but it doesn't work, all it does is keep the conversation about saudi araba having issues in their governance in the public sphere. I am not sure where i stand on that but I am resolved if I am going to enjoy the benefits to try and publically not be taken in by them.

Not entirely convinced big dan shouldn't be one of England's centre backs before we worry about left back to be honest

To be fair how are other football clubs going to get people in the gates when 98% of the population of the country crams into the stadium of shite everyweek to cheer on the mightly sunderland

Somehow Jurgen Klopp will still win it

There is some middle ground here lol I swear a lot but in a crowded public space with kids about it is reasonable that while you may judge it fine for your kids to be around that language your standards aren't everyones standards so is perfectly reasonable that you are expected to moderate it somewhat, and also it is possible to be overreacting to some colourful language and get in a moral panic about it.