Armchair Pundit

Hmmm

Imagine having no motivation or energy two games into a new season, what on earth is going on with our players? Really feels like we're lost and have no direction currently.

I thought we looked pretty good in pre-season, the team looked 'together' as well, not sure what's been going on in the league since it restarted

Not a bad shout at all that, would benefit all parties involved and would stick two fingers up at Palace in the process.

On current standards he's barely worth £50m, fed up with the furore over it all to be honest - I'd still rather we went for one of the foreign league centre backs we've been linked with as a cheaper alternative. No way we should be dancing to Palace's tune on this.

Christ on a bike, I've just seen a report quote Guehi as an £80m centre back now! This is ridiculous.

I'd rather we moved for one of the foreign alternatives mentioned, it's leaving us too late in the transfer window and I honestly think Palace are trying to stitch us up - it wouldn't surprise me if there was backing from other wanker clubs encouraging Parish to do it as well! Guehi's not giving off the vibe he wants to join us, their price is ridiculously over-inflated and it's probably taking resources away from the other signing we need to make on the right side of midfield! ... my conspiracy theory siege mentality paranoia is in overdrive at this point

I wonder how much of the fanbase are of the opinion that the higher the fee, the more they'll feel that the club have been had over by Palace. I personally don't think Guehi is worth anywhere near the mooted £70m and can't help thinking that it also puts massive expectations on the player, possibly even setting him up for some resentment through no fault of his own.

Reports jumping towards Trevoh Chalobah again now as an alternative... but is he 'Magical' Trevor?

Don't know about all the Guehi talk, it looks like Sterling might be having issues at Chelsea, wonder if we could get him in on the cheap, still on 29 (seems to have been around for ages and can score a goal). https://www.skysports.com/football/live-blog/12691/13025497/chelsea-transfer-news-rumours-and-gossip-live-updates-and-latest-on-deals-signings-loans-and-contracts

I wonder if part of why we have Guehi as our number one target is the hope that having a newly established first choice England international will propel our status amongst the top teams in the league. I know we've been finishing at the right end for the last couple of years, but having those bigger, marquee players must help in getting some recognition perhaps. Still, I trust Eddie knows what he's doing and would be able to coach whoever he chose to bring in. Just feel a bit like £65m-£70m is a bit of a stretch right now and can't help thinking RW is equally in need of a big player.

Just watched the red, no idea what Anderson was on about on the commentary saying it was a fair red and moaning about it being Schar's fault. If the ref really thinks that Diaz's rolling around on the floor clutching his face is a normal reaction, even to an actual headbutt, then I've got to question his ability to be a ref. Add in the fact there's ample opportunity to ask any other member of the refereeing team, etc, it's just pretty poor, especially with the initial incident coming from Diaz literally hurling himself into Schar in the first place. Sounded like we were easily the better team on the day and ground out the necessary result after being reduced to ten men, like you'd expect of any top end team. Of course, the only problem now is that it makes out search for a central defender all the more desperate and put us further on the back foot of any negotiations.

He should be alright getting onboard with our training team and medical experts, just needs the 'appliance of science'...

I must admit, every time I'm seeing us linked with any player over £30m now I'm getting twitchy about whether we'll get stung by the wanky PSR/FFP bollocks again at some point in the future and whether it's going to be worth it - bloody ridiculous way to be having to think.

I can't wait to here Schteve McLaren's Jamaican accent after being there for five minutes.

£75m for Gordon? Errr... nope, need a bit more than that thanks.

True, but so fucking infuriating that we had to do it for no other reason than to balance some dirty, stitch up bollocks ruling, put in place to handicap us and teams who want to catch the cheating bastards running the league - especially on the pretence of protecting clubs from owners who don't have the money or assets to backup their long term spending. Absolute shit show, essentially cements every team outside of the Sky six into feeder clubs for any players that come through with any talent. Just a load of wank, all of the PSR/FFP shite.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/sunderland-three-bed-home-goes-29602853

Pah! https://tbrfootball.com/questions-will-be-asked-after-newcastle-united-spend-20m-on-confirmed-signing/

Anything new on Raphina?

News again today saying that De Bruyne going to the Saudi league will push Pep to go all guns after Bruno, they don't want to let it lie do they.

Shearer saying you couldn't and shouldn't drop your captain and record goal scorer, confirming that he wouldn't if he was in Southgate's place. It's exactly why England doesn't win anything. You can't live on the past or pick players by name over form. Kane shouldn't have been playing for most of the games, certainly nowhere the minutes he had. We had better options for several positions, but continued to setup to accommodate certain players instead of playing tactically and to our strengths... I think it's why I'm becoming ever increasingly 'meh' over mens international football. When you have professionals and supposed experts, most of whom the FA seem to value the opinion of, saying they'd stick with clearly failing aspects, it's time to move on - madness being repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome.

Every time I open a news site: "Gordon to Liverpool", "Liverpool move for Gordon", "Liverpool/Gordon/Liverpool/Gordon... etc". Now I'm seeing "Man City move for Gordon" - it's getting really tedious! I know (I hope) it's just lazy journos, but the way the media are pressing for us to lose Gordon is pretty sickening. I have to admit, trust the process or not, if Gordon was sold I'd seriously question our owners, it's not a sale I'd be able to just let slide. I know the excuse would be long term goals/FFP, etc, but after last season he's more than just a player to double your money on.