Polarboy

Howe seemed to have accepted that it's going to be a three match suspension in one of his post match interviews. Perhaps he was just keeping his powder dry before appealing. He did say it looks a lot worse than it was slowed down for the cameras, but again while it wasn't violent conduct it will almost certainly be seen as dangerous play which also results in a three match suspension.

The bromance is real between Longy and Burn. A question for anyone; would you rather Howe just started ASM and pushed Joelinton back into midfield in Bruno's absence, or would you like to see Gordon play as a ten starting ahead of Willock, Big Joe in midfield and ASM on the left. Gordon according to Howe and others is versatile in being able to play in more central attacking positions, and his pace excites me. It's probably just new player bias on my part though given Willock hasn't done much wrong apart from his dry spell in front of goal and the odd stray pass. It should also be said that Gordon, even if her were to play as a ten, has the ability to press and could drop back and help defend to decent effect when needed.

I'd be surprised if there's any way of getting around a dangerous play charge unfortunately. Even if we can be confident he didn't mean to hurt the player he still had his studs up.

To me that sounds like, I'm actually pleased my missus cheated on me, it really opened my eyes to what she's like 😂👍

Don't know how accurate it is but seen someone say that we'd be fucked for a few transfer windows to come if we overspend in this financial year. I know it's been said but it boggles the mind how Chelsea are managing it, even if their commercial revenue currently dwarfs our own. I know it seems like they're doing it by spreading things over long contracts and structured payments, but the question is why couldn't we have done the same for at least one player. Hopefully by this time next year we'll have the new sponsorship, shirt deals money rolling in and we'll be in a much better position.

There's close to zero chance that Howe will mess up Shelvey's move when it's this far down the line. Especially when it's probably his last big contract. The lad has just travelled up from Nottingham so it's most likely signed off and just not officially announced.

You'd imagine they've advanced a few deals to a certain stage, but perhaps baulked at wage demands in Loftus-Cheeks case, or a fee in Gallagher's case. Of course that's assuming that Chelsea wouldn't just point blank not deal with us, but we've probably been speaking to other clubs as well. As long as you get a deal sheet in before 11 all the contract negotiation, medical etc can be signed off after the deadline. Also I think rules aren't as strict for loan deals in terms of deadlines. Bruno was sent off at about 21:35, so an hour and twenty-five to get the aforementioned team sheet in if again there was any deal close to being agreed if not for the finances involved. Best case we actually had something agreed before the match but it hasn't been announced yet, but yeah it is a very long shot in any other case.

With this three match suspension for Bruno you'd hope the club would bite the bullet and get a player in even if they have to overpay to do it, but with FFP and how little time is left perhaps it's not possible.

Literally this week Longstaff was getting interviewed and he said he speaks to Shearer about tips for finishing given his recent record in front of goal. Shearer's tip was to not over complicate it. You can try and hit it top corner so a keeper can't get it, but getting it on target every time is more important than how sweetly you hit it given pulling off those types of shots are low percentage ones.

The money the owners have they should be cloning Beckenbauer for us the twats 😉👍

Shelvey is reportedly travelling back up from Nottingham to watch the semi final and say his goodbye's. It's perhaps the least he can do after being at the club so long, but it's never wise to expect common courtesy these days.

Doherty is off to Atletico. It sounds a weird transfer but I suppose it's the same path that Trippier took.

Kylie Minogue?

He's Austrian 🤣

This Marcel Sabitzer who plays for Bayern that Man U are reportedly after sounds like he'd be ideal for us. He can reportedly play defensive mid, CM, AM, SS and on the wing. Pity Manure seem to be front of the line for him.

Yeah but aren't a lot of Casey's followers following him for the craic? Not that I hold much confidence in the account I posted as I've already said.

We might see Gordon deployed as a number 10 given he can play there. Whether Howe would want to sacrifice that bit of solidity in midfield with playing one of three that far forward is another story. Willock probably has the most license to get forward but you wouldn't call him a 10.

Probably another "ITK", but he does have nearly 10,000 followers so who knows. Looking at his feed it looks a lot like he just copies Romano and throws in a few himself.

Looking like it's going to have to be a loan signing from leftfield, perhaps a player from abroad, if we're going to fill that slot left by Shelvey. Jorginho going to Arsenal may have fucked us and put the last nail in any chance of getting a Chelsea player. Berge has gone very quiet as well and he's apparently trained as normal today. You'd imagine if he goes it will likely be to Fulham. Having said all that surely there's some foreign options that we could get a look at through a loan and an obligation to buy. If Howe likes the look of him we can allow him to trigger whatever targets we've set for the obligation.

Yeah I remember people who play fantasy football getting annoyed because Gallagher was cheap and on a scoring streak, but Vieira would randomly play him in a much deeper role.

Bournemouth are going for it. If they manage to sign this attacking mid Traore, it will take their spending to close to 60m for January. On the plus side for everyone else if these lads are decent there could be a fire sale come the end of the season.

Gallagher played in a defensive mid role at Crystal Palace on a number of occasions. His versatility alone makes him a better option than Willock, who apart from one very hot streak when he first joined has been a lot less impressive since then. Gallagher got eight goals and six assists that season for Palace and as mentioned Vieira chopped and changed his position quite frequently. If we sign him he'll be more than merely a good squad option.

For me he definitely starts over either Willock or Longstaff. He's got the engine, graft, ability to defend, ability to carrying the ball, and he can hit a barn door unlike Willock and Longstaff at the minute. Hopefully we aren't getting ahead or ourselves given it seems like a transfer that could fall apart quite easily. Having said that I'm sure Howe would introduce him carefully so as to not rock the boat, again should we manage to push it through.

Seems like Hope is strongly implying that if Fernandez signs for Chelsea then the possibility of Gallagher signing for us is decent. That was the common logic before Hope tweeted this, but it's reassuring to see him chime in as well.

He can sense the police coming to check his hard drive.