Thiago

We did the same under Bruce last year but left it until the very end. Outrageous stuff really.

Great point away from home.

To be fair I thought Wood deserved more stick for losing Dunk and giving him a free run.

If a comet was hurtling towards earth I'd back this cunt to head it away from danger.

I'm surprised to see the Bruno slander. The pass to ASM alone was inch perfect and showed his quality. He's clearly got some adjusting to do in terms of where he takes his risks but he pressed and did what was asked.

Fair play to Howe for not starting him. He's not fit and needs a bit more time.

Fucking hell. I could feel the grey hairs sprouting. Bruno has a set of bollocks on him too. This felt like arguably our worst performance of this run but to have the fortune and bottle to see it out is truly massive.

I appreciate the sentiment but I feel like this will only serve to highlight the double standard at play. We have ties to a country that is bombing Yemen so unless we suddenly start showing solidarity to them it's hollow.

Fair play, I totally get why they ask but I don't know what they're expecting from him personally. It feels like the time could be spent more effectively.

I think what I've seen with him, Burn, and Trippier is the clearest evidence of how much damage Ashley's lack of investment did. Trippier improves almost any team in the league, but Burn and Targett have looked leaps above those they've replaced.

I always wondered what spice did to the brain.

Give me a faceless decision maker and a small piece to camera on MOTD of them accepting the award.

It's not, but then you hit the obstacle of whether you try to retroactively apply it. If not, how do you level that? I never championed the PIF cause, but I also struggled to see how they'd block our takeover rgiven who was already involved. Even Roman Abramovich isn't being removed from the Premier League. He's leaving to avoid sanction for something his country has done. Say they passed this law tomorrow, you'd hit the same obstacle as before with us in terms of them arguing that PIF is not the Saudi state and thus can't be held accountable. Even if we presume a drastic change in stance that sees PIF culpable, it wouldn't shock me if they simply sold to a Saudi citizen as something of a puppet owner. It really is a messy situation - modern day club ownership - and why I think it's unfair to demand fans be the voice on this.

I can absolutely see a certain section of our lot suggesting this shows the good side to Saudi/PIF/MBS.

Yeah, if I was moving Southgate anywhere it would be upstairs into a technical role with England. I think a case study of his time with the U21s is a good explainer on where he thrives and struggles. He helped establish a good culture there, ushered in some very promising talent, but tactically he was lacking. Dare I say it's something similar with the senior side. He's not a terrible coach per-se, but he does struggle in those finer detail moments when it comes to game management and the like. Even our run to the Euros wasn't that scintillating. I think he's a bit timid when the pressure is on.

He's getting out of dodge. Anything over the 1.6b he invested will be fine by him.

Fair play, Howe talked a lot about character and attitudes and it feels like the ones we brought in have raised the tide big time.

I didn't say otherwise.

Flogging his board game in Grainger Market?

Yeah, but he changed it to a back three for Villa.

I don't think I've felt quite as many contrasting emotions as watching Staveley talk. She'll say something very flattering about the club, then follow it up with that bad crack about Abramovich/Putin. This is who we're in bed with I guess. It would be pious to think owning our club will change how Saudi operate or what this chooses to be.

It's funny to think that had our takeover not been sorted last year we'd likely be in the midst of litigation against the league right now. The timing would be pretty horrible and I think it might have been blocked.

That leaves their back three (assuming Graham Potter keeps it that way) as Veltman - Dunk - Cucurella. It would be amazing to have Saint-Maximin back and able to go at Veltman.

Ha! She knows what she's doing there. It's a thinly veiled dig at him not paying the going rate but hard to substantiate as such because of the wording.

Where are you from?