Viana

I didn't catch the whole game today - just the second half - but I think the issue is just quality in the final third. Ross Stewart aside, they don't have someone with a ruthless streak. The likes of Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke are good players, but when the ball gets between the posts and they need someone to apply that touch it's lacking. They'll be fine for mid-table in a worst case scenario, but they've definitely reached a point where the owner needs to invest in a pedigreed striker.

It's proper annoying he's out, but I'd be lying if I said it's not also nice to know we have genuine depth to this squad whereby we don't have to rush him back.

You're not wrong, but I sometimes worry if the start doesn't quite go as intended it could turn like Arsenal last year where it was just frustration.

I just hope the place is bouncing tomorrow. We can really overwhelm teams when we do that.

"These cows are the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia...."

Not sure on this one. Aside from the injury I've always felt he's a second striker more than a traditional 10. Those type of players tend to work best in teams that play direct and don't need to play through the opposition.

It crammed a lot into that first episode. Not sure the pacing was right.

It’s not fair to define Caicedo by one poor game against us. I will say, I’m surprised to see a team spend so much on someone that, as yet, has experienced so little of European football. He’s not played in big top four games. He’s not played in the Champions League. Jude Bellingham has that experience. He was way ahead of where Caicedo is. Chelsea/Liverpool are rushing to spend 100m plus on a player in the hope or belief that he’s going to just take seamlessly to all these challenges. I’ve always understood buying potential; that’s what we did with Gordon, but increasingly I feel like deals for young players are front ended without significant incentivized bonuses. I see why sellers demand it, but I am surprised buyers so willingly go along with it.

That’s where Tonali come in. A half way point between Longstaff’s physicality and. Bruno’s technique meaning we aren’t forced to rely on him creating everything.

@Playmaker - the shirts in the photo of the woman and small boy are both legit. I know her husband

Klopp’s comments about them having a ceiling and not being like us look more and more ridiculous by the second.

I wouldn’t say his career has been defined by blistering speed, and in his latter years he’s been elite without ever being defined by his athleticism. As long as you can keep up with the pace of the game - which Bruno can - he’s grand.

Never hurt Modric or Kroos.

I’m pretty sure Honigstein said last week they had a verbal agreement with him.

Darren Eales loved a cryptic tweet to announce signings at Atlanta. He even did it to tease his departure. I’m surprised he hasn’t done similar here.

Yeah. I appreciate familial pressure but to entrust such a huge career to your brother with no experience seems ridiculous.

Part of me thinks Kane is the dog that caught the van here. I don’t think he wants Bayern, I think he wants out of Spurs but still in the league, that way he gets both the goal record and trophies.

I’m surprised we haven’t seen a dip into South America. Valentin Barco reportedly has a 10m release clause. I’d love us to go for him.

I’ll always enjoy Norwich’s head of recruitment calling him an angry little fat man when they signed him.

I assume a Chelsea fan. The same club that will quite happily negotiate a loan deal for a young player provided they sign it one year contract extension. I do think the Kudus situation highlights a potentially subtle shift in how Brighton will do business. I don’t imagine Caicedo’s agents imagined the club would ask 100 million for him, but the Premier league is quite a volatile market. Players that sign for them will now know there’s a chance of a big move but it’s not entirely unfair to suggest the Brighton our pricing him out of a move to Chelsea. I don’t blame Brighton for demanding top dollar, but it will definitely change how players approach negotiations with them, including I would imagine any contract extensions that come up in the near future.

I like Ange but some of his best work usually arrives after being able to overhaul the squad. Not convinced he’ll be able to do that here.

He’s a cripple m8, finished club. Ratio. Jokes aside, any risk starting him?

It was symbiotic. He cost £40m and it showed at times, but he also had the perfect foil in Patrick Roberts.

Diaby has a lot of positives to his game, but I also think we’re at a delicate point tactically. Intensity is our identity as Howe said. We’re about hard work creating the platform to be decisive, but that requires input from all eleven players. If you drop Diaby 15-20 yards deeper and you ask him to press like Almiron is he getting 15-20 goal contributions like at Leverkusen? One of the big critiques I saw of him referenced his lack of involvement defensively. If Unai Emery can accommodate that with his system that’s great, but that’s why I say we’re at a delicate point. We can all see where the opportunities to improve are, but finding that improvement while also not compromising the robust system we’ve built narrows the scope of potential players significantly. We’ll have to change our style gradually, which is what make Howe’s job so tough and why I think they’ve gone for young versatile options whenever possible. We can’t afford a 55m gamble from the Bundesliga because if we try to sell him back you’re lucky if you’re getting 20m back.