AlbanyNYToffee

Gylfi

Scratch Hertha and Southampton. He's apparently closing in on joining JUVE!! Wow.

Agreed. It's more likely Lille and Napoli have agreed a fee and the deal will be done once Koulibaly goes to one of the Manchester clubs. Lille is ok to wait because they know at least us and Arsenal will match the fee Napoli have agreed to.

Totally stereotyping/generalizing here as I've never once seen him play that I can recall - I've always liked the Brazilians with some bite in their game. They're generally few and far between but when you find one it's a good thing because every Brazilian has technical ability. Thinking of Gilberto Silva, fernandinho, casemiro in particular. Even someone as good as Paulinho, Ramires, or Lucas Leiva would be a significant improvement on our current options.

Looks headed to Hertha Berlin sadly.

Question/s for those who understand tactics better than me - which should be just about everyone What type of player is Carlo targeting for the LM and RM positions? Does his system always set up with LM more attacking and RM more defensive, or could for instance those roles switch and the LM becomes more defensive and RM becomes more attacking? Would he prefer both LM and RM to be more attacking, he just set us up that way because our CM is horrid? I see all these names being linked to us and they are mostly attacking wingers. I'm just trying to get a sense of which are most realistic and most importantly which will fit in Carlo's system.

Yea understood I guess we view Ronaldo's work ethic and Barca's 'success' differently, at least within this conversation. I'm just not sure using Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Mbappe is fair for the devil's advocate POV. Everyone in the world would take those four on their team regardless of cost/work ethic issues. It's the tier/pool beneath that that we find ourselves swimming in and it's not working. We haven't found a single player whose ego or shitty work ethic can be overcome by their talent. And we probably never will that is where we're talking about the big global clubs. Also I'm with you to some extent as I want to sign James and believe me I'm under no illusion he gives a hoot about this club.

Haha One not good enough to qualify for Europe.

Not to put words in your mouth but this is another narrative that gets me. Barca won things because of their midfield not Messi. Xavi/Iniesta/Busquets were/are world-class players who made Barca so successful. Messi may be the GOAT (don't want to get into that now) but look at where Barca is without those midfielders. Messi gets too much credit and not enough blame. I digress. Couple of things here: This is exactly why Juve and PSG can't win the champions league. Built on individual talent which wins their crap leagues but can't sustain when defending/tackling as a team are required. Barca and Real (and now Liverpool sadly) are perfectly balanced with talent, ego and intensity. Hating to lose is a skill in today's world and we lack it almost across the board bar Richarlison, Holgate, Digne, Coleman. The premier league top 4 has plenty of hard working players to complement their playboys. ManU have Rashford, Bruno, McTominay, AWB, Greenwood, Matic City have Fernandinho, Aguero, D Silva, Laporte, Foden, Gundogan Chelsea have Kante, Azpilicueta, Mount, Willian, Pulisic The shite have Fabinho, Firmino, Milner, Henderson, Robertson, TAA Never said anything about role players. The team pictured above, of so-called role players, finished 7th and the subs bench consisted of names like Hibbert, Bilyaletdinov, Beckford, Magaye Gueye, Fellaini, Osman, Vellios, Anichebe and Rodwell. If we were able to surround that starting XI with a few more pieces champions league would have been a possibility. As it is now we're MILES away. Spurs and Arsenal both had shit seasons and wolves and leicester left us in the dust. We finished behind Burnley and Southampton FFS.

Here's my story and i'm sticking to it: 2020/21 Starting XI: Ryan Coleman Holgate Umtiti Digne Chiesa Allan Gomes James Richarlison DCL 2020/21 Bench/reserves: Lossl Kenny Mina Gbamin McKennie Davies Walcott Iwobi Gordon Kean Buy: Ryan(10m) Chiesa(50m) Allan(30m) James(25m) Umtiti(loan) McKennie(20m) 135m total Sell: Pickford(30m) Gylfi (15m) Bernard(15m) Delph(7m) Keane(20m) Besic(5m) Tosun(10m) Bolasie(5m) Sandro(5m) Pennington(2m) Connolly(2m) Beni (1m) Dowell(3m) 120m total Loan out: JVirginia Branthwaite Gibson, Nkounkou

Tim Cahill tweeted this picture yesterday. We're so far away from this I'd almost forgotten it ever existed...and it wasn't that long ago. I always try to be the glass half full guy but this made me feel like crap. Everyone had a role, everyone knew their role, and most importantly everyone did it to the best of their ability. Carlo's comments about ambition, motivation and passion give me hope we can get back here. We've been chasing the wrong characters for years now. Ok I'm done...for now.

IN: OUT: Schneiderlin, Hornby, Baines (retired), LOAN IN: LOAN OUT: MarkeloYOUTH: Nkounkou YOUTH pro deals: Markelo, Ouzounidis, Quirk, Kristensen, McAllister, Hagan, Onyango CONTRACT EXT: Branthwaite, OFFICIALLY RELEASED: Stekelenberg(Ajax) , Niasse, Martina, Garbutt, Feeney, Denny, Foulds, Adedoyin, Mampala, Phillips

Understood - I should have been more clear. My vote of yes is tied to the idea that we would not be signing him with an eye to a starting role. 75k to be our creative presence off the bench with the odd start is all I would be hoping for here. Completely agree with you on injuries/ability to start regularly.

