Dr Jinx

Congrats to him, but yeah in terms of our club, we need to let that one go. Deep breath and just lock this thread. Anyone disagree?

Am starting to think we may well be done in terms of major signings. In attack we were great last season, at the back even better and we were pretty good in midfield too.. that’s now been elevated which is going to have a knock on effect of raising the game of everyone on the pitch. Why dismantle and change up a side that have gelled pretty well up front. If ASM is staying, we need backup for him, not someone new to take his place. For what it’s worth, I think we start Tonali, Bruno & Longstaff in midfield and play Joelinton forward left. Gordon/Miggy forward right and Isak and Wilson to battle it out for the starting spot. They could get 20 goals each potentially. We’re in bloody good shape like.

If we aren’t in for a player and he goes somewhere else, how can we even be remotely invested in it. Something like that kid that went to PSG, that’s different as was a snub. We’re far too easily led by journos.

You have to be pragmatic about what we actually need. We had the best defence in the league, no reason to think it’s been found out. We needed some extra bite in midfield and someone other than Bruno that could read the game well and break up play, pick the simple pass etc. We’ve done that. Tonali gives us extra control there. Isak, Wilson, Gordon, Miggy, ASM, and Murphy will get enough goals. It’s not super important to buy in this area but if we do, we need to buy a clear upgrade.

Whoever said he’s this years Paqueta is right.. but it was same last summer as well, we weren’t in for him either. We all just ran with a rumour. I have full faith in the clubs strategy.

You think any modern player would turn down champions league? Nah, we were never in for him this summer. At any price.

Really not disappointed at all about this, I’m all for replacing current members of our starting 11 with players who can do all of what they do and more. Maddison was not that. He’s a luxury player and yeah he’ll get some assists and goals but any midfield he plays in imho, there’s a weakness exposed and I’m glad it’s not going to be at our expense.

My preference would be to relocate temporarily while SJP is demolished and rebuilt. I have an image of it in my head.. an exterior made of stone, something that will be there for centuries, not unlike the colosseum, with a modern interior. Go slightly into Leazes Park to protect the Terrace Go big with capacity.. 80k, we’d sell the seats no bother. More chance of getting Jennifer Lawrence into my bed than a new season ticket currently.

Did you watch any of their last few games? He was shockingly poor. His form brought him nicely up to the World Cup and then he just gave up on the cause. I won’t be told any different.

He’s far better than Shelvey, I’d have said before that he had a good attitude but he really did fuck all to drag his team to better things last season. He was as culpable as any of the others.. I’m not sure I want that.. great when things are good but goes missing when facing adversity etc. I think he’d need a full season to reach the fitness levels required for our squad, bit like Gordon (except he’s a much better athlete)

Ah he comes across like a decent dude. I’m sure he’s getting a contract he can’t turn down there. Be very surprised if he was loaned back to anyone. They want those players over there.

Honestly think if we wanted him he’d be signed up already. He’s a backup plan in case something else doesn’t come off. He’ll end up going for less than 35m (wherever he ends up) but Leicester holding out for more gives us more time to haggle for primary targets.

I'm not singling out anyone that needs to be dropped, i'm more basing it off every time we start to think Longstaff is a weak link in the midfield, he'll miss a game and then we really see some holes in the setup. Underestimate him at your peril. The way I see it now, i think it's more likely that Bruno was stretched doing defensive work and also being kicked from pillar to post all year. Tonali coming in will help massively there. We're going to see better from several players. Not sure what the plan for Anderson is but he may struggle to get game time, at least in early part of season.

I think it's going to be Tonali, Bruno and Longstaff - with Big Joe left forward if we play 4-3-3.

It will be a good marker for whatever Bruno may be offered in a new deal. The hope would be that both will unlock the potential of the other. I think we go double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 next season. Who will Milan replace him with btw?

Not arsed at all about this one. Wouldn’t be my preference. He went hiding during Leicesters run in. As Conte said.. “players there don’t want to play under pressure.. of course, this way it’s easy”. Well he certainly looked like he was in that mind frame last season. You add someone like him in and you lose something existing. What do you sacrifice to accommodate? Spurs issue isn’t scoring goals or creating chances btw. They need an overhaul at the back.

It’s ok, he’s bringing back Gorilla hand ashtrays for all his teammates.

Like a scene from Top Gun

The games we struggled this season were surprisingly against some of the teams who tried hard to rough us up.. Schär although an excellent player can be muscled off the ball quite easily in those ball over top 50/50 situations. Botman although far superior, is also prone to the odd nightmare against players who really put it about. To replace Schär effectively, you need a ball playing centre back.. not just that but a supreme passer of the ball. Try and match that with someone who is also physically imposing and in terms of world football, you have a fairly short list of players. Even shorter when you consider most of them are already at clubs who don’t need to sell.

Would you swap Maguire with Lascelles if the offer was there and they were willing to do it?

There’s no way that transfer happens with his social media posting. Zero. I’m kind of relieved because after initially reading about the guy earlier my first impression was that he’s filler and no more. Just someone that would flatter to deceive for a bit, maybe oust Longstaff or Willock for a game or two until everyone realises they were better all along. Cool thread while it lasted though ?

Imagine Daniel Levy and Darren Eales battling it out in a sack race for first option of bidding.. “oi Daniel, you dropped a fifty”

All I’ll say re: Maguire is.. Tyrone Mings. Look at how he looked at start of season compared to end of season. Never underestimate good coaching.

Somewhere between 160-180.. it’s not important. The club have shown they are patient and are no mugs in terms of spending cash. Other clubs know this now too. We all have players we’ve seen that we’d like to see in black n white but we know little compared to our manager in terms of what will work, who will work etc. We could spend 75m on 2 players and have a stronger squad than last season. We’re in good shape no matter what happens. I suspect players will need to leave anyway which is probably what Dan Ashworth is looking at first.

Sting is a closet Man Utd supporter.