Miercoles

Waiting to hear about how scoring away to Benfica is crap *I know its preseason lads come on, but you have to give him a run at this point don't you?

Me too, England/Sweden is always a classic. It helps that I'm not English so I'm not shitting my pants the whole time, mind.

A proper fucking preseason is exciting on it's own! Would look like a whole new team just from that, remember how many leads we threw away under Bruce?

Seems insane when you put it that way. And then to score that backheel volley for his first NUFC goal, and then go on the best scoring run of his career after that, what in the actual fuck man.

Joey really nailing the pose there too

Joey Linton looks fast as hell in that drill. God damn I am desperate for the season to start...

Would agree with that, hopefully we can bring a young player in who can jump right in when called upon and contribute immediately, I'm sure that was the idea with Hugo but who knows about that now. However I think you're right that we don't necessarily need a top tier signing because I definitely rate Wilson when fit and I'm a confirmed Chris Wood apologist too so I'm not sure what I'm complaining about here haha.

Yeah I dunno about retiring it, but it just seems like the added pressure hasn't been helpful for our last few marquee strikers... Then again, maybe we have just been signing crap players

We should also stop handing out the number nine shirt for a while, but that's another matter.

That's fair. I guess my thinking is that we need to be signing someone who will start over Wilson, who in turn needs to be used as the backup and not our main goal threat. I know he's really good, but he's completely unreliable over a season.

I mean, I'd love to be wrong, but unless he spent the off-season in a bacta tank I don't expect to see him for more than twenty games this year.

Why do people think Wilson is going to play?

Yeah, that feels right as an answer to the Ben Arfa riddle. Some guys love the grind of training and practice, and some guys just put up with it in order to play the games. Some guys are really good but hate training, maybe Benny here, some guys aren't that good but love to grind in training and end up very successful, and then you have your Tom Brady types who combine the two and are just monstrous.

https://youtu.be/JppwKpfOgyo

Hell yeah. He'll be solid for the next 2-3 seasons, very pleased we got this one wrapped up.

This was posted before in the Executives thread, but in case anyone missed it: https://trainingground.guru/articles/dan-ashworth-inside-the-mind-of-a-technical-director Really cool in-depth interview with Ashworth on his role at Brighton etc. Goes into a lot of detail, and a very engaging listen for such a dry subject. That podcast in general is pretty great actually, it's a really nice reprieve from the usual over the top podcast-y antics you get most places, just in depth long form interviews with industry professionals about their jobs. It's kind of sad but that format's pretty unique these days.

What a year for this stupid fucking winter world cup. Instead of just enjoying that we have a player in the Brazil side we'll be worried about him missing games for us, injury, etc.

I'm an Almiron defender usually but he was poor yesterday. He had a chance to play in his favored position and went completely anonymous for most of the game.

Hahaha the Sherminator is a great shout. Love this lad making his case on the last day in a dead rubber match, that pass down the line to send ASM away and the goal line clearance to save the win, sign this fucker up on Monday won't you?

Been watching the interviews and highlights from the Leeds page and just can't stop smiling, glad they stayed up. Both because it's fun to have a new team in the mix, and to have a historic giant back in the fold, and my bias as an American, they talked a lot of shit about Jesse Marsch when he came in so to see him in his jeans with a beer in his hand celebrating the win was just pure unadulterated joy

Yeah that was classic, didn't they lose a motion or something to have the case heard behind closed doors, and then immediately settled once they found out it would be heard publicly?

100% all of this, it's a chance to lock down one of our weaker positions for the next two-three years before the window even starts, and at a discount to boot.

Fucking hell lads, what a crazy ride it's been this season. No matter what happens now Eddie will always be a hero for what he accomplished this season. Also Kieran fucking Trippier for coming in and bagging us nine points on his own, God damn. Finally, spare a thought for old Jonjo whose farcical free kick against Leeds gave us that crucial win going into deadline day and made it look like survival might actually be possible. Not sure the Bruno signing happens without that one. Oh and Bruno coming in and scoring more goals for us in a few weeks than he has in his life, including his first ever header. What the fuck man. What was this season??

Come the fuck on! I know we're "safe" already but I can't bring myself to relax until it's mathematically secure. Wishing this game was not against Chelsea tbh, they seem determined to lose at any cost these days.

He's a great player for a bad team, gives you some threat no matter how the game is going. I don't think he'd fit into a top side, he would really have to go back to basics with his passing, pressing, etc which 1) I don't think he would, and 2) would probably ruin his value as a wildcard x-factor type player anyway. He's a mid-tier luxury player for me, and at the top level if you carry a luxury player their production has to be way better than his. Of course the tricky bit is when you watch us play you can absolutely understand why he never passes, he would do a ton of work, lay the ball off in a good position, and then watch us Bruce it back to the keeper, or fire it 50 yards into the stands. So maybe that would be different in a good team, who knows. He's fine for us right now, but if we get a good offer I have no doubt we can improve the position.