Kid Icarus

I'd hazard a guess that we're the other club. Doesn't look like we're in with a shout, but if Chelsea get him I guess it could make Broja a possibility again.

Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 2 Fulham 0 Liverpool 4 Bournemouth 1 Aston Villa 2 (Edit: had the 2-1 the wrong way around) Leeds 1 Wolves 1 Newcastle 1 Notts Forest 1 Spurs 4 Southampton 0 Everton 1 Chelsea 2 Leicester 2 Brentford 0 Man United 2 Brighton 1 West Ham 1 Man City 3 Spurs for double points

I've considered having both, but never instead of Salah who's that player it's just far too risky to not include because of how many people have him.

Aye mate, it must that you know more about the inner workings of Leicester than the average Leicester fan We had exactly the same hubris when we were after Diego Carlos and know-nowts like you thought they knew better than the Sevilla fan on here who, shock horror, was absolutely right.

Take 17

Yeah, avoid any Man City players who are a rotation risk imo.

It shouldn't be that big a deal but there's something about people asking for threads to be locked that I find incredibly annoying and pathetic like.

fivethirtyeight and Nate Silver are perhaps the world's biggest stat nonces and regardless of what they might tell you about the algorithm, are essentially only giving you probability based on the existing conditions.

We bottled it by letting them co-opt it and dilute it into a meaningless spectacle and cynical PR. They never had anything to bottle because they don't stand for anything other than profit.

Feel like I've seen every variation on that headline

Listened to the Hope segment and it made sense tbh, he even said the Wilson thing was obviously tongue in cheek.

FWIW, it has similarities with the Duff signing in 2005, which IIRC had exactly the same 'he's not what we need vs aye he is coz he's class!' argument on here.

I sort of agree with the sentiment, just not the ridiculous levels he's gone to.

Even in that context Maddison sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of how they all play like.

Presumably a lot of Rashford's will be for trying to give hand outs to the enemy within, hungry kids.

I do trust the manager, I can still question the thinking behind his decision making, that's generally how you end up understanding things.

Maybe so, but he's not a RW in the mould of Diaby or anyone else we've mooted for that position so I'd be surprised if Howe wanted Maddison with that position in mind.

Pick one. It's in a position we don't need to upgrade anywhere near as much as RW and ST, as Howe himself has said, as I'm saying. If Howe wants to play Maddison on the right in the way you're suggesting fair enough, but considering Diaby was the original choice, it very much suggests a different plan.

Howe himself has said that RW and ST are the priority and that resorting to other positions is the alternative, hardly controversial

Again, disclaimer that I like Maddison, but I just find it pretty hard to fathom how we can all be universal in thinking £35m-ish for Jack Harrison is ridiculous (which it is) in a position we desperately need, but £60m is the going rate for a player in a position we don't. Both 25, both English, and both with very similar minutes per goal (344 vs 304) Maddison is obviously the better player, but to that extreme an extent?

The going rate argument is fair enough, but I'll expect him to be truly exceptional if he comes in for £60m like.

Looking at other similar jobs across football clubs it looks like it's decent, which suggests to me that the job is either completely different and less intense when its at a football club, or as a sector they're paying insulting amounts. Marketing Manager jobs in the private sector start at £50k usually, my boss in the public sector is on more than what Newcastle are offering.

It doesn't sit right with me like, spending all of that money to bolster an already decent AM position and taking funds away from spending on positions where we're starting Almiron/Fraser, and are an injury away from starting Chris Wood up front. I'm sure it'll be down to things that we're not aware of (Diaby not wanting to come regardless of our offer, for example) - but it just feels a bit weird.

Maddison's really good like, but putting that amount of money down on him alone, in a position that isn't an immediate priority? Not for me Jeff, I'd be keeping Bruno in his influential role, going for a dedicated DM, and putting that money to use on Diaby or similar.