Polarboy

In fairness do the pundits ever really call out a manager directly that much. It's more the print journalists that dissect managers in that way. Pundits tend to err on the side of saying that players need to take responsibility and all that waffle, even if it's quite clearly the manager. Obviously in some situations there's no denying it.

The Knight Rider and the chronic are supposedly radicalizing us. At least according to a very miffed cabbage heed. Don't know about the rest of you, but the only thing the chronic does is radicalize me against clickbait.

Paul Parker ex Man U defender speaking about Ronaldo playing in the game on Saturday “A lot of those Geordie fans cannot believe their luck that they’ve got a ticket for this and all of a sudden it’s turned into a festival.” What fucking planet is this guy on 🤣 Aye, I'm sure seeing Ronaldo make his second debut will take the sting off him helping Man U most likely hammer us five or six, and the general depression around Ashley and Bruce. Of course this is a perfect illustration of how much we've declined in the minds of the football community. Parker seems to think we're equivalent to a Stevenage, just happy to bask in the limelight of Ronaldo and co.

Choudury deal supposedly not dead yet according to Waugh and Sky sports. Maybe Brucey spat the dummy. In any case, what a roller-coaster, I can barely contain my excitement. Thankfully I've got my brown pants on today.

Just seen the quotes from Bruce about the club letting Toney and Armstrong go. Obviously it was likely done as a dig at Rafa given he was manager when both left. In fairness he's not entirely wrong. Although neither were ready at the time, and we'll have to see how they get on but both have already scored, it would have been prudent to have sent them out on loan perhaps, instead of permanent deals. The only half right decision was putting a percentage on Armstrong's future transfer fee.

https://twitter.com/LukeEdwardsTele/status/1432647310589239299?s=20 So either Edwards is frantically trying to cover up his own incompetence, or he was told by Bruce this morning that Choudhury was signing, and the club have went behind Bruce's back and cancelled the loan move. As a man of honour I'm sure Bruce will be resigning in disgust.

😑 The only upside is that it makes Edwards look like an even bigger know nothing tit if Hope's correct.

Can't say I've seen a lot of Choudhury. Anyone on here have a fully formed opinion of him? It seems unlikely he'll be any worse than Longstaff and Shelvey, although obviously he'll be doing a different job to them. I'd imagine he's at least marginally more athletic than both. I mean was Longstaff's knee injury that bad, or is he just as depressed as the rest of us about the state of the club, hence the constant lacklustre displays.

Yeah, but the instinct to wrap Wilson in cotton wool is one I can understand. Maybe it's only a knock but you're more likely to pick up other more serious injuries when carrying one. The last thing we need is Wilson out for 6 to 8 weeks. Again it's one of the many shite consequences of not investing in a team to the required level. The caveat is that we aren't privy to exactly why he was taken off, and how worried they were about the knock.

Wilson maybe carrying a knock, but as Howay was saying he likely would have got on the end of that ASM cross. Joelinton is a bad fucking joke. He actually looks scared to get on the end of anything in case he fucks it up. Either that or he's half braindead and doesn't realise that he should be trying to get into the box as quickly as possible. How bad Bruce's decision was to take off Wilson depends on how bad of a knock it was, but either way it shows how shite our squad is when we have to stick on a less skillful and talented Brazilian than Fred.

Quality ball from Schar into the box. Maybe a bit undeserved, but we have been much better than the first half hour which of course was dogshit.

Beggars can't be choosers. There's no doubting his quality, so I'd definitely take a chance on him if it's possible to get him in. And as people have said he might hit it off with ASM and some of the other lads. He might have a less than ideal attitude, but he's not quite Ben Arfa level. He'll also want to perform before the world cup, so we may at least get a good second half of the season from him were we to sign him.

Newcastle United have requested talks with James Rodriguez on Steve Bruce's recommendation. Hello James, bonny lad, now how much would you be looking for in wages? Cue Cabbage and Penfold chocking on their smokey bacon and jammy dogger respectively.