How so? We've swung and missed on some huge prices - Bolasie, Schneiderlin, Klaassen, Gylfi, Tosun, Iwobi etc.. Our free signings (Rooney, Cuco, Bernard, Lossl) have been serviceable or at worst 'not a problem'.

Not sure what the circumstances were but Carlo joined Bayern in summer of 2016. Hojbjerg was sold that summer to Southampton. Probably already in the works before Carlo arrived but interesting nonetheless. There could be nothing in this.

This one is low risk financially. He's on a free and could potentially take a discount to play for his boyhood club and not have to move his family to a new city. Absolutely no more than a 2 yr deal and I kinda like it. He could be our super sub and cool head during cup games with some of the kids playing.

Richarlison probably deserves it but I went with Branthwaite given the circumstances. 17yr old first start at Sheffield Utd would be difficult for anyone. Incredible performance under those conditions.

YoutubeTV crystal clear haha just a difference of opinion i guess. If anything I'd say foul on Richarlison. Norwood is first to the ball by a wide margin and Richarlison's momentum carries him into Norwood. The league gets softer by the week now it seems.

Never a foul let alone card for Norwood there. If that had gone against us I'd be hurling expletives at the TV

Took a few mins to compile names of players I'd like to see us sign. Can't stress this enough - this list is limited to players I have seen play at least a few times. I don't feel comfortable throwing names out there I've never seen play before - just based on rumours/video games/youtube highlights. At RB been impressed by Max Aarons of Norwich and Connor Roberts of Swansea At RM been impressed by Ismaila Sarr of Watford and Federico Chiesa of Fiorentina At LM been impressed by James of Real Madrid and Jack Grealish of Aston Villa At CB been impressed by Milenkovic of Fiorentina, John Egan of Sheffield United and Jake Cooper of Millwall At CM been impressed by McKennie of Schalke, Ward-Prowse of Southampton, Douglas Luiz of Villa and Isaac Hayden of Newcastle Would prefer to find a way to make a profit on Pickford out and Mat Ryan in. If Bournemouth Villa and Norwich go down I'd be checking on Douglas Luiz, Grealish, Ake, David Brooks, Ramsdale, and Aarons. I've never bought into the 'avoid relegated player' argument. First that's how we signed Gana, McCarthy and Pickford. Second a slew of great players have been relegated - Robertson, Maguire, R Keane, Di Canio

Sheffield United 1 - 1 Everton Richarlison

There is not enough credit being given to him for his ability to overcome the injury so quickly. I feel sorry for Andre having to play every 3 days coming back from that. Totally unfair to him. He looked like a wounded duck out there last night, his face said it all. We've seen that injury a few times here in the states and to my knowledge none of the players have ever gotten back to what they were before. And those players even took their time coming back. We'll be lucky to have 90% of the original Andre in September.

Your point is well taken but I've always tended to approach it differently. Who exactly was pushing Howard or Neville for all those years? He is serviceable you're exactly right and that's all he'll ever be if he needs a kick up the arse to improve. Howard and Neville competed against themselves. Be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you were today. Also he has plenty of folks knocking on the door for England #1, surely that should be enough to get him going. He just doesn't have the IT so to speak. Is he costing us games? No plenty of other crap out being played out there but why not try to address it while his value is relatively high.

This is getting uglier by the match. We need 4-5 for the starting XI immediately and it would be easy to argue 5-6. Who is realistic to keep around for the bench? Keep going back to Marcel's direct quotes on having a squad of 23 players. 3 gks 8 def 6 mid 6 fwd. With Carlo's tactics I consider the LM a forward and the RM a mid to make those numbers work out. Sell: Pickford, Keane, Delph, Gylfi, Iwobi and the deadwood - Tosun, Bolasie, Sandro, Besic, Pennington, Connolly, Beni, Dowell. Buy: GK, CB, a CM (please for the love of god), 2 Wings New Squad: GK: New GK, Lossl, JVirginia DEF: Holgate, New CB, Mina, Gibson, Digne, Baines/Nkounkou, Coleman, Kenny MID: Andre, Gbamin, Davies, Walcott, New CM, New RM FWD: Richarlison, DCL, Kean, Gordon, Bernard, New LM We're aren't going anywhere until we find a great midfielder.

IN: OUT: Schneiderlin, HornbyLOAN IN: LOAN OUT: YOUTH: Nkounkou YOUTH pro deals: Markelo, Ouzounidis, Quirk, Kristensen, McAllister, Hagan CONTRACT EXT: Branthwaite, OFFICIALLY RELEASED: Stekelenberg(Ajax) , Niasse, Martina, Garbutt, Feeney, Denny, Foulds, Adedoyin, Mampala, Phillips