Erikse

The only reason I'm not stressing is because I've been watching the Villa game aswell. I'm even more relaxed after that red.

Man Utd has been all over them the entire half tbf. Been saying it all along, Villa allways struggle against Man Utd.

Our lack of finesse offensively is really showing today.

Feels like we're rushing too much when attacking.. Good from Livra there though.

Just like Kelly would be a world beater in Serie A. Oh, wait.. We sold Chris Wood to Forest and then he got 20 goals in a season. Sometimes players just do a lot better once they go to a different club, whether that be confidence, system, or something else.

Inter is in a Champions League final. Their second CL final in 2 years. Napoli beat them to the trophy, and McTominay beat all of these players to the player of the year award. They have players like Dumfries, Lautaro Martinez and Barella. Why didn't these players achieve the trophy and PoTS in such an easy league? Last season the only team able to stop Leverkusen was Atalanta. They also eliminated Liverpool.

Remember when having a big celebration after a cup trophy was apparently ridiculous? I suppose they wouldn't celebrate a promotion all that much then.

The man in the arena.

Was a bit puzzled back then by comments about how a point didn't change much, and at the time some fans didn't seem to value that point all that much (possibly due to their own results predictions). In a run in like this every point can be crucial as all the other results never end up going exactly how you expect them to.

According to various sources we had quite a bit of money to spend this summer. Especially if we get CL we won't sell players like him unless a very high bid comes in. We don't need to, and there's a lot of value in having quality players who already knows the system and the teammates. That by itself makes up for a price tag that just about no club will meet (and that's before the young and english tax).

The media never even bother checking what we paid for someone who is being linked to other clubs. They don't care.

https://www.premierleague.com/news/4316309 Bold move.. Maybe he just want other people to cap him. Well played if so.

You were so fast, I edited it right after.

It was mostly just Burn, Targett and an out of form Chris Wood. Trippier played like 2-3 games and got injured for 3 months or so. Bruno sat on the bench through our massive streak after january, and he barely got minutes at all until there were only a few games left. Howe likes to do that with players from other leagues, like a "bed in" time.

Probably added to his "chances created" stats.

"Happy to join this very big cl.. uh.. allways wanted to play in the Champi.. uh.. what should I say again?"

I would assume that they had already decided he will get a fresh season a long time ago. I think that was allways the plan. Getting them to a european final and then lose it doesn't change that. If the plan was to be patient I don't think they'll do a sudden 180. Just a random example: Klopp lost the Europa League final with Liverpool in 15/16. The next season they got top 4 (which was rare for them in those times).

He'll get a fresh season regardless. The start of it atleast.

I think this is pretty much it anyways, apart from a freak result where Everton smash us and Chelsea go past us despite losing. In that case we would drop out even if Villa lose. Not realistic at all though.

Except if Chelsea finish 7th and beat Betis. But yeah, it's wild how many points 7th will get this season.

It's true that your predictions have been spot on so far in terms of what games are the most difficult ones to get the points from. Although Arsenal were a bit lucky, that one was allways going to be tough. Especially when Rice was starting. Not sure we would have beaten Chelsea 11 vs 11 tbh, but hard to say as our tactic could have been different.

Well.. tbf to them (if that's true), you just know he will go back to being the Gordon of last season if they sign him.

Bit off topic, but here we go. As much as I wanted Tonali in for Longstaff, I wonder why he didn't get a start lately? I know Longstaff is limited, but Miley and Willock hasn't been doing that much at all, and we even changed formation. I guess it's purely from a tactical perspective as Tonali has his role?

I agree, but really it all depends on the price. At a certain price most people here would sell. At a low price just about anyone here would keep him. I think I wouldn't sell below £75m personally. At £75m+ it starts becoming difficult imo, as everyone has a price. It's just that making so many changes in one window is kind of risky. Gordon knows the system and his teammates. We already need to bed in some signings in other positions. I don't think we will get £75m+ anyways.