Dr Gloom

i had to go to the hospital today. told the doctor I’d been bitten by a wolf. He asked me “where?” I said “no, just an ordinary one”

Someone told me my clothes looked gay No surprise really - they came out of the closet this morning

70k???? you can’t get a garage in London for that

Beat me to it

Shane Ferguson?

Long may Angeball continue. He’s a media darling and won’t be under really pressure. They play an entertaining game which their fans like after a few seasons of defensive managers but they won’t seriously challenge for anything with his naive brand of football. I expect us to leapfrog them this season

Wykiki

we’re weaker than last season after losing Anderson who was starting to show promise as a first teamer but they must be confident the two miley brothers can fill the void. Lewis Miley didn’t do much wrong when he got his chance last season and is fine as sixth choice, covering three positions. We were killed by injuries to the two Joes and Tonali’s ban. We surely can’t be that unlucky with injuries again. It’s the lack of depth up top which concerns me more. My only concern about the midfield is the absence of a natural DM. I’d sooner see Bruno play in a more advanced role but Howe doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem and I trust his judgement

I tend to agree. we haven’t really strengthened the first team (yet) so it’s hard to make a confident prediction at this stage. we have lots going for us: a competitive first team, a top manager and a clear identity with the energetic high press. We also don’t have the European games which decimated the squad last season and affected the style of play. however, though the team is very good when everyone is fit, we are still very short of depth across the front line, and we could struggle again were we to suffer another injury crisis. It’s a squad game now you can make 5 subs. Wilson can’t be relied on to remain fit and our options at RW are not of the quality we aspire to. I totally agree about injuries to Gordon and Isak - our chances of Europe hinge on them staying fit and getting another body in, preferably a quality one who could cover all three forward positions. Seventh, with the current squad, wouldn’t feel like progress but it feels like par for the squad as it stands.

Beardsley did okay

Sterling or Madueke on loan would be a good enough short term solution. Wages might be an issue. I don’t like Sterling’s statement either but he might have a point to prove and I could see him doing brilliantly in our set up

I still expect a statement signing or two before the window closes. Whether that is Guehi, Mbuemo (fyi @Gemmill) or someone else remains to be seen. There’s no reason to suspect otherwise though as we have pulled out a marquee signing in every summer window since the takeover so far. If the window closed today it would be an underwhelming but it’s still too soon for sodden bedsheets

absolutely tragic. the shades indoors make it even funnier

Mbuemo, Raphina? I dunno. Reckon you could get a player of that quality for the same money we’re potentially going to have to put up if we’re determined to get Guehi. In an ideal world we would get Guehi and the sort of RW we need, but it’s hard to see it happening if we end up paying £70m on him. But then, I don’t really have a clue about PSR ceilings. It does feel like Palace are taking the piss with this fee though and I think we should walk away as there is better value to be found elsewhere. I don’t understand why we didn’t go for the German lad we were linked with, or Tomori - he looks a better defender then Guehi to me, better on the ball too and also a good age profile, I can’t work out why Southgate didn’t fancy him in the euros at all, and he is probably available for half of what we’re potentially going to have to pay on Guehi.

but we have good enough CBs for this season, even despite the injuries. I don’t think we can get top 4 again relying on Miggy and Murphy at RW. I love both of them. Can’t question their attitude or work rate but they’re not elite wingers. Miggy’s purple patch helped us to champions league last time but it was a purple patch and he reverted to type last season. I’m much more confident about our options at centre back.

Disagree like. We have loads of depth at centre back, and are way stronger there than at RW, even taking the injuries into account. I get why we’re trying to strengthen CB given Burn and Schar’s age. But honestly, I think Schar has at least another season or two in him - he’s been one of our most consistent players since the takeover. And I question why we would chuck almost our entire summer budget on that area when we’re looking at Miggy or Murphy out wide on the right for another season. It’s obviously the weakest area of the squad and the one that hasn’t been upgraded since the Ashley era.

even if he was at the level of Virgil Van Dyke (he isn’t) I’d be questioning why we are spending that amount of money on a centre back when we have Schar, Burn, Kelly, Krafth, Murphy, plus Botman and Lascelles to come back. While at RW we have Murphy and Miggy

100% time to walk away.

wonder why they didn’t fork it out 🤔

Guehi is a solid but unspectacular centre back. £50m seems loads for him let alone the mooted £65m. We could probably go and get Tomori from Milan for less than £40m, or the German international we were linked with earlier in the window. I’d rather we did that then spunk £50-60m on the quality right winger were crying out for. If we end up blowing the rest of our summer budget on Guehi, I think it’s been an average transfer window rather than a good one because we still have two Steve Bruce era players as our main options at RW.

I dunno about that like. Decent player but I wouldn’t have seen anyone shelling £50m on him before the euros - even taking the English player tax into consideration

If agree with most of what you’re saying except psr was almost a big problem for us in June when we were scrambling to sell players we didn’t really want to sell in order to avoid a points deduction. You’d think we would cut our cloth accordingly to avoid a repeat of that further down the line. I’m not going to pretend to understand the accountancy stuff the way you do, but this doesn’t feel like a deal that offers the sort of value we have sought under the new ownership so far. I understand the need to spunk this kind of money on quality forwards/midfielders and possibly an elite defender. You might be right to put your faith in Howe and Mitchell but it feels like we are massively overpaying at £65m. Probably more than double what he would have gone for before the euros.

Am I alone here in thinking this bloke is worth nowhere near what we paid for Isak? Solid centre half, English, so an inflated transfer fee is baked in, used to the premier league etc - but if it wasn’t for six good games in a poor England team during the euros he’d be going for £20-30m. It’s exactly the sort of deal we have avoided and the type Man U usually fall for - paying well over the odds on a player who will never be worth that much again throughout his career. Perhaps I’m missing something that other people have seen that can suggest I’m wrong here but he doesn’t look like an obvious successor to Schar. Certainly not a like-for-like ball-playing centre back. And tbh, if we do sign him, i don’t think he starts when everyone is fit - Schar and Botman are better players, surely?

You could have got him for £30m before the euros. And there are other defenders available for that sort of fee that are just as good or better than Guehi. The big money would be better spent on a new right winger - the one glaring weak spot in the squad