Polarboy

I'm actually surprised that Howe has decided to start with Tonali, after all the talk of him perhaps still trying to adapt to the pace at which we play, and the pace he faced against the PL teams in the preseason, and would obviously face now the PL season proper has started. And of course we've seen Howe slowly introduce Bruno, Botman etc. You would think it's a good sign, but perhaps Longstaff isn't quite fit enough, and he didn't think Anderson had the right defensive qualities to match up to Villa's midfield.

The only good thing is that if we get pulled for it by the PL, we at least have clear evidence that they're playing favourites if they charge us with anything.

Apparently Arteta's assistant was stood right next to him in the technical area for part of the match today. I won't hold my breath for the PL to uphold their own rules for one of the "top six".

I've heard Lukaku, and Mitrovic strangely enough, in relation to Spuds.

Neither Carragher or Neville have us even in the top six this season in their predictions. Carragher says that odd complimentary thing, but when it came down to it last season both he Neville picked their biases in the top four race over the reality staring them in the face. Of course their comments could also just be clickbait shite because they know how much press we generate. Top four again this season, or even top five given the extra CL spot, will be extra sweet even over last season.

Fucking hell, he hasn't even managed to keep his gob shut on how poor Liverpool supposedly are in his press conference today. "We want the player and not any kind of agreement," said the Reds boss. "What did change is we are a club, we don't have endless resources. We didn't expect a couple of things to happen this summer; [Jordan Henderson, Fabinho] - stuff like this. We gave it a go and we will see. I've told you now what I know." Don't have endless resources compared to who? It's a mystery to me that players actually respect that twat.

Yeah if you're Southampton you're slapping at least another 10m on Lavia straight away. Good enough for Klippity Klopp the nonce.

Will Klopp shut the fuck up and stop whinging, will he fuck.

Anderson is about as quick as Schar as far as I can tell. Maybe someone who watches Palace more can tell me otherwise, but if that's the case then I'm not keen. Anderson is basically just a younger version of Schar given his passing ability, particularly long balls. It'll cost obviously, but we need a younger version of Schar with elite pace. This van de Ven fella going to Spurs for example is absolutely rapid.

On the one hand he is at least going over to sign some stuff, but on the other what a fucking bell-end. Can you imagine Eddie ever doing something like this. Maybe I'll be proven wrong and he's just a very good actor, but Howe seems like one of the few true gents left in the game, in the mould of Sir Bobby, or even old Woy Hodgson.

Just had a look and Trippier has played at LB 9 times for England. If anyone is going to switch to playing LB it likely will be Trippier, but I highly doubt it will be in the near future given how important Trippier is to us down our right flank, and in an attacking sense in general. You also have to factor in Livramento settling in and getting his full match sharpness back after his long layoff. As of now I'd be shocked if we don't play at least the first six or so games with the same back four we had last season, barring injury of course. If we can get the young, quick and athletic ball playing RCB understudy to Schar, we can take our time integrating both players.

He seems to be the number one choice to replace Trippier when he slows down and then retires, and his price would likely have only doubled if we'd waited, or indeed Chelsea may have activated their buy back clause that would have kicked in season after next. A bit like Gordon who signed six months early it's a transfer of opportunism. Edit. The Chelsea buy back clause is already in effect, but that point still stands.

If this is correct we've got a very decent deal. I presume the Champions League add-ons are something like the next time we qualify for the Champions League, whether that's for the 24/25 season or whenever, then they'll get the extra 5m+.

They only paid 4m for him so they can't complain too much.

Considering the England tax, the Newcastle tax, and factoring in his potential and the level he's already at, at 20, that's about as good a price as we could expect. Surgery for ACL's has come a long way and if you get a good surgeon your ACL can actually end up stronger initially, and then eventually might become only slightly weaker than before it was injured. In any case there's no way the club will spend 40m on a player if they aren't happy with the medical results.

In fairness there's cover, and then there's Livramento who will eventually make that right back spot his own, and who's already levels above the cover we have for Trippier at 20 years old. And I wouldn't be surprised if Manquillo heads to Celta Vigo to play for Benitez, iirc correctly there's been some rumours that he might head back to Spain. Obviously it's also looking like Ashby is away to Swansea to get some consistent first team playing time, so we're then just left with Krafth who's looked good under Howe, but who hasn't had a preseason so could take a decent amount of time to get back up to speed, especially after such a serious injury. Murphy could also play there in a pinch, but it's a bit makeshift.

Ireland finally seem to have a decent generation of players coming through, with Evan Ferguson obviously the pick of the bunch so far. You'd nearly need to go back to the fucking McGrath, Houghton, Bonner, Quinn et all era in the 90's for the last decent squad. The two Keane's pretty much dragged the team through the noughties. And obviously seeing Murphy, Heffernan and Zefi at the club is even better. Is there are a fourth Irish academy player? Ashworth has signed so many young players it's difficult to keep track.

If he does hopefully these people who are saying that he can play both sides aren't talking out of their arses, as he'd be very handy in that case, although obviously he'd be the perfect understudy to Trippier regardless. I still haven't figured out how they are forming that opinion. Edit. Just did a quick google search and there's a breaking the lines scouting report for Livramento from when he was an academy player for Chelsea. The report states that he predominantly played RB at that time as well, but that he was also comfortable on the left. Whether we should put much faith in a scouting report from when he was playing PL 2 etc and not competing in the Premier League proper is debatable.

No idea if there's anything in it, but these new links to Zaniolo are interesting given his versatility. He can play as a 10, 8, 9, and out wide. Iirc one of his former managers played up his ability to play as a 9, but he's mostly played as an attacking mid. I know we've been linked to him in the past, so it could be one to look out for. I'd imagine the next players in the door will be defensive reinforcements, so it might be one for late in the window. Edit. Seen the Geordie Boot Boys, so take their opinion for what you will, giving their opinion saying that the Zaniolo talk likely is, and probably always has been, generated by agents. It's a shame if that's all it is because he has an interesting profile, and he could definitely benefit from Howe's coaching.

They could also be players that are on our list but are further down it.

Matheus Franca, that Brazilian we were linked to more than once, is away to Palace according to Romano.

Darlow is bottom half of the PL level, which is pretty decent. He'll be one of the better keepers in the Championship. 400,000, if that's what the fee was, is pretty cheap given how crazy the market is.

Yeah, Miley and Anderson are going to save us a shit ton of money. Miley oozes class on the ball, and Anderson has shades of Rooney about him with how aggressive he is and his strength on the ball.

Barnes is looking very good. Our best player so far. It's like night and day between him and ASM given how direct he is. He only has one thought when he gets the ball, and it's what's the shortest way to goal.

Watford have an option to make it permanent at the end of the loan according to Downie.