WilliamPS

I must be the only one that winces at the knee slides - your cruciates lads your cruciates! 

Man United have an easy run of games now where (hopefully) they’ll do well enough that this circus limps on. The last thing you want to see is them acting to fix their problems 

6 minutes ago, OCK said:

Had an inside tip to put some money on Gotze scoring.

Has Tonali not learned his lesson?!

My guess is if he has bet on Milan games he will get a big two year ban, but this will then be reduced to one year for admitting guilt and cooperating. Probably can’t train until June next year or so.

Fagiolis is a one year ban reduced to 7 months for pleading guilty, so I’d take that as the precedent. 
 

It is a proper kick in the balls as Tonalis ceiling is a lot higher than Longstaffs or Joelintons. Tonali was supposed to be like Botman, Bruno and Isak and lift the quality level.

The club will just have to suck it up. The hierarchy will be livid as this basically costs £18m (wages plus the share of the transfer fee given it’s about a quarter of the contract length)

7 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

Probably a lazy link like, but I'd be really happy with Bowen albeit we'd be putting a lot of our eggs in the English basket a bit. 

What’s wrong with having a load of English players (or any nationality really!), makes no difference if they are good enough

Daft comments from Keagan, and before people go on about wanting men on men’s games, remember it’s the same root cause as all those ex pros who tell fans “you’ve never played the game at a top level so you can’t comment” it’s a way of busted old knackers protecting what they see as their patch from outsiders or defending themselves when their opinions are nonsense

14 minutes ago, Pancrate1892 said:

Maybe eventually we will go

 

                       Pope

Trippier/Tino, schar, botman, hall 

                 Bruno, tonali

     New RWF  Isak,  Gordon

                      Wilson 

 

Joe willocks versatility allowing him to play anywhere behind the striker and longstaff able to come in for Bruno or tonali 

 

 

 

If this was the plan I think we’d have seen it by now

i can see it being used when chasing a game but don’t think we’ll have a formation change this season

Athletic’s problem is they have to stretch out every story as they have so many podcasts and pages to fill. Gets so tedious.

The written bits are the same, a two line update becomes 500 words

7 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

The back four played well from a defensive POV, but going forward there is still not much coming from the left side. You could argue it would be worth giving Hall a try to see if he can offer more bringing the ball out.

Sheffield are a big side at set pieces, so risk taking Burn out of the side for that.

Am not sure it’s always wise to get too deep into team selections. Howe may make some changes not on form or fatigue but based on what he considers the best way to beat them. E.g. This might suit Wilson more than isak, the wide players might reflect their full backs abilities etc
 

For me this is a more important game than Wednesday. Going out first round of the league cup is fine given the CL commitment and beating Sheffield and Burnley is important for a good league season.

1 hour ago, Wandy said:

 

You never hear Man Utd and Man City fans living in Manchester complaining that their success has resulted in them "losing" their club, and you never hear it from Scousers living in Liverpool either.

Man Utd fans complain constantly about what they have became - some fans even made a whole new club!

First time I’ve ever heard anyone claim Liverpool fans don’t complain either. They have whole fan groups to pressure the owners about the soul of the club (groups like spirit of shankly)

(see also the protests about the super league)

1 hour ago, Wandy said:

 

I have nothing against scrutiny but the whole concept of sportswashing is a load of bollocks. Its a term that was probably invented by a bored western-based journalist with a superiority complex, conveniently ignoring all of the ills of western society.

 

If sportswashing was an actual policy by the Saudis then its doing a pretty terrible job. Instead of cleansing their image and helping people forget about all of the controversial policies they deploy, it's actually drawn far more scrutiny and criticism of those policies.

 

The truth is that they don't give a monkey's what the west thinks of them, hence Bin Salman's remarks the other day. Their actions are all about power play, getting a strong foothold in world politics and securing the long-term future of their country. Whether people in the west like their methods of doing this is neither here nor there to them.

 

 

 

They’ve certainly managed to get you defending them.

10 hours ago, Wandy said:

Saudi ownership doesn't bother me in the slightest but I would never try to defend their regime. Not gonna lie though, I chortled when I read that quote from Bin Salman about sportswashing the other day. Anyone who basically tells the Western media to go fuck themselves gets a thumbs up from me.

A free press challenging what a dictator says is a bad thing? Should they be like the Saudi press and have their hands chopped off for asking awkward questions?