For definite it's a worry, because history tells us that Wilson will likely be missing for around ten games at best, unless he can reporduce his injury record in his last year at Bournemouth in 2019/20 where he only missed three games. Rondon of course would have been perfect given he's on the move, but Ashley is such a short sighted vindictive little twat that he'd likely never have him back after the Rafa debacle. And of course he seems to be back on his 25 and under model, except under very specific circumstances. If Bruce did anything right it was likely convincing Ashley to sanction the Wilson deal.

If, and this is an extremely big if, we get the two loan slots filled, and supposedly one more cash bid perhaps for that Swedish or the French DM, then it will actually have been a decent if very belated window, and obviously far from ideal in terms of preparation for the season. Don't know much about this attacking mid from Roma Perez, but him a DM and a centre half with a bit of pace and we'll have a pretty decent group that Jones and his jolly assistant Cabbage can run the rule over.

Regarding the supposed wage cut, as I was saying he was been given a five year contract at 34, which was realistically just all his wages from a two year deal over five years, and maybe a bit more on top. The fact that he was just given a two year at PSG backs that up to an extent. And Messi isn't a player you can compare someone else to, unless it's Ronaldo, and especially when it comes to wages. Barca have paid him hundreds of millions over his association with them.

It still all seems very weird. We're supposed to believe that Barca offered him the deal over five years, then suddenly realised that it would have left them up shit creek with the government/FFP and or their long term financial stability, he then offered to take a more than 50% cut, only to be told that it wasn't legal to do that in Spain, which in terms of wage laws you'd think the money men would have been instantly aware of before it was even floated as an idea. Either something else is going on, or Messi's agent and the finance people at Barca are running around like Benny Hill.

As far as I'm aware it was going to be a five year contract at Barca, so in reality he'd have been getting what he's getting for his two year PSG contract. Obviously we're not privy to all the ins and outs, but it seems to me that he had a number for the amount of money he wanted, he couldn't get it at Barca, so left. I don't see what Spanish wage laws would prevent him from taking a wage of some sort, whatever figure that was going to be, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I thought his blubbing at his farewell presser for Barca was a bit much. The only reason he's leaving is because PSG are the only people willing and able to pay his ridiculous wages.

Where Everton and Spurs finish will be interesting, but I wouldn't bet against Espirito Santo. He at the very least has better squad depth at Spurs if not flat our a better squad compared to Wolves, and if Kane leaves it looks like they'll be spending the money on Vlahovic or Martinez. If they get one of those two along with Son, who's obviously a quality player, and Nuno gets Dele Ali into some form, which wouldn't surprise me, then Spurs could have a surprisingly decent season.

Yeah but they are at best sideways moves, if not backward ones when you consider that James is likely on his way out. There is literally no excitement about any of those signings, at least at present. The only hope is if that Rafa can get Townsend and Longstaff playing as well as they did under him. And of course Everton fans were only a short while ago under the impression that they were in the big time with Ancellotti and an owner who supposedly has big pockets. I can only assume that the pandemic has hit the clubs finances hard. Then again I thought fair play rules were more or less suspended at present.

Gray, Townsend, Begovic, and maybe after Longstaff. In fairness to Everton fans I'd be pretty fucked off with their transfer business so far. Not that we are pulling up any trees obviously, but at least Willock's signing is an exciting prospect for the future. Of course maybe Rafa can work his magic on Longstaff again and turn him back into the player who Man U were looking at.

Steve Nickson, genius that he is, likely told Ashley that it was a sure thing we could flog him after a few years for double the price. That of course is what all this under 25 craic is about.

Yeah the only thing I can think of, whereby we could actually get him, is if we get him on loan with an obligation to buy next season. Fatley might be thinking it will be someone else's problem by then, please God. Or I suppose we could try to structure the payments over a few years. The least likely is perhaps Bruce being told to plead absolute poverty in order to try and not get fleeced over fees in the window.