Mole_Toonfan

Their defence I would say. Also from the very few matches I have seen, they seem quite mentally weak in the sense they let teams off the hook when they are on top and every chance they concede seem to effect them mentally. When you translate that to Chelsea and Spurs, the opposite is true. They don't hesitate to put you away and they don't let conceding chances effect them. With all that said though they should have been more competitive.

Would take.

a combo terry-neymar dig. i love this post

I honestly can't see any of the top 6 starting him tbh. Maybe he doesn't care , but yeah the only reason I mentioned it because if he's going to leave and wants to play it won't be to anyone above Everton imo.

This is probably unrealistic as all hell but fuck it, based on Koeman's quotes i'd try and get Barkley. I can't see him starting for anyone above Everton, so unless he wants to ride the bench which he might tbf. He'll have to drop down to something below Everton.

I wonder if Kane can break the record for 38 game season if he stays fit next year.

Going unbeaten in any league is a big achievement. Sunderland would go unbeaten up there man. Well no but... They have premiership standard players playing in, what, league one standard? They should be winning every game. The fact it's a s*** league doesn't mean what Celtic have done isn't a big achievement. By your logic they should go unbeaten all the time and that obviously hasn't happened before... all they had to do was try hard in every game and it was a formality. You make that sound so easy the biggest part of football arguably is the mental game. Surely seeing how we dropped points this year to shite teams, should show how difficult being consistent week in week out regardless of competition is.

The fact the article specifically mentions he wants to pair him with McCarthy specifically states Rafa doesn't see him as an AM either. I know he was great in the championship before his suspension, but i wouldn't be surprised if Rafa wants more options at CM tbh. Should be remembered that Shelvey wasn't a starter in the PL under him. That's not to say he's going to get rid, bench or anything just more competition for places. I know it's a foreign concept for many of us, but if we want to do well in the PL, it's going to be necessary. I suspect the AM target hasn't even been linked yet.

Some depth in midfield at long last would be great, it's been a problem for a while.

Maybe i'm overly pessimistic but i'd be happy with anything between 12th and 15th tbh, i just feel like it's going to take longer than one summer for Rafa to get us to challenging the top 8. I'll likely be confident of top 8 the following season though.

Call me a nutjob then, i'd be happy with a lot less.

I hate that this fan expectations bollocks still exists.

He's going to Atletico apparently.

Yet you've been telling people on here to not expect much regarding incoming players during our first season back I stand by that But people are jumping off the other end!

I genuinely don't think we want both tbh, reckon it's an either/or situation.

Asian tour stuff was bollocks then?

Yes but there was a massive difference between the two, we expected him to score goals and create chances. They expected him work hard, protect the fullback and give the ball up to the more talented players. Same position yes, but very different role and expectation.

Because he's not an attacking player It's not a coincidence that France and Toulouse didn't play him anyway near as offensively as we did. He was practically a DM in Ligue 1 ffs, not really his fault we were asking him to do something he simply cannot do. I agree with Triggs here tbh, people on here massively overrate his ability as a footballer. He's genuinely not that good.

If we are relying on him for goals sure, but i'd have him be 3rd choice at best who only plays when two players are injured or as a sub when chasing a game. I don't think it's a massive issue in that regard, problem is i don't think we'll get much for him at all. If someone even gives half of what we paid for him then fine sell him.

Agree with this, there's a lot of people who don't really understand the difference between diving and overreacting to contact ( but still a foul). I'm interested to see how they are going to rule on things like that.

If someone wants to buy him then fine, i wouldn't actively sell him though. Mainly because i feel like he could be a decent option off the bench as a 3rd option. To be clear i think we should be buying a quality striker and it will always be him and/or Gayle.

I would be very surprised if we sign both if I'm honest.