SteV

Some kid asking fans to complete a survey for his dissertation https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqSJ6wAHyYMJw_36lK_3jpuqhDBuGmAjhOlWZGTUaueyx9wg/formResponse

??

Of course, to 99% of teams. However, they’re in the 1%. Just chucking out a casual billion or so in spending every few years. They obviously have to make some effort to obtain ‘value’, both when buying and selling, otherwise everyone would take the piss more than they already do when it comes to dealing with them. However, they’ve been pretty useless in that regard really, as every time they try to play ‘hard ball’ with someone it tends to backfire, as we saw when they pissed us about with Lingard.

If they really wanted someone like Kone, or whoever, they’d just go and buy them regardless. Despite their apparent ineptitude in the transfer market in recent times, money is no object to them. They’re paying Jadon Sancho £350k a week.

He had quite a bad hamstring that ended his first season under Rafa. But yes, his fitness record is a definite strength.

If he’s out running there’s no way he’s out for another month.

If Man City decide they want Rice, they’ll probably have to shift Phillips. Wasn’t entirely convinced he was worth the fee they paid for him, but certainly wouldn’t complain about bringing him in for a bit less. Wages could maybe be an issue like, assuming he’ll be on a hefty whack now. edit - Google says £150k p/w, which is probably a bit rich for us at present

Cup games suggest it would be far from great.

I imagine this exact same scenario played out in every other club that has implemented SS

How they deal with those that don’t want to stand and therefore have to move, will be interesting. Whatever we might think, they are being ‘inconvenienced’ to a degree, and the club do need to be respectful of that.

There’s definitely a question mark in relation to the potential price, albeit we don’t actually know what that is/would be. But putting that to one side, we do have to refresh the entire squad to a degree with the likelihood of Europe next year. We’re not going to replace the likes of Dummett and Fraser with the quality of Bruno and Botman, so there will be a need for a signing or two below that level.

And - it’s more a point about how the view that Fred (and more pertinently McTominay) are viewed as some kind of joke players, ‘Championship standard’, or whatever people want to trot out to support the argument. It’s a perfectly acceptable opinion to hold that McTominay isn’t worth the investment at the rumoured prices, that he isn’t much/any better than what we have already. But let’s not be silly, he can’t have got to where he’s got in his career if he was useless.

Whilst playing for Manchester United and Brazil…

If he’s passing sideways and backwards, he must be getting the ball and not hiding from it…. Someone not contributing much/anything in possession is significantly different to actively not making yourself available to receive it. Anyway, we’re veering away from the topic here as we won’t be signing Jack Colback (again) thankfully.

He doesn’t, we just like to make out that he does because we don’t like him. And not doing anything substantial with it is a different argument (I’d actually probably agree with you on that in terms of Colback). He’s also spent his entire PL career in the mid to lower reaches where the majority of the time there’s less chance/expectation to get on the ball and be progressive, as opposed to a team challenging towards the top end.

The theory that a footballer with substantial appearances in the PL and at International level (even if it is Scotland) actively ‘hides from the ball’ on any kind of regular basis is total madness. I can’t say of watched anything like enough of McTominay to be offering a considered opinion on him personally, and it might be that his positioning to receive the ball is frequently poor, but to think that he’s consistently deliberately doing it to avoid getting the ball is laughable.

How? Surely people just have less individual room?

Has there been any chat about the clubs already trialling looking to change the ratio and increase capacity?

It only takes one person down there to stand up, then the person behind has to stand, then the one behind them, and so on. And they can’t be told to sit down now…

As others say, it’s a start. From the discussions we knew they were never going to open with 10k straight away. Maybe it won’t make much difference but we’re getting there.

Ward-Prowse was completely anonymous in the three games against us this season (set piece delivery aside). Not necessarily fair to make any kind of judgement solely off that like, but it doesn’t really fill you with confidence.

Got Obafemi’s birth certificate as well if he’s supposed to have just turned 17…

I seem to remember him doing an interview with that Soccer AM character (Tubes??) where he said something along the lines of he wasn’t interested in money as it only caused problems, so he more or less let other people run his finances. Obviously chose the wrong people… edit: here it is from 11:45 onwards. Quite sad really https://youtu.be/6x5RSkaGywE

Did he develop his “affinity” round about the time Bayern sacked him?