Nine

No I understand that hes not a Ben Arfa type that we'd have to carry defensively but to be fair I didnt realise he was as much as of a work horse as you are saying here.

Woodman was on less than 5k p/w apparently, PNE highest earners are 20k+ so they likely paid a fee and are defo paying his entire wage.

That’s fair enough but that’s a stat that gets pretty inflated when teams play like we were the last 6 months of the season, Willock and Longstaff actually have higher numbers than Joe does per 90. Playing a 3 of Bruno, Longstaff and Willock wouldn’t exactly fill me confidence that we have enough overall in midfield to stay in it vs a high energy press that they would be up against a lot of the time in the PL, I guess all I’m saying is that I think it’s got to run a bit deeper than what those stats suggest on the surface of things. A 3 of Paqueta and Bruno ahead of a beast DM is dreamland stuff but also the most effective way to play them together imo.

I actually disagree with this. I don’t think that midfield 3 is industrious enough vs the better sides of the PL, it would probably work decently against the bottom 6-8 sides but would struggle against the rest. To play Bruno and Paqueta in the same midfield I think they need to both be the front 2 with a very good Fabinho type DM behind them, a lot of us have our heart set on Paqueta but for me I just can’t see how he fits into this side in his natural position if Bruno is to play as the DLP.

Rabiot is a non starter, horrendous record of bad attitude, huge ego and already on a big wage.

The DCL link doesnt add up for me, imo its more likely we are being used to flush out interest or hes after a new contract.

Absolutely no chance for us, hes currently on 300k pw and will have far more appealing (CL level) offers compared to the stage we are at right now. Great player though and would be a good fit for the club but realistically we are years away from this level of signing.

Did I hear him say something to the effect of 'If you go and watch them train you can see we have wasted alot of money' Wont be popular with the players

They’d really do best just avoiding engaging with anyone being negative at all, nothing good can come of it

I really fucking hope we sign someone within the next week as the twisting will already be unbearable by then

He shouldnt even be replying to them

Tbf it was 1-1 until 88 mins or something Just a bit surreal to save 2 pens in a game and still lose it, bet Darlow was gutted

That was such an odd game, Lansbury got 2 sent off winning 2 pens but Darlow saved both of them. And yet we still ended up losing

Anyone heard anything about the wage they've got him on?

Expect them to do well next season, World Cup might throw a spanner in the works as we don’t know how it’ll pan out yet but on paper they will be going in a lot stronger then last season

That’s a move that makes total sense tbh, good upgrade on Moura

We also spent £100m in Jan though, £200m over 2 windows is a pretty heavy spend for any club. I was expecting us to spend anywhere up to 150m this window (with sales) but I think it’ll be closer to 100m now unless we get one big surprise signing.

Pope won’t go anywhere to sit on the bench for 80% of the season. He’s been starting every PL game for his club for the past 5 years, at his age he will have one more guaranteed big contract and in the back of his mind will also be thinking about England. If Pickford gets injured he may well be no. 1.

Makes no sense to get rid of Darlow and bring in Pope, both him and Dubs would be expecting to start so one would just end up unhappy. If we really want a new starting keeper we will be looking at selling Dubs surely.

If the finances being reported for that deal are accurate then we would have signed him if we really wanted him.

Theres a difference between criticism and just wanting him sacked though.

Truth is he was never really fancied by alot of fans, hes not glamorous, he doesnt playing exciting football, hes a bit of a boring bloke in interviews etc. But he has done a good job with that team, let us not forget what he inherited after Allardyce.. he ripped up that team entirely and brought in an almost entire new generation of players. Got us to a semi and a final.

Wouldnt believe a few nations league results would inspire such an emotional reaction towards the man who 12 months ago had us in our first final for 60 years, but there you go.

Yeah they are . You dont understand man, its easy to just rip up all of Southgates progress over the last 6 years and put someone new in and expect them to do better 6 months before a World Cup. Easy.

Denmark ARE a good side, Ukraine are not but we beat them easily as you'd expect. Germany is never an easy fixture, they put 4 past Portugal to get out of their group. Czechs made it to the quarters. You can slate Southgate for his tactics and such all you want but saying we got gifted a run to the final is just ridiculous.