andyc35i

I’m with you and I’m still raging about it. But we all knew Joe Cole would say it’s our fault for going to sleep

We can’t play the way we want to play with a goalkeeper of his style, it just doesn’t work. He’s glued to his line and it constantly costs us

It’s a monumentally poor decision by the referee. The pundits will obviously talk about us switching off, but fuck me

I’m baffled by that decision. It’s up there with one of the worst I’ve seen in my history of watching football

There certainly some talent there, but not for the £70m that they would want to sell him. Same goes for Jarrod Branthwaite, would love him here, but we can’t be chucking £60m about for everyone

Can’t agree with that at all. They’re both clearly top quality players and by far and away the most talented in the team. Two players can’t carry a side alone and you need different skills to complement them and get the best out of their talent. I’m pretty sure Haaland wouldn’t get anywhere near the amount of goals he does if he played for us and De Byrune just wouldn’t look as good.

That clearly bargain to be had across the back line. I mean look at the left back Porto (Wendell), he cost them £4m and is an international player. I’d still be tempted to sign him even though he’s 31 in July as it means we have Lewis Hall ready once he gives us a few good years. It’s also another reason why you just can’t rule out players like Kelly and Tosin as free transfers, it’s rare you get good quality players from our league for such a small outlay

He would slot in perfect next to Rodri you’ve have to say. But he ain’t going anywhere guys! He just signed a new contract and loves it here. Besides nobody will pay the £85m-£100m we would want to sell him. He gives us next season and if we haven’t improved then he would look to find somewhere where trophies are more easy to come by

They will get punished, but I guess it’s just how severe. I’d guess that they would snap your hand off for a big fine, a few points and maybe a transfer ban. If you take the rules at face value, they cheated knowingly (also committed some sort of financial fraud) and won titles. Do you strip them of the titles they won in that period? I really don’t know where this one goes and you can’t see Man City taking it lying down

True - different times and all. I was sad when he left, but I understood it. There was no compelling reason for him to stay with us, we were a club going nowhere at that time. I’d take him back in an instant as I always believed in his ability, but I think we need to look at players with greater recovery power

Yes and that’s the only way to have sustained success, you have to buy your way to it. I get the contradiction. But I’m just after realistic spending that we could afford to service and not the type that means we’re blowing everyone out of the water. We need a left back, I want us to buy Alphonso Davies, but I know that’s only going to happen if we overpay and I wouldn’t want that

Agreed. I don’t want us to be able to sign someone like Haaland’s level right now purely because we could pay him millions every month. What I want, is to be able to take a punt on someone like Solanke without having to worry about sell on values

I get that, but you have to invest substantial amounts of money now to make any inroads whatsoever. £400m is nothing in 2024 when the price of everything has gone crazy. I liken the signing of Tino to when Chelsea signed Glen Johnson all those years ago- £40m versus £5m is the sign of the times. Giving us free rein would exasperate this, but you have to be able to invest.

You could see the pattern of play developing after 3 minutes. We can have all the ball as teams realise we can’t create against the low block. Plus teams also love to draw us in with the press and easily get at us with a few quick passes and pace in behind

I’m pretty sure Tino will be the best right back in the world

Was the only signing I wanted after the takeover. Well before I realised that football is rigged and you’re not allowed to break the status quo even with secure finance

Got goals against all the ‘top teams’ as well - get in lad!

We badly need to get some pace in the midfield 3, at left back and centre back. You need speed to get to the ball and recovery pace if you want to press high

Is it just me but I thought today he had an excellent game. Sitting deeper, he broke up play really well in the first half and played some really nice passes. Switching positions in the second half to the left reduced his impact, but he played well. He shouldn’t be starting, but needs must. Ultimately, my impression hasn’t changed, I don’t think he’s got the pace or technical quality to reach elite level. But you still want him in the squad

Yeah that first half officiating was abysmal. There were about 3 clear 100% yellow card fouls that he failed to give and that let them off the hook big time in the second half

He takes some blame for not showing him out wider, but I’m asking my goalkeeper to save that. Burn is just bad at defending the one on one and is the reason why he can’t start in my eyes

I’d blame the goalkeeper more than Burn for that one. It’s a hard task defending a one on one when someone’s running at you like that with no support whatsoever

So many of these chances where we’re through on goal and can’t control the ball

I was watching the PSG game last and it left a bitter taste in my mouth - I really believe we should have made it through that group. And imagine if we’d drawn Real Sociedad with all the other challenges

I’d be very happy with that outcome simply because we can spend our ‘budget’ on the other key areas of the pitch instead