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3 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I reckon they've got an offer and want a second to ramp up the price. Why else would they open their mouths? They've probably been offered just enough to sell and not as much as they'd like. 

 

 

1. Has there? I've never seen this type of reporting before. 

2. Why couldn't Oman, Bahrain or Kuwait buy us? 

3. They want to build an NBA team in Vegas. Their redbird mates have just bought Milan for about 1/3 of the value of us. Seems an easy way to free up cash for Vegas and keeping a prestige European football name. 

1- They do it practically every year and then wait for the offers to come in before rejecting them:

This is what it's all about. Come on redmen!!

1- this same story comes out every 2 years. Hedge funds always use real life offers to value their assets

2- there are no oil states left to buy us

3- there is a massive recession coming and 2023/24 is going to be really fucking hard for most people. These are the times when cash rich fuckers get even richer, so it could well be a play to free up some cash to invest in undervalued shares and assets 

Just now, KMD7 said:

Part of me wants Arsenal to win it tbh, they're a well coached team that play good football. The bigger part of me though wants them to suffer at the hands of the cheats like we have and see how they like it. I doubt they'll last the course anyway so it won't matter.

They're a bunch of cunts who have had no injury issues, and no CL to distract them. They'll finish at least 20 points behind top place.

He hasn't been consistently good enough since we won #6. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

2 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

The reality is we've 4 players out of contract this season

 

Chamberlain

Keita

Milner

Firmino

 

Surely in an ideal world we replace all 4. But we won't get a fee for any of them, so our budget probably allows for just 1 or 2 of them to be replaced. In that works surely Bobby is the bottom of that list and we probably need to find a way to keep him. I've no doubt we should be looking to bring in someone younger, but we know that's not possible. 

I think our budget is based on wages more than transfer fees.

3 hours ago, Reckoner said:

 Chelsea look quite similar to us today. Bit shakey at the back, often devoid of ideas going forward. No urgency. Just flat.

The 2 teams who played a dozen more games than the rest of the top 6, and 20 more games than everyone else last season, in a season that started in July.

Go figure.

The only man in football telling it like it is

https://youtu.be/SsPsMmyMn34

5 minutes ago, Kevin D said:

I didn’t watch a lot of City games last, or any, year, but Allison and Mane were definitely better than him last season and Thiago has a pretty strong case, too.

Salah was sensational in the first half, of the season.

Next season, we're going to set up for a 4231 and Trent will be the right sided 6, with Gomez and Ramsey at right back.

You heard it here first.

His link up with Diaz was on the money versus Arsenal. They'll be awesome together.

If we're playing 2 up top, keep him for another season.

If we're going back to 433 then we need someone similar to Nunez, as the way we have to set up with one or the other is totally different.

It's a throwback to Houllier tactics.

If that didn’t work with Villa, he's not going to cut it as a top level manager.

Sadio Mane is fucking boss

Zaha is fucking shite 

On 20/10/2022 at 12:52, etho said:

He'd have to work defensively but if you tried him on the left in a 4-3-3 with Bobby then you could get them both running in behind. Not suggesting it's the solution but it's definitely a tactical option

He'll never ever play on the left of anything for us. He's a proper #9

2 hours ago, Lee909 said:

 

 

 

I like the cut if his jib

56 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Agree with every bit of that, but I still think criticisms of the midfield situation and how it was handled by the club are very valid. We're well stocked in defence and up-front when everybody's fit, but we badly needed Arthur to be a real option rather than a desperate and ill-fated punt. 

Fair enough.

Although you could argue that midfield is only really an issue in this double 6 system because of Fabinho's form.

It is definitely an issue if we play 433, which I don't believe we'll go back to now, and certainly not before Diaz is back.

And it was definitely an issue in the summer.

But we've got a new system now that will need time to perfect, and a new focal point of the team that will need time to settle properly. The injures aren't helping, and the world cup may or may not work in our favour.

And yet I'm STILL banking on us finishing top 2.

We just played a massive game Sunday evening.

Every club in the world suffers from their midweek game after a game like that, or from the Saturday game after a big CL game.

Especially with 2 centre halves and their 2 main left wingers out, and with their main fullbacks just returning from injury.

Irrespective of injuries, this happens every single season since whenever they introduced these shitty TV fixture timings.

It has happened with Houllier, Benitez and Klopp every single season.

Sometimes I wonder if people actually pay attention to how football works.

Oh, and we fucking won,  and should have won by a bigger margin.

16 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Fucking shocking the way Mo gets treated by PL refs. You see it every game, he gets tug to the ground then the oppo cunts stand over him gesturing a dive and the refs lap it up.

The real xenophobia 

1 minute ago, El Rojo said:

Elements have definitely been bought off, but there was some fair reporting over the last few days too. It's probably only going in one direction from now, though. 

 

Yeah, perhaps I should have been clearer about the television media: Sky, BT, etc

If there's one thing that is in very little doubt after last weekend, it's that the media have been entirely bought off by Adu Dhabi, with Saudi soon to follow suit.

This is going to cause unbelievable reputational damage to their rivals in the medium to long term.

52 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

I thought Bobby played well on Sunday, but I don't agree there was a noticeable negative difference when he went off. In fact quite the opposite. City had got us under the cosh at that point and we looked dead on our feet. Bringing on Nunez for Bobby gave us a different threat and relieved some of that pressure and Nunez became a very good out ball for us. Inevitably, as we scored in the period Nunez was on the pitch, they were pushing for a goal and we're trying to play on the break more, but I thought we coped with that really well because we were so effective on the counter during that period. 

Agreed. The good thing about this formation, once Diaz is back, is that we can rotate Nunez, Jota, and Bobby without much of a drop off.

The same for the double 6. Thiago, Fabinho and Hendo can cover both positions without a drop off, and Milner probably copes better there too.

Keita becomes a non factor, and suddenly the need for 3 midfielders this summer isn't as necessary.

In the wide roles, Diaz, Elliott with Carvalho Oxlade and Jones as cover works in the system. It wouldn't in the 433.

He's been sensational.

Just like in his prime in 2017 to 2020.

A world cup and a new contract perhaps?

But does it really matter?

He had this unique ability to shield the ball from practically the halfway line, all the way for a goal kick, without letting anyone touch it.

It was quite astonishing.