Mazzy

Was really unsure about benching Palmer because City don't always start the season very well, but I couldn't bring myself to do it considering the other options I have.

Even if that is true, the entire football world knows how much more attackers/goalscorers are worth compared to defenders.

Missed the LIVE press conference. When is it usually up to YouTube? Around midday? or am I missing remembering, last season feels a long time ago.

Yeah, fuck signing an 18 cap International whose played over a 100 games in the Premier League and is under the age of 25. What an utterly awful signing that would be.

35 games a season isn't a "squad" player

Yeah obviously not, why are you assuming he'd be a squad player here? You think Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali play 100% of games this season, because they wont. Longstaff will play 35 games this season atleast, just like he as in the last two seasons. That's not a squad player role

That would change if Longstaff was sold though. Not that I think we will sell him, just that Gallagher would be the ideal replacement if we did.

I don't disagree about Tripper and if he'd had the summer off then he'd start, no doubt about that at all.

Gordon is fit and ready having played near zero minutes this summer. Tripper played almost every game whilst being injured for England and Kelly is recovering from his injury back end of last season. Different circumstances. Barnes would have every right to feel a little hard done by but it's not the same.

And if Longstaff is sold? (last year of contract now so not impossible to imagine). Gallagher would be an ideal replacement.

If Hall and Tino do not start in their respective full back positions against Southampton then they would have every right to be angry. They've played the entire pre season, in Halls case done exceptionally well and deserve the chance to start. Tripper isn't fit yet and arguably neither is Kelly. Both should start without a doubt

The way I'm looking at this is, if waiting until the last week of the transfer window this summer saves us £10M (for arguments sake, £5M on Guehi deal and £5M on Madueke) then I'm 100% on board with that. That £10M could well be the difference between us then being able to strengthen slightly in January OR not having to sell someone like Sanusi next summer to comply with PSR. It's obvious we'll be bring another CB in, whether that's I Guehi or not, who knows yet.

I know it's all guesswork but this is pretty much the crux of it. Guehi probably isn't worth £65/70M considering everything. BUT, if we lose Schar or even Burn/Kelly for any longer than a couple of matches, having Guehi there is then absolutely worth paying that £65M. Imagine having to play Krafth and Burn CB pair in the League Cup Final or FA Cup Semi against any top side. There's no doubt we need a top quality CB in ASAP and Guehi is that.

I'd argue £65M for a 24yr old who could potentially be the heart of the defence for at least half a decade isn't getting rinsed. Alternatively we could spend £30M on a CB who ends up being a poor buy and having to get rid in a couple of years.

Joachim Anderson came out today and said he wants to stay. So either he's already basically gone OR he genuinely wants to stay and we don't have to worry about that.

"Sticking points likely to be every single thing that a transfer involves aside from the price".

No definitely not but few GKs have the whole package nowadays when playing out from the back is so essential. Even Allison.

Perfect replacement for them really. Can probably sell Allison for more than whatever it costs to bring Mama in.

Don't like the look of that big IF.

Chelsea have done well out of us recently and could do well out of us over the next week or so. 20% of whatever we pay for Guehi and then potentially a fairly sizeable fee for Madueke, plus the fee we paid for Hall last year and this summer and the sell on fee they got from Tino when he signed. Talk about a constant stream of income. Still down understand how they can spend like they do but they've got this kind of stuff down to a tee at least.

Great first game for us. Really good chance to have an exciting start to the season. Promoted clubs can be tricky but out of all of them I think Southampton are the ones you'd want to play first. I don't think our first 5 games are as easy as alot of are making out so this one is massive to get some confidence going into an away game at Bournemouth where we don't tend to do that well. Plus then two really tough games in Spurs and Wolves.

Chelsea FC ofcourse famously well known for their ability to see potential in younger players coming through. We have two in Tino and Hall and maybe another soon in Guehi and then you see the two most obvious examples of De Bruyne and Salah, I could go on but you see my point. Other clubs and/or their fans wanting rid of players is rarely a reason not to sign someone.

FBref isn't the be all and end all of stats by any means but it gives a good overview of a player's strengths and weaknesses. Botman and Kelly are a little less meaningful because of the fact they've played alot less minutes than the others, so they aren't that accurate particularly. What this does show is that actually Dan Burn would be the best partner for Guehi at this moment in time until Botman is fit. Guehi and Schar would be somewhat lacking in alot of areas defensively, although immense at ball progression and retention.

I'd argue it's more to do with the drop off in quality in those particular positions and what that then means for the teams as a whole rather than the current quality of player in that position. Whilst Lascelles is injured, the next CB in line if Schar is out for any length of time is Krafth (who isn't actually a CB let's be honest here) and there is a HUGE drop in quality if that happens Whereas if Miggy is injured then Murphy comes in or even Barnes/Gordon swaps and there is no drop off in quality or output (arguably more output if Barnes or Gordon plays at RW instead). It's why we were so desperate for Tosin at the start of window, that would've sorted the defence for this season and meant money could be spent elsewhere (RW, maybe even GK).

I also seem to remember at the time the fee we paid for him seemed on the high side. Don't think anyone thinks that now though.