WilliamPS

On his manager. He could have had an arm round and said sorry, it’s tactical, I need to get another midfielder on and you’re the unlucky one. Instead he ignored him and left him to the crowd.

Can’t miss an opportunity to wreck a second rival club’s season in just one week. It could be 11 points ahead of spurs or 5 points. And there’s 4 clubs within 3 points behind in the table Another big test but one this team can fly through if they focus.

Their substitution has really tightened up their midfield. They’ll probably come up a bit overexcited for the second half, key thing is not to concede and pick off the third. It should already be over with some of those first half moves. That Tonali chance was a couple’s inches from superb

Huge let off. Need to keep focused and be ruthless here

I think they’ll put on a performance. The suspensions and poor form will give them a kick up the arse. Casemiro and Erikson are experienced players. They may also ditch the 343 due to the suspensions. They are still beatable though, but it’s a game I expect needs to be won, it won’t be a late Christmas present of 3 points

37 points from 19 games is a tremendous achievement, and will mean they can afford a drop off in form and still get Europe easily

DCL could easily be Wilson’s replacement if he’s up for being second choice. He’s like Wilson but without the goals…

It will catch up with them, they’ve sold off so many revenue streams in a few years they’ll be penniless. The mad bit is they waste everything they earn. All their talent is from the academy. Imagine selling the family silver to get Aubameyang etc

It has to be more complicated than just having to sell a player. For example finishing 4th and reaching a cup final means millions in extra prize money, probably prevents any sale. I think a big reason for the issues last season is the club had expected to get further in the CL/Europe, but this season a lot more of the revenue e.g. sponsorship is locked in rather than variable. But overall These are calculated risks the club has to take.

He would surely only go to a CL club or one competing to win a league. A battle for 4th and a shot at the league cup isn’t going to swing it

The real determinant here is price. If someone came in for longstaff at £25m it’s an easy sell, but I really doubt you get that, if it’s £10m then what do you do in the summer? Buy a CM for more than recouped and probably on higher wages. That doesn’t solve PSR issues in the long term. (If there’s someone in the youth setup fair enough, but as far as I know there isn’t.) Have to look at each player in the squad and understand their value to the club vs their value in the market. For me longstaffs squad value is higher than his transfer value below a £20m odd bid.

Be a bananas move by Howe if Longstaff left in January. Willock has constant injury issues, Joelinton also picks up muscle injuries regularly. Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali pick up yellows like I pick up quality street. At the very least it would certainly end up with 3 CMs having to play full 90 minutes with no sub options, more likely it would involve some sort of emergency cover when 2 or 3 were out, all for a tiny sum. Longstaff should be given an extension, he works hard, follows team instructions and despite what some think is a decent PL midfielder, he’s pretty much the ideal squad backup.

This season will be odd as the home games in the second half of the season will be much easier, given already had Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Villa and Brighton. Basically play the the bottom half plus Chelsea and Forest at home now. This should mean great home form and a lot of points banked. The flip side is the away games are really tough - so starting with Man Utd and Spurs away its critical the away form improves. Without getting results away at some (not all!) of Spurs, Villa, Brighton, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal there’s no chance of fourth.

The flow of stories is so damaging. Makes me think he’s also taken away the journos matchday buffet and hospitality and they’re fuming

It’s a winnable game but I’d still have Man Utd favourites. They’re at home, after a reaction and the away form has been pretty patchy this season. If they have three at the back Casemiro won’t be as exposed for pace, and he hasn’t played 3 games in 8 days. This is the sort of test that was flunked last season (this exact fixture as one example) and aced the year before. It will be a big test of character.

Glad Fernandes isn’t available, but sometimes losing a couple of players through injury and suspension from a misfiring team can jolt some of the rest into life - or prompt the manager to try a new system.

Stone cold from Emery there. He isn’t defending his player so you can tell what he thought at the time .

Well the price has to reflect his season so far and contract situation. More like £25m. Even £50m is steep, and the £70m odd is now complete fantasyland Parish will also have to eat the humble pie, which he might not be able to do, even if he knows it’s the reality

Is this true? Pope, Burn, Botman, Trippier, Targett, Isak, Tonali, Barnes all went straight into the team, or were in after a couple of games. Gordon played regularly (every game?) in his first months, especially off the bench. Tino was straight into cup games but Trippier was first choice RB and captain at the time. Bruno was in after maybe 4 games? The only two who have been eased in are Tonali post ban, and Hall. Hall was learning a new position and could have been horribly exposed positionally if dropped in early. A striker is a different prospect Goals are flowing at the moment, Isak is fit and so it’s not a concern for the team but you’d have thought a 6”4 striker could offer something for ten minutes at the end of games and the player would be better for it.

Sighing a £50m player on £100k a week would only cost £7.5m in this seasons PSR account. Am sure that’s within headroom, and if it isn’t it only needs a relatively small sale. IMO a bigger factor will be player availability

You need to rewatch the games from the wenger era. Gentlemanly my arse. Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Overmars et al would like a word. Not that Wenger ever saw it.

I’d prefer not to play Liverpool at any stage - record against them is abysmal.

Rashfords other option is a Sancho or Lukaku style loan deal, where he gets the money and a second chance on the pitch. Would mean Germany, Spain or Italy, doubt they’d do it for a PL club Id support that as Man Utd would still get rinsed for at least 200k pw.

You’re probably right, but I was hoping he was thinking I’m going backwards as a player, how do I sort that out and get playing vs how do I get even more money when my insane Man Utd deal doesn’t get renewed at the same level

With Rashford he’s going to have to get used to a massive salary cut and not being the club man. Both of those have held him back as a footballer but it wouldn’t be a shock if his first move was a disaster, then after an expectations reset he does well somewhere else