Viana

Genuinely the first 18-20 seconds of that are terrifying. There's a 6-7 second period where he doesn't move a muscle.

The Rest Is Football feels like sitting on the table next to them in a pub.

Meh, he ran around a bit but it was consistently hard to see a stand out skill he had. I sometimes wonder if playing on the wing for Burnley did more harm than good. It made him a 'Premier League player', but it reduced his game to run up and down and lump it forward. Now he doesn't seem to know how to play any other way. I hold no ill will to him, but his departure represents another crumbling brick from the Ashley era being removed.

Mildly surprised we haven’t gone for a loan deal late in the window, but I trust.

They had success with Ellis Simms, but honestly, that’s a risky one.

Might be a Michut scenario though where they just feel he’s a bit slight. either way great signing for you guys and adds some genuine dynamism in the final third.

Fulham are very busy bees. Hard to tell how good their window has been even if they sign all the lads they’re in for. Lost their talismanic striker and star central midfielder. Big pieces to replace.

A lovely video that begins with a wonderful take down of Bruce's era via his goal against Leicester, 'We weren't a possession side'

To be fair there's loads of bull shitters on that place. They could tell me the team are playing in red and white on Saturday and I'd hold off putting a bet on. Either way, manager strife, at least one if not two star players wanting out; it's a blow to their momentum. They won't go down, but it does appear they're getting caught in the quagmire of mid table.

It's not looking good, but this is also the risk you run when the model is geared toward buying talent to flip for profit. We saw it with Yohan Cabaye. The second the player doesn't feel like you're being fair they kick off. Typically the definition of 'fair' is stopping them earning more money on a potentially longer deal. I'd take the bit about 'a lot of the players' being pissed off with a grain of salt, but the likes of Pritchard know they aren't getting a big money move at this stage of their career, so if Sunderland don't go up, he isn't going up. Rumour on RTG is that six are inbound tomorrow, but that seems risky as all hell.

He also adds that Clarke is one of many players unhappy with the club's overall direction.

I think you've taken it as a dig at City, but it's not. You've operated with a strategy that delivered a treble. You've won the game. Within that, I've noticed you've started to ship out more and more academy players on big deals. Gyabi, Lavia, Edozie, Larios, Charles, Trafford, Borges, and now Palmer as the biggest of the lot. That's just in two summer windows. Maybe it's more indicative of a world class academy, but it also feels like you've made clear decisions this is not someone you think is worth developing further. Chelsea have tried to do similar but there's is more a course correction from reckless spending elsewhere. My point is, and still remains, that it is more beneficial for a club like City to sell an academy player for 30m to Chelsea than it is someone they bought for 5m. FFP has incentivized exporting academy players when it should be the opposite.

No such thing as a bad Champions League draw. Embrace the big away days, make SJP look special, and just enjoy it.

You'd be mad to try and guess Southgate's approach. Very scattergun.

I can't help but feel like FFP is broken if it makes more sense to sell promising young players to fund shiny new things.

I don't know any of the True Faith people personally, but when I have listened I feel it falls into the trap of many podcasts, which is presuming a podcast is just have a chat and hit record. It leaves the whole thing feeling a bit empty and like a string of adjectives thrown together. There's more nuance to it than that. In my opinion, a good podcast looks like a natural conversation because of how much work goes on behind the curtain to orchestrate that in a way so that it glides between prepared and spontaneous, with the chemistry generated by continuity of panel another factor (none of the big pods have this anymore). It also requires a degree of self-sacrifice from your host/guest to not make it about them. You need a keen eye on when to let the conversation flow and when to move on. I've not tried many of the ones you mention as enjoying, so will definitely load them up. I will also echo what @Wullie says below. It's become formulaic. The journalists aren't truly plugged into a lot of the lesser clubs so they tend to regurgitate the same talking points. That's how the narrative becomes reinforced, and in reality, you can't provide ample context or even alternative viewpoints in those little three or four minute blocks. Cutting a 20-25 minute chat down is hard for an editor, but also a disservice to your audience, and running a 2 hour plus podcast every week probably won't deliver the listen time the money men want. I debated whether different formats would work, or if doing a bi-weekly deep dive pod on one team's situation alongside your standard pre and post game ones would work, but I'm not sure. They're trying to appeal to the broadest audience by covering all the teams, but by doing that they're kind of covering none of them adequately. The fact that the Guardian and Totally Football know they're too big to fail means there's also no incentive to change. The Ramble's approach to European coverage is nice, I just don't know if you'd get that to work for the Premier League. If you have planned to discuss Bournemouth and Iraola's exciting tactical approach and then Liverpool blitz Man Utd 7-0 again you're going to abandon that first pod instantly.

I’d say he’s comparable to Pau Torres. He’s very good on the ball, but his physicality is lacking and that’s always going to be a problem in the Premier League.

I also think Saudi - whether it’s a PIF club or not - can’t be bothered with the scrutiny. It was a fight to justify ASM for 23m, so how are you even trying to price Bruno or someone of his ilk?

Ex-refs as pundits is a terrible idea. It totally undermines the current officials. Being a ref is not an exact science. You laws are set in stone but the situations you apply them to are nuanced and don’t overlap exactly. Having some whopper like Clattenburg disagreeing is just rage bait. It’s embarrassing to see Liverpool fans argue this. He literally told the fourth official to fuck off, and their manager doubled down after the fact. God some of their fans are insufferable.

He didn’t really stand out when I saw him last year but the Stats Lads seem to love him.

I was bored waiting for my wife to finish up in the gym and did some digging. The lad on Twitter cited the 1913 PSV forum as his source. A check on there took me to a thread on Bakayoko specifically. A poster by the name of Armada appears to have a reputation for delivering good info without overstretching. Armada posted a story from GiveMeSport that claims a £30m bid is being weighed up: https://www.givemesport.com/newcastle-interested-in-signing-very-highly-rated-30m-star-at-st-james-park/ It’s unclear if he’s just sharing news or is tipping them off.

Coxy is a good lad and a tidy player actually. He absolutely pulls no punches with colleagues though which amuses me. You’re right it’s a better listen because there’s insight. The Guardian one lately has felt like listening to four improv comics trying new bits of material at the same time. I also wish we had a Newcastle podcast with a bit of sophistication. I don’t need numbers rammed down my throat, but even just a bit of proper discourse about the club and the matches outside of “he was shite” or “how good is he?” I know that means more pre-production and likely more left on the cutting room floor, but I really feel there’s a space for a curated Newcastle fan media platform. Podcasts on classic games, interviews with former players. Just something substantial.

Incredibly poor form from Luton.

Came in to post this. It’s possibly some of Clery’s finest work and does a great job of explaining what Howe’s next step is in evolving the team. We can’t rely solely on wide players to offer width, especially when we know the opponent intends to sit deep. It’s one thing for the two 8’s to drift out wide and create triangles (Bruno is class at this), we also need our fullbacks to offer varied support. The good news is; I think Howe knew this and that’s why we’ve pushed hard for two young fullbacks that like to get forward and contribute in the final third. It would have been a bold move, but if you drop Lewis Hall in there for Burn at half time or on the hour mark and let Trippier sit as part of the three man defence instead of Burn I think you get that second goal.