Holmesy

Based on what, other than agenda? Based on the fact that even before having 3 months off due to Covid, Monsieur Bruce’s record of knacking players was pretty shit. I can’t imagine he gave the players a science-backed fitness plan to follow during lockdown and I can’t imagine he’ll have employed much subtlety in trying to get them match fit again.

Think it’s a safe bet we’ll pick up the most injuries of any team in the first couple of weeks back.

I'd quite like to have seen Sergio Ramos play in the PL and get shown up as the poncy looking average clogger that i'm pretty sure he is.

Hulk. He looked like he was ready-made for the PL but he sold out and went to Russia, never to be heard of again.

Money talks, especially where the PL are concerned.

What a header! German football is class!

I actually prefer the idea of building by targeting younger talent like this that are established but still have huge potential, particularly because Rafa is the ideal manger to fully unlock these types, rather than just flooding the team with big money players that are chasing big paydays as that would feel a lot more forced and empty. RB Leipzig/Salzburg have the perfect model - great scouting network, great coaching throughout, brilliant infrastructure and progressive managers. It’s no wonder they’re prolific at churning out great talent. The difference with us is we wouldn’t have a selling our best talent element attached to our structure.

Lallana is also 32 and hasn’t played regularly for a couple of seasons. His best is behind him and if we’re looking to progress we should be signing better and younger. We've already got 2 young prospects in midfield and what they need is some guidance, and we certainly need some experience in there. It's about building a balanced squad rather than just a 1st team. If we could sell Shelvey and replace him for free with a player not going to spit the dummy if he doesn't play the majority of games then i think its a decent idea, especially if we're staying within FFP. If we’re going to bring in someone as a mentor to the Longstaffs I’d rather it was someone with a bit more pedigree and standing than Lallana. More like a Cambiaso-type when he signed for Leicester. If Werder Bremen go down, Nuri Sahin might be available on the cheap.

Dwight McNeil would be a nice start.

Lallana is also 32 and hasn’t played regularly for a couple of seasons. His best is behind him and if we’re looking to progress we should be signing better and younger.

What a peach! They play such good football.

After 13 years of Ashley, I wouldn’t be disappointed with that. Quite happy for us to be sensible in the transfer market working towards a sustainable plan. I’m not really arsed about trophy signings as long we are trying to compete.

Another great game!

It's a moot point really. They'll give Bruce every chance to prove he's good enough to take us forward, he'll show very quickly that he isn't and he'll get binned.

Lallana's 32!!! I thought he was mid to late twenties. The two fullbacks plus Dries Mertens would be amazing free signings!

Don’t think so but it wiles away the time. Wasn't the Ben Arfa plane tracking a success?

:facepalm: This is not an unreasonable post. There are a lot of unknowns about his managerial ability I totally agree with this. He took over an already winning world class team and did what was expected of him He hasn't elevated Real Madrid beyond where they were before he joined. How can he be considered a top class manager?

I was thinking about this actually. If you assume the likes of Kane etc. are well beyond us which they are who would people go for in the £50m or more sort of bracket to take us on very quickly? Obviously would need to be someone on the way up from France, Spain or Germany I guess. That's where having Rafa back would pay dividends - he seems to have a massive knowledge of players/leagues and which players would fit into his system effectively, regardless of age.

If you mean risk free under say under 27 and already playing in the premier league then no chance and no one I also would suggest if your a 1 in 2 striker you will already be at a "next level" club on great wages so unless its something like falling out with a manager your unlikely to get one unless you unearth a gem. If you mean going for someone either older (that we would hands down dismiss in the past) or someone from the other leagues who may move for a wage boost and there being a risk they do not replicate the same form I would argue there must be players out there like that. Especially if we have an increased budget for that position as a lot of times our unwillingness to go for older or pay a premium have led to us dismiss players. That's the problem - scouting is so good these days that up-and-coming players get snapped up at 18/19, put on massive wages - Haaland, Moise Kean, Martial, Mbappe. There's no one in the championship good enough to make the step up and the bottom half of the PL is slim pickings as well. Maybe an older player like Giroud or Rondon could work as a stop-gap? My knowledge of European and world football is crap since i stopped playing football manager so i'm sure there must be some names out there.

How many proven 1 in 2 or 1 in 3 strikers of a decent age are there about at the moment? Are there any that are realistically going to come to us?

Exactly! It would be a legitimate question if our government’s trade relationship with the Saudis wasn’t so well publicised. Asking it just makes them look so poorly informed and amateur-ish. What are they hoping to achieve?!

Just seen Kay Burley asking some government representative what the government are going to do about the Saudis trying to take us over given their appalling human rights record. The same government that paves the way for them to be supplied with £4bn Worth of UK manufactured weapons a year Kay? I imagine they’re going to do absolutely fuck all. Next question?

Any new news?

It sounds like it's a consultative process whereby the PL are constantly talking to the buyer's side throughout. They'll no doubt talk about the new piracy evidence submitted this week etc. and discuss either what can be done about it or if it's even a factor. All the noises coming out of Staveley's camp are that they're confident of a positive decision and i don't think anything will have changed that. I also don't think the 10 PL teams saying they don't want it to happen has any bearing on a decision at all. Why would it? It's a no-brainer they don't want it to happen, but that's not part of the fit & proper owner's test.

Portugal looked a class above everyone else yesterday, but even back then they were shameless diving bastards! Some things never change ?