sushimonster85

Thank fuck. J7 Bruno Tonali Coming to cinemas 27/8.

Still think our biggest incoming fee on any one person could be Ashworth.

Jesus, our first 'deal close' followed by 'actually deal not that close' of the Summer and it's only the first day of May. Gets earlier every Summer it feels like. Going to be a loooong window.

I doubt it, but even so. If there's a period of gardening leave tied to a compensation fee in his contract I don't really see arbitration doing much in this circumstance.

I don't really mean how the game went, you could argue we were lucky to escape all three games with what we got based on how it went. More just on paper you'd look at these games going in and thinking we really should be picking up 3 points.

Have to bounce back with a win here. Feel like 6th or 7th is all going to come down to the game at Old Trafford, but can't afford any more daft dropped points at home. I still get angry when I think where we'd be with those extra 4 points from the Luton and Bournemouth home draws.

Better be fast, probably only have till October...

I imagine his xA numbers spiking (in a small sample size) this season isn't a fluke. I think it's part of his game Howe & his team will be working on. He could have had a couple of assists on Saturday had things turned out differently.

Yep. We're going to start (or just about in Tonali's case) next season with Bruno, Tonali, Joelinton, Willock, Longstaff, Miley, & Anderson all (fingers crossed) fully fit and ready to go. From no one to an actual selection headache.

Have to bring this up everytime I see it. In the next couple seasons (at least) if we want to have a full squad for UEFA competitions Longstaff isn't going anywhere. We weren't able to register the maximum amount of players for CL this season as we didn't hit the home grown quota. We're not about to start selling the HG assets in the squad. He will be a squad/bench player next season, but he isn't going anywhere.

Forgive my ignorance, this puts them into the league below the women's super league, right?

Same. Always nice to see Eddie relaxed and having laugh. He generally seems so focussed and intense it's nice to see the other side of him every now and again.

Lads got thighs like Roberto Carlos.

Don't think anyone is saying it should just be a slap on the wrist. But the current punishment, which is multiple times worse than if you racially abuse another player, is clearly wrong. Think the logical thing would be banned until you complete your rehab program. Then second and third offences is when it starts to get to 8 months/1 year territory.

Playing in the new kit early only happens when there's no change a kit manufacturer. No chance Castore will let us play in an Adidas kit while they still have time left on their deal. Doubt Adidas will even be able to officially unveil the kit while the Castore deal is active.

Aye, in an ideal world where Tonali isn't banned, and Joelinton and Willock both remain largely fit I'm not sure how many minutes he would've gotten. Likely just cup games and appearances from the bench where we need energy to see a game out.

All this has gotten me thinking of a (semi) interesting tangent. Which (PL era) manager under-performed the most in relation to what they had in terms of squad and funds? Guess the easy/obvious answer in Gullit. Though I think McClaren gives him a pretty good run. I actually think in terms of PL finishes Bruce had us almost exactly where we deserved to be, not that he had much to do with it at all.

There's always been a kneejerk, whiny section of the fanbase that want the manager sacked as soon at the first sign of trouble. Was going to say it feels like they've gotten worse, but I remember Bobby was getting a much worse time from them towards the end of his reign than Howe is currently getting.

Hoping enough of this sort of stuff ultimately dissuades the FA from adding to Sandro's ban. Hopefully either a suspended ban, or they give him one but state that it has been backdated so it's run concurrently with the existing ban.

Howe will be here next season, which I am happy with. Granted we have been poor for large parts of the season, but there's been more than enough mitigating circumstances to offset that. He has earned another crack at it next season. Now, if we're in a similar spot midway through next season without the injuries & suspensions, and after another Summer of big spending, that's when he may be in trouble. But I honestly don't see it. Really think he will have learned plenty from this campaign, and with additions to the squad can see us back challenging for that 6th/5th spot next season.

Pretty sure no long term decision has been taken either way. Or if it has they haven't communicated it yet.

I think the whole 'would you want to move or remain' question is actually not the important one. Of course the majority are going to want to remain at SJP. The actual question is 'how opposed to the idea of moving are you on a scale of 1-10?' Because I'd rather remain at SJP, but when put into the context of moving means more seats, easier to get tickets, quicker catch up the super clubs of the world, then I'd actually only come in at a 3 or 4 on that scale.

People moaning about the need to becareful with Miley's minutes need to see the bigger picture. The damage isn't done immediately, it gets felt later on in their career when they start to drop off at a younger age than the players who weren't playing week in, week out till their early 20's, rather than at 17/18.

I don't know, I have been trying to figure out just why this is more favourable to the vast majority of PL clubs to what's in place already, and think the promise of financial punishment rather than points could be a large part of it.

That Falk bloke is definitely not a semi-reliable source.