sushimonster85

Heading to Tynemouth for this tomorrow. Getting in The Priory early as they're not doing table bookings.

My brother in law is a Celtic fan. He seems to think Tierney never got injured till he joined Arsenal.

Yeah, losing this wouldn't feel anywhere near as bad as if we somehow muddled our way to a cup final under Ashley, only to lose it. Whatever happens next Sunday, you have to imagine this will be the first of a number of cup finals over the next 10 years or so.

Seems like it's going to be a shootout between Man U and Chelsea.

Same, I'm at that stage where I just want it to be over one way or another. I'm sure in the future when we're in cup finals all the time it won't induce this same level of sickness, but this first one is killing me.

I would have agreed on PSG, but remember, they're likely going to lose Mbappe to Madrid this Summer. And if they don't, Madrid have their Mbappe fund to use on players. They have spent the last 2/3 seasons financially preparing to make a move for Mbappe. And they didn't splurge it away when he didn't come last Summer.

He is at the level where he could easily go to a Madrid, PSG or City. Whoever Man U's new owners are will want to make a splash in that window as well.

I can see him coming even if we finish 5th/6th assuming he has no CL clubs in for him.

This would be an absolutely insane signing. Mind, he won't have a lack of suitors.

I think that last part makes this entire thread a little tricky at the moment. Sure we have a lot of money but, given the sense we have shown so far in terms of spending/recruitment, what can be classed as 'realistic' will alter drastically based on whether we get CL or not. Both in terms of how much we feel we can spend, and whether the players will want to come. We get CL and suddenly there aren't too many players who can be ruled as unrealistic. No CL and there's no way a player like Kane (already into his 30's by next season) is going to come on board at what's probably seen as still a pretty early stage. That being said, we get CL and my dream move is actually for Ilkay Gundogan. Elite level, can play a number of different CM roles, Would instantly (and drastically) improve us, and at that age where I imagine City will be looking move him on soon.

Please, that bloke looks like someone let half the air out of a Sven Botman balloon.

I wish people would stop with the Adidas concept kits. Not because it's annoying in itself, but more because it pisses me off we still likely have at least one more season, potentially multiple, with Castore.

Same. Game over, man. Game over.

I may not quite be such an old man as I was just a bairn when all these kits came out, likely didn't feel the money pinch of it the same way my parents did. Has the reasoning behind the two different sponsor logo's ever been talked about? As a kid I was always a little disappointed as I had the blue star shirt, and in my head it felt like the team wore the McEwans Lager shirt more. I did like how, whilst there were three keeper tops, I only ever recall Mike Hooper wearing the orange/yellow one. Went with his ginger hair.

Agree with this. None of the elite sides play in a way where they can facilitate someone having the type of instinctive free role that people think ASM thrives with. Any elite manager has a pretty specific system/strategy in mind with little to no room to carry one player in the side existing outside of the system.

Nice, he could do with putting a bit of bulk on.

If Willock is out and we do end up having to go 4-2-3-1 I'd actually like to see Max tried as the central 10 behind Isak/Wilson. Let him roam/make runs, and relieve him of some of the tracking back the wide forwards need to do. Play Gordon left and Almiron right.

To be honest, I imagine both a LB and a CB are on the list for the Summer, especially considering we will likely be playing some form of European football. Think we will get in a young CB who will slowly (over the course of next 12-18 month) been phased in in place of Schar. And I think ideally Howe want's the left side to carry the same attacking threat as the right, which means an LB who is far more accomplished in the attacking areas of the game. Lewis and Lascelles will likely both be on their way in the Summer, BDB becomes a great squad option who can step in at LB or CB without missing a beat. Targett a more dedicated back-up LB.

Agree. I say go Neves at likely around half the cost (surely he's be in the £40m-£50m) range.

Same. Players come and go, this could have a last impacting on the club for next 20-30 years.

Sounds like it's something separate from All or Nothing. Likely as they will want to do a few seasons as we grow.

This is very true. You see journos saying it all the time, but ESL never went away, it already exists, and it's the Premier League. We now live in a time where we hear of a Premier League side in the bottom 3 splashing out 50/60m in a transfer window, and don't thing much of it. When actually that's more than the combined spend of a lot other leagues in Europe.

This always winds me up. The governing bodies put all these road blocks in place to ensure what they would call 'sporting integrity' but is actually there mainly to ensure 'historic' clubs who may not normally be able to keep up don't get left in the dust. Yet they have no issue at all with a guy buying a club to essentially turn it in a giant advertising billboard for his own business, paying vastly under market value for the space. Don't get me wrong, I think FFP should absolutely be a thing in one form or another, but it should be there to ultimately ensure that clubs are run in a sustainable way. The test should be, if the owners were to walk away from the club tomorrow, could it survive without immediate huge disruption.

I imagine the absolute harshest penalty they may end up with is a 10-15 point deduction for next season. Which would likely cost them the league, but not a CL spot. Anything harsher and City (and their fans this time) will happily get the ESL train moving again. Which would destabilise the entire league.

I have the exact same issue. Love the actual strip (helps that there is a large Celtic supporting contingent in my family so always partial to some green and white), however almost scared to pick it and wear. So far as the match goes, as much as it pains me to say it, the way things went against West Ham really does suggest starting Gordon over ASM. Isak also needs to start. I don't think we're at the point where we should completely change the formation, so bring him in for Wilson, rather than alongside.