TheBrownBottle

No, to buy more elite players a la Spurs rather than Brighton. That’s how Spurs broke into the top six. Speaking of Spurs, our income is less than half theirs - so we cannot compete with them financially, nor with any of the other big clubs - and we’re not growing at anything like the rate necessary to catch them at any point. The shortcut is to sell well and buy well. I think it is wishful thinking unless the rules change in the very near future - not one of the players we have can be said to be off limits.

Yep. I’ve zero bad feelings about the lad, and I can’t imagine that there will be many with truly negative feelings about him when he goes or when his name comes up in any future conversation. Ultimately, attacking players are usually judged on output, unless they are truly exceptional talents and provide moments which live forever in the memory (Ginola, HBA etc) - it is a harsh reality.

It’s hardly agenda-driven to state views on a player - does anyone actually hate Almiron? He’s a hard player to dislike never mind hate or have an agenda against. When I wrote headless chicken I was referring to his need for excellent coaching and intelligent players around him - without it he looks lost. And he was hardly transformative for Rafa - his output was effectively zero. He wasn’t a waste of money, but we overpaid for what he was and is. He absolutely wasn’t a bad signing, but he wasn’t a particularly good one either. He was ok - which on balance is probably closer to what Almiron has been for us. Pretty much ‘ok’.

Perhaps you’re right, though I do also think that some footballers can just have patches where everything they hit goes in. Almiron was playing with a complete confidence for a short period of time. I think Almiron’s greatest weakness is a lack of footballing intelligence; he might well be a genius off the pitch, but on it he’s one of the least intelligent attacking players I’ve ever seen in B&W (my time goes back to the late ‘80s, and I’m struggling to think of many first team regular attackers as lacking in that department as him. Obertan would be one). A proper ‘head down’ winger - which I think explains the pretty shocking ‘assist’ record. Really good forwards don’t play with their eyes down on the ball in the way that Almiron does - which is why I raised Bruno and Trippier (who do have superb vision and intelligence and both can pick a pass), who could neuter Almiron’s headless chicken running and find him in space. Once other teams sussed this, he returned to the mean.

If you include his best bits (which is the fair assessment) he hasn’t been very good. Excellent coaching and having two top players in peak form (Bruno and Trippier) working with him on the right is what it took to make him look like a good PL player for a few months.

Which peripheral players can be sold for good money in a way which would give enough PSR headroom to significantly improve the team / squad? There is a good chance that we lose all our current ‘purples’ in the next 18 months or so. As long as the money is reinvested (no reason to suppose it wouldn’t be) then it might be something we have to accept. I haven’t seen anyone actively happy about this.

Ginola was never the same player for us after that game. I think I heard he was in tears himself in frustration (I was in the away end with my dad and I have never seen footage of the game). The SF draw wouldn’t necessarily have been the same as the numbers would have changed, but we’d have beaten Leeds, Villa or Birmingham C comfortably I reckon.

Writing on here and shagging - that’s impressive

You have to love how red cards in the PL carry into the League Cup (see Pope, N.) but yellows in the League Cup alone compound.

I still think a side has less chance of being dicked over with VAR present against these cunts than if it wasn’t there And I think VAR should be catapulted into the sun.

Just the nine points and a semi final lead then (Hey, at some point we have to have a good Xmas / NY period …)

Historically teams playing at home second leg have a better ratio for getting through ties - though it is marginal. That’s for European games like - not sure re League Cup

Arsenal away first

I doubt we’re playing reserve teams in the semis

Anything is possible but we wouldn’t be favourites. I still think we can win a SF against any of those sides, but I wouldn’t stake big money on it b

I still like Ossie tbh - and after he left he gave us nearly a million quid for Spotty Scotty

Marginally less dreadful than their opposition, which is all they needed in the end

Fuck me both of these are absolutely wank

You’re right of course - it was post-Hillsborough and brought in via the lie that it was caused by pissed-up Liverpool fans. It’s a daft rule which is applied to no other sport.

I’m never criticising Dubravka again after watching these two knackers in nets* *probably

I’ll never understand the ‘might as well get knocked out now’ attitude. Fuck that let’s get to a final

Yeah, the midfield issue looks like it’s much closer to being ‘fixed’. The Bruno / Tonali switch just looks so much better.

I agree with all the points you’ve made, just to be pedantic though you can drink inside of stadiums just not within ‘sight of the pitch’. I’m being pedantic as it always was a fucking bizarre idea that alcohol is absolutely fine unless mixed with the sight of green grass.

It was banned when a pissed-up son of King Abdulaziz shot dead a British diplomat in the ‘50s. The king banned it to prevent a similar ‘embarrassing’ incident occurring again - and the House of Saud don’t blink at applying those rules to everyone.

Worth remembering that the alcohol ban in KSA isn’t for cultural / religious reasons …