Andrew

I dunno, I don't really keep notes. Definitely learned things I didn't know though.

...Why are you here?

Two games in

Dias and salah werent booked after the macallister red either

Agreed all the way through, if this result has caused you some shock then your expectations were far too high to begin with. Its funny isn't it, whenever we show up and batter people, you see a lot of "oh this team were poor today and Newcastle took advantage" and we are looking on saying "No, we made them look poor because we played very well" both can be true at the same time of course but we never seem to be given credit where its due. So give it where its due, we played the actual best team in the world today, last season they played a bunch of the other best teams in the world and made them look ordinary, they did Bayern Munich in about 15 minutes in the CL. And yes, we didn't look amazing, in part because we could have been better but also because WE PLAYED THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD TODAY.

Tbf, Juves owners are certifiable given all of the shit they have tried to pull over the years. I imagine our lot are sensible enough to go classic for a couple of years at least.

Cant wait...

I think a 1-0 loss is probably going to end up as about the third best result anyone manages at the etihad this season.

If he plays again I sincerely hope he has his leg broken the first time he receives the ball in every single game he plays. 100% worth the ban for whoever does it.

Excellent assist today as well as a good all round performance, the chase back for Diaby on the counter was incredible, knowing how much pace Diaby has he made up ground from absolutely miles away to stop him going through uncontested.

Actual footage from christchurch this morning. Fucking hell we were good! Diaby looked decent for them, botman falling over was funny, Isaks second finish was world class and Barnes goal was very slick. No fucking pre-assist bullshit for the new boys.

So he'll miss about two games?

Ah my mistake, i thought he gone to saudi

None of the rest of the pack have the quality to overcome the gap to Us, Villa, Brighton and the Sky 6. West Ham have bought no one and lost their best player and their only striker, Fulham lost their best goalscorer, Brentfords is suspended for half the season.

I feel like there is a top half and a relegation fight this year and thats about it.

Still time to sign up before the season starts! We currently have 4 (four) participants in the TT league

I am concerned by how we've started against Villa last two times we've played them, in the league and in preseason. I reckon they're in a similar bracket to us in regards to disrupting the "top 6" (along with brighton) based on how they've played and shaped their squad since Emery came in. No doubt this is a winnable one for us, but they're certainly capable of getting something, we were all over the place at Villa Park.

Said the same about Bruce didnt he?

At a guess Id say his premier league football manager and coaches probably found it a bit interesting.

I dont remember any of my strike partners being that...oh.

He's worth whatever someone will pay for him vs how much Howe thinks he brings to the squad. That ended up being fairly meagre fee in todays market... Its not really a case of us selling him and buying a 23 million pound player, thats not how FFP works, it puts way more in the spending basket because purchasing fees are counted against the length of the contract, so (over simplified) Barnes 38 million has cost us 7 million or something on this years FFP counter, and we've just made 23 million. Our revenue will continue to grow as long as we keep performing well, and our ceiling for spending will increase as a result. There are also some shenanigans that can be done by renewing contracts, so Bruno for example has been here 18 months, we paid something like 35 million quid for him, or 7 million a season over the length of his original 5 year deal. Some of that, say 14 million, has now been checked off, and the remaining 21 million can be stretched out even further if we give him a new deal now with an extra two years on it, so he'd then count as 4 million a season on our FFP budget rather than 7. So we'd be better off, even if we end up paying him more money to do it. FFP is fucking bananas and it is no wonder some clubs lose track of it.

I always thought darlow was ok, what makes him so bad?

https://theathletic.com/4730832/2023/07/28/eddie-howe-bruno-guimaraes-contract/ Dry pants here.

Good family