Holmesy

I'd rather be us than Chelsea tbf

I'm more bored than worried. Going into the season without a marquee signing (and the same poor RW options) is just a bit dull. The only saving grace is Tonali coming back genuinely feels like a new signing.

Spurs could sign peak Messi, Pirlo and Ronaldo and nothing would change. They’d. still be just as Spursy.

fyp

Two mind numbingly boring transfer windows in a row now. Well done dickheads!

The game's rules state that "attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)" must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card.[3] The rule changes are in response to an increasing trend of diving and simulation. BD should 100% have had two yellow cards according to the laws of the fucking game - foul off the ball + attempt to deceive the rev. Pawson knew it was a dive the same as everyone else who has seen it. If common sense prevails, Fab gets a yellow and BD gets two yellows. Factor in all refs being fucking morons and you would accept 2 red cards but anything else is totally unjust. Now the next player who gets the chance to con the ref goes down like BD because he knows he gets away with it. The powers that be just don’t give a shit about the integrity of the game.

The immobiliser!

Some of their passing in tight spaces was class, really impressive! The lad that came on for them on the left was all fart and no shit and unfortunately, Armstrong is in the same pool as Dwight Gayle and Patrick Bamford - class in the championship, not quite good enough for the PL. I can see them picking up a good few points though.

Yeah, he looked well off it. I think Southgate might’ve broken him

Diaz’s initial challenge on Schar should’ve been a yellow. The dive should’ve been a second yellow. These useless pricks need to stop encouraging players to go down by booking them when they do. You cant really blame Diaz for doing what he did - the refs keep rewarding that sort of behaviour. Until they don’t, it’ll keep happening. Schar shouldn’t do what he did but at worst that’s a booking.

5 minutes that highlight everything that’s wrong with modern top level football. Pussy players hitting the deck, shit refs, pointless VAR. Schar shouldn’t have done that but it’s never a red card.

How very boring!

Yeah, this is pretty much where I am now. Tbh, my interest in NUFC is not what it used to be either. Age plays its part and the Ashley years sucked a lot of the life out of me as well, but it's the game-wide cynicism, rolling around, VAR, stoppy-starty bullshit I just can't abide.

This is my biggest gripe - we know Eddie won't start players until they are Eddie-ready, which means we won't see much from any new signings for a while anyway. The planning appears to have been really poor. I understand waiting for the new DoF to arrive to an extent, but what have we've been doing for the past what is it, 8 months?! Expecting Eddie to wait, and Mitchell to work his magic in just a few weeks is daft.

If he's had his head turned, it doesn't help Palace at all to block his move. They are going to be seriously minted at this rate

Not great news for Doku or Grealish.

Every team signs the odd dud but their record is better than most.

This one’s a bit gutting tbh - the kid looks class. Brighton don’t sign shit players so you can guarantee this guy will be worth £60m+ in a couple of seasons

Yeah, I agree with this. It wasn't a case of him leaving because we didn't rate him. He left because he was a more saleable asset than the likes of Almiron and Murphy, hence why so many teams wanted him. We had a PSR deadline and we were less reluctant to lose him than Gordon or one of our other stars

I didn't read it as a pisstake but maybe i've been punked

That's not how new signings work unfortunately - they were all here last season. I agree it's a positive that they haven't left but it's a strange way to spin it. The only one that will be like a new signing is Tonali, who i'm genuinely excited to see. We haven't massively improved though. Far from it. New signings give everyone a lift and competition for places, which keeps existing players on their toes. They also give you a little bit of the unknown, which other teams have got to get to grips with. So, they're really important. Love the optimism though!

If it’s a case of Kulu or Miggy, I’m all for Kulu but he’s not exactly blow your tits off exciting!

Trade with what though?! We're trying to offload players of the wrong age, that no one wants, can't stay fit or don't want to leave, so we can buy top quality and evolve as a team.

It would make sense if they can't get McTominay - similar players with not a lot of difference in quality