Viana

I mean, I’m open to hearing your case for him, but I’m happy to illustrate why I’m not interested in him. - he’s 26 years old, so I wouldn’t consider him a project player. You’ll improve his form but I debate if you’ll improve his quality. - we’re discussing a 31m bid to a direct rival for a player that right now would be Sean Longstaff’s backup. - he’s older than longstaff by a year. - I’m unconvinced he could be a versatile midfielder like Longstaff because his passing range and technical skills aren’t strong enough (I wouldn’t say Sean’s passing is great either fwiw). - if we’re discussing midfield we have greater priorities than him.

Because it’s like winning the lottery and buying a car off gumtree.

The thing is, this won’t be like Leeds away where they crowded the box. Chelsea will push up and they will leave space. They also made numerous bad decisions on the ball tonight and that potential is increased given we love to press. While I don’t see the score being the same as the West Ham game, I could see a repeat in terms of rhythm.

Do you have a link to that episode?

I’ve ditched both. The Guardian has the occasional decent episode on a specific topic, but week to week it offers very little insight I can’t gleam elsewhere and with more depth. Totally Football is better in terms of insight, but it’s littered with in jokes. I find both are guilty of the pundits thinking they’re the star and trying too hard to be funny. I could tolerate that if I felt I was learning, but more often than not you can smell James Richardson’s apathy and Glendennig’s lack of preparation unless the game was shown in the pub.

It likely depends on where they see Ashby at in his development.

That pod is the definition of an echo chamber.

Don’t get me wrong; there were positives about the deal that clearly lead Shola to strike it. At the same time, this is where Shola should be performing the due diligence and evaluating if there’s actually enough minutes to go around. Hearts were out of Europe by the time he joined so it’s not like he could have got minutes there either. Thankfully it’s one six month spell, but I’d be surprised if Shola is in the job much longer. If he does stay I think it’ll be with significantly more involvement from higher ups.

It all depends really. The challenge for Pochettino is figuring out how to play. It’s why I don’t think you can operate in the way Abramovich used to and win stuff anymore. You need some guiding principles as it relates to who you’re signing. If we assume Poch is going for a 3-4-3 you need to find the right partner for Enzo Fernandez and also figure out the CF position. Either way, there are several weak areas in that squad and he has to devise a tactic to make the most of those they’ve invested in on long deal and make up for those aforementioned squad weaknesses.

Don’t be afraid, it’s a normal thing to ask.

By sending him to a team that was stacked with options in his preferred position - including a Japanese international they signed two days before Kuol joined on loan. You’re placing serious expectations on a player to break into that and hold his role. That’s fine if we are sending Elliot Anderson, but Garang hadn’t played many full games in the A-League to start with. Throw in a new culture, a better level, and that’s a significant change for someone that needs consistency. Hearts owe us nothing so as soon as he didn’t show early on he was going to be a bench option.

Any word on the fee?

It’s almost like Shola can’t judge talent lol.

The fact the owners saw he was a total charlatan early doors is one of the more joyful moments.

He’s been great since he moved there.

I think as a scout or even in youth development he could be very good.

I do feel sorry for Rafa in a way. He planted a tree he never got to sit under with the takeover.

One of the many redemption arcs of the squad. Happy for him.

The elbow on Almirón from Souttar was bad.

Get this lad rested for Sunday. One last game of the season and a final push.

Cheers Michael. This was the only good deal you brokered in 14 years.

Quite embarrassing and speaks to someone that was being fed lines by agents and was all too happy to post them. They’ll make mistakes, but they’ve made so many good calls, which makes this all the more ridiculous.

Yeah he’s not a bad player, but sometimes when he gets the ball it’s not obvious to him what to do. As you say, games will fix this.

He looks of the level, but I think he needs more football to figure out how he can consistently cause teams a problem.

Oddly poetic that it was Leicester tonight. I remember them battering us 5-0 early on and it was very humbling. Now instead of defending for a draw we were the ones battering them. The win would have been lovely, but the achievement meant so much more. On to Sunday and hopefully a rousing last game before a well-earned break.