Polarboy

Keith Downie has told GiveMeSport that he thinks it's a possibility that ASM will leave this month and we'll use the proceeds from that to help strengthen. Now of course that could be seen as a very general almost unfalsifiable statement, but Downie doesn't usually trade in empty gossip and innuendo. If he says something there's usually something behind it. I imagine it will come down to whether we can find an interested party with the right amount of money. Obviously anyone with sense can see the potential ASM has with his dribbling skills but I don't think he's ever going to do what Howe wants of him in terms of pressing, and he's also wildly inconsistent and lacking a true football brain that tells him when it's best to pass or retain the ball. If we can get 35-40 million for him I say we flog him as long as we have somebody lined up. I'm sure Chelsea will find some money down their back sofa for another forward.

Get him in that hyperbaric chamber. He could do a few years worth of training when he's in there for a few hours while he's at it. Can't remember who it was, but that prediction of Bruno being back for the second leg of the cup is hopefully looking good. The first leg would nice obviously, but nine days recovery is probably a bit optimistic. I think someone was saying that this was the first time Bruno badly sprained his ankle while playing, makes sense given he dances round people most the time, so that might explain why he was so worried coming off the pitch despite there seemingly not being that much to be concerned about.

https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2023/01/16/newcastle-close-in-on-e10m-deal-player-keen-and-personal-terms-being-discussed-report/ This 18 year old Fresnada lad off Real Valladolid, who'd be cover for Trippier, seems like it might be a goer. His agent is supposedly in London, and I'm pretty sure I've seen a quote from the Real Valladolid owner more or less saying he expects him to go. I can never remember which of these "in the know" twitter people are more or less full of shite or not, but old Jacques Talbot is reporting this. Not the most exciting transfer of course, but it makes the squad stronger.

Tierney is total sicknote. We'd be better off buying someone who's fairly young, early twenties, and wouldn't mind being Burn's understudy for season or two; much like we're trying to do with Trippier on the other side with interest in players like Fresneda and Ashby. If it ain't broke don't fix it as far as Burn goes. He's in great form and even showing a bit of attacking flair these last handful of matches. Of course if we we're going to pay a significant outlay on a top tier left back that might be different, but I'd imagine we'll add to the midfield first with a holding mid, and either a player in the Maddison mould or a wide forward.

Protective boot and crutches are standard for a twisted ankle or an injury of that type almost regardless of the severity of injury. It could be a bad injury, or it could be pretty minor. Bruno and the club won't know until the swelling goes down and he gets a scan. Admittedly though it doesn't look good that he was so upset coming off.

Only two points to safety lads 👍

That's Murphy's most worthwhile contribution in a while. 😂

Which do you prefer, a draw or an Arsenal win to keep Spurs as far away as possible?

Neves acted like a complete tit in the post match interviews after we drew with Wolves near the start of the season. There's no doubting he's a top quality midfielder though, and he'd slot perfectly into our midfield and allow Bruno a bit more freedom. Hopefully Wolves need the money to reinvest in the rest of their squad. There'll surely be some competition for him though. Liverpool would be mad to not put a bid in at the very least, but given they bought another wide/centre forward before sorting their mid they may actually be mad. The other big PL teams you could perhaps argue have other priorities.

In fairness, he is a world class expert in complacency, negligence and arrogance.

Burn and Longstaff were on doing a video for the club website last week and Burn was saying that he was hoping to score his first goal for the club soon, but that despite his height he was more likely to score it with his feet.

The sooner we sign someone like Tielemans etc, the better. Longstaff can go back to being a vaguely competent sub.

😂 Yeah I have no idea why the text was in bold. I recently added a dark mode to my browser so that might have something to do with it. No need to add bold to my comments obviously; they speak for themselves 😉👍

It will be interesting to see where Depay and Thuram end up given that they're both in the final year of their contracts. Not saying we'll definitely get one of the two given the competition involved, but Thuram especially could present incredible value. We much like Arsenal need to invest in a least one quality attacking player to help push us over the line in the second half of the season.

We'll need to be considerably better away to Leicester, who were on a decent run of form before the break, and won 3-0 tonight albeit against MK Dons, to get anything. We're crying out for those transfer additions in midfield and attack if even only to freshen things up, even if you factor in being rusty tonight. Hopefully Isak will be back soon and firing to give us another option.

Our pressing and closing down in packs of three or four has been poor compared to our usual standards. Understandable I suppose given this is the first competitive game back.

😂 What do you mean stop it? I was literally relaying the FA's rules on interfering with play. That the ref says he disallowed it for that doesn't mean that Willock wasn't also possibly making other infringements. Again I'd need to watch the clip again, but the rules I mentioned are legit. "Offside offence interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or. challenging an opponent for the ball or. clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or."

The commentator just confirmed that the ref said he saw a very slight touch from Willock for the disallowed goal. 🤷‍♂️

Wilson took the ball under and through Willock didn't he. It's a fairly subjective rule, but I've seen worse calls on interfering with play.

If you obstruct the keepers view, prevent him from coming for the ball, or even attempt to play the ball without actually touching it when in an offside position, it's interfering with play. The ball went under Willock as far as I recall and he attempted to play it, so it he could be said to be interfering on all of the above counts.

You don't have to touch the ball to be interfering with play.

Yeah I'd need to watch it again, but that appears to be what the officials ruled it out for in any case. If Willock was offside even attempting to play the ball and obscuring the keeper's view and ability to come for the ball counts as interfering with play.

Our player who was on the ground was interfering with play I assume.

It's the video down the bottom of the page, and I assume your head will be wrecked with pop ads unless you have an adblocker. Motor News - Stream 2

Well we've repeatedly been linked to left sided players for big money, so I'd say it's looking like that. Plus I think it was Craig Hope that reported that the club told ASM that they would have taken 40m+ for him last summer but we didn't get an offer in that bracket for him. So whether it's January or next summer ASM will most likely be sold unless form or injury bring down his value to such an extent that we can't sell him for what we want. I think ASM is too erratic of a player for Howe's tastes regardless of his undoubted skill on the ball.