If the Saudis want to play with western toys like the PGA golf and PL football then they get the press scrutiny 

The claims of “we’ve got our club back” were always going to ring hollow. NUFC will now become a football mega brand, like Man City or Man Utd, we’re fans are customers and TV deals in Asia more important than local supporters. That is the price of a good team on the pitch. City are unrecognisable from the club they used to be - as is a lot of their fan base.

The only way to have success in the PL without being a brand with a football club attached is if you are taken over by a super rich fan - the Brighton /Leicester model - and that has a ceiling based on the owners wealth.

Just wait until the existing fan base are referred to as ‘legacy fans’!

People can decide for themselves whether that’s a price worth paying, the alternative is a midtable PL existence at best. For some the CL and competing for trophies will be worth it, for other it won’t.

A £100m+ release clause is fairly meaningless as if a club came in for Bruno at that price it would come down to player power anyway - if he wanted to go he’d go and it would be seen as fair to all parties.

Its only when a release clause is stupidly low does it cause problems 

3 minutes ago, Mazzy said:

Richarlison is such a knobhead. Guaranteed to score against us. 

He’s a very out there knobhead though, which I respect. Like Bellamy and Cisse

I guess he has seen the club are looking to buy a RCB in the next 12 months and knows that will be his time over, so a move away now might be attractive. I hope he stays as I like the guy and it’s very short turnaround to buy a replacement. 

However a lot of the poor opinions of Lascelles are based on the Bruce side where being a CB at Newcastle was the worst job in the PL…chaos at both fullbacks (Lewis is the worst fullback defensively I’ve ever seen) and a collection of central midfielders in front who are no longer playing PL - maybe not even championship- football 18 months later (Hayden, Shelvey, Hendrick). If CBs have to make a load of tackles, interceptions and interventions every games, under constant pressure then inevitably the number of mistakes per game goes up. Maldini would have struggled in that set up and Lascelles got a lot of the blame.

One area Lascelles genuinely does have a weakness is with the ball at his feet, and that unfortunately means he doesn’t quite fit with how the team want to play, which makes his replacement inevitable if not an immediate need, but he could have a good career in the PL still.

If anything it will be south Asia and parts of Africa that the Saudi league is flogged to: fans already watching foreign leagues and Saudi offers a slightly better time zone 

South American, US and European fans have their own leagues and interests already.

But South Asia and Africa is a big big market! It’s all the Saudis need, 

Everyone knows Almiron’s limits, as well as the FFP constraints, not worth raging over.

City are the best team in the league, with top defenders, you can’t expect miracles.

Almiron will have a good season, in line with his ability

8 minutes ago, Andy84 said:

Bit of mind games here 

100%
 

A potential team of Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Gvardial, Ake, Rhodri, Foden, Kovacic, Alvarez, Haaland, Grealish, 

That is not weak

The 30m population of Saudi is peanuts compared to the Asian markets, the relationship with the country of Saudi is not about earning more money it’s for the Saudis 

30 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

We’ve each got our own values and the difference isn’t critical; such as between having enough money for the rest of your life, or not having enough money for the rest of your life. It is just robbing a living where you’re not needed or wanted vs. recouping less but actually earning a living by doing what you’re good at. Personally, I think he’d find it a lot easier to look at himself in the mirror with the latter approach to his ‘career’. 

If he has family he could set his kids up for life, or he could play some championship football. Not a hard decision.

And he’s being paid by the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, it’s not like the owners will miss the money. If it wasn’t for FFP no Newcastle fans would give a stuff either.

The club will be approaching both Arsenal and Chelsea and sounding out the best option 

There is probably a preference but this is a good bit of opportunism - both clubs could probably do with making a sale, both clubs have too many players. If they know the club is flexible and pursuing multiple targets it’ll make them a bit more realistic in valuations 

A drop of 50k per week is 2.5m a year, given he probably has another 4 or 5 years on his contract that is probably £10m to walk away from. Don’t see it.

A loan with subsidised wages is the only thing that would get him to leave and I reckon that means he’d be sent to Italy or Spain 

Liverpool seem to keep dossiers on every other premier league club.

Very weird behaviour 

36 minutes ago, Ben said:

Do Real Madrid just say they want a player and he has to go 

 

Thems the rules. 
 

Tbf look at who wins the CL and it makes sense for players. They pay top wages and the biggest transfer fees and you compete to win the CL every year