Viana

Got a link to the claim?

Lost out on Lazio with +15 CL appearances. Sickener.

They were ready to offer 700m to Mbappe for a year. If Al-Ittihad are serious Liverpool will struggle to turn it down. Say they offer 150m, that's a transformative sum for a player that's 31-year-old. If they can poach Benzema you better believe they can poach Salah.

"The ceiling is caving in on us. These clubs like Newcastle and Man City are open air."

This is Almiron's fifth season with us, in that time we've seen a thorough portrait of him as a player. He's a hard working wide player that can press effectively and has a moment of magic in his boots. The problem is that makes the moments he fluffs it more frustrating, and when he's not operating instinctively he tends to tie himself in knots and make bad decisions. He can go long periods of not being involved in a game, and he's painfully one footed. He can beat a man, but typically he needs space to do it. He's not a dribbler like Maxi or Zaha. Despite all of that he had double figures for goals last season. He was effective. We used that same justification for signing Harvey Barnes for £35m. I appreciate people wanted a new right winger, but finding someone with the blend of speed, industry, and goals wouldn't be cheap. I also don't know many wingers in that mould. I was interested to see FB Ref had Jesper Lindstrom - someone we were linked to - as a similar profile, but I always anticipated Eddie would want a CM and a left winger this summer as his biggest deals. That's not a slight on ASM, but he missed a dozen or so games last year. Miggy missed four. It wouldn't shock me if Miggy comes to life in the Champions League.

I'm curious; how would you have done that with the financial boundaries we are known to have in place?

You don't keep your top star for episode one or two. You save him for the main event. Harsh mate I was just posting a clip.

Celebrity fan Alex Hurst makes an appearance it would seem.

I used to get taxis from a guy that was a Sunderland fan, and even he was pretty adamant that it wasn’t how the media painted it. That her dad was a money grabber. Don’t think you can spin it any other way than he knew he shouldn’t be doing it but still did. I’m also not surprised the takeover has destroyed a lot of RTG. We were always within touching distance of them. A good season was avoid relegation and beat the mags. Now they’re looking like hitting ten years in the EFL and we’re talking about Champions League and trophies. It’s back to the 90s, and dare I say more pronounced. If it was roles reversed I’d be devastated. We spent more on a teenager winger we’ve loaned out than they have on a single player since relegation.

The issue I have with Todd Boehly is that he's a co-owner of the Dodgers. There's no way to know how involved he is in roster decisions or construction. I also believe running an American sports team is very different because the pool of coaches and players you can choose from is a lot smaller. With baseball especially it's a lot easier to apply statistics and quantify how good a player is. You just need look at some of Chelsea's recent signings - like Cucurella - as evidence that some players are made by the system they're in rather than natural ability.

I haven't had to perform mental gymnastics to find positives about the new lads. Ten on Ten.

If you’re failing to enjoy the team as it is right now I think football might not be for you. We passed Villa off the park last week and we’re but a few days/week away from the Champions League draw. Anytime I even come close to being frustrated at this lot I just remind myself I didn’t want to even watch some of the last games under Ashley. I’d catch the highlights. Don’t get me wrong, I’m disappointed when we don’t win or frustrated if we fluff a chance, but that feeling disappears so quickly because it’s just fun again. I lost my voice a bit after the friendly in New Jersey because I just want to support this lot. Even if I thought Bruno was having a stinker I’d rather cheer him through it than criticise him. A lot of the players this daft minority want to criticise are the ones who took us on a mad run to escape relegation and then got us into the Champions League.

Well… Sorry mate

I’m really happy with this. We’ve grabbed two promising young defenders that are versatile and have their 20s ahead of them. I imagine Eddie will be slow integrating him, but I’m excited to see what he can bring and how he makes us different.

Just let the season play out a bit. This idea his system is good - and Sir Alex saw something in the tea leaves - is a bold conclusion to draw from one win. We don’t know how good his system is or isn’t. I was saying against us, I saw ways his decisions made it harder. Maybe that changes once the season settles. it feeds into a wider point that I feel most fans are just waiting for full time so they can either commend the winner or berate the loser. There’s no patience in any of it.

Stuff like this. The fact Villa put four past a turgid Everton doesn't suddenly mean Sir Alex was right. That's reactionary analysis. Emery's system against us was one of the major issues because he asked a slow back line to play a suicidally high line against a lightning quick set of attackers.

I get that, but having watched 75% of the interview I think he comes across as a bit of an idiot. There's an irony in him laundering his reputation with that absolute charlatan Bartlett, but yeah, even then he plays fast and loose with 'I did not do' and 'I don't recall' then gives himself a pat on the back for taking responsibility. EDIT: Having now watched it all, I had a few other thoughts. Firstly, I believe a genuine recovering addict wouldn't seek pity for their punishment. Accepting the consequences of your actions is typically one of the first steps. He cites missing out on the World Cup as the real punishment, but that's not how it works. The same is true with his claims of 'well I bet on myself to score'. He ignores that by placing a bet that stands to benefit himself (and potentially others) he has impacted the integrity of the contest. His decisions will likely be influenced. It's not like a goal bonus because that's an additional sum he gains when he scores on top of his salary. He doesn't actively lose money if he fails to score. He doe if he bets on himself to score. I think we have significant work to do on the link between gambling and football, but there's a moment in this interview where Bartlett cites a tweet in which Toney said he'd 'tell it unfiltered' or words to that effect. You see Toney hesitate, pause, and then deliver a word salad with no great direction. I could go on, but Toney knew speaking to a non-journalist would afford him a platform and a string of soft ball questions.

I can't see Arsenal winning the league by the same token. They arguably got away with Partey doing the pick and roll for the penalty then same with him not conceding one. I think they lack a proper pure number nine and that's what causes them to shuffle the ball side to side.

The commentator on NBC made note of Mark Bright, Southgate, then Pardew and said, 'It's a right old Palace reunion tonight.' Townsend; "You can't put Alan Pardew in the same bracket as those two."

Tbf, those interview questions are a tougher gig than it seems.

I'm still surprised Guardiola doesn't want to trust the academy players more. They've got four or five that should be involved, and this just feels like another obstacle for them to overcome.

Big fan of Toney saying he thinks something deeper was at play with his ban, then saying he's not too clued up on the ins and outs of the situation

I kind of admire him fronting up and saying he did it the wrong way. He was a solid prospect, but one that the club did well to get £8m for. Maybe if he'd stayed and won promotion with us he'd have made more. I think it worked out best to have Colo, Taylor and Williamson as a rotation of CBs with a few loanees to fill the space.

A truly horrific situation that has been handled incredibly poorly by Manchester United. They've failed Greenwood, they've failed his partner, and they've failed the players of Manchester United women.

I can appreciate the general sense of frustration attached to lots of strains, but his injury today looked brutal.