acrossthepond

Perez regularly plays on the wing. We'll be fine. Murphy appears so rarely anyway, and Aarons even less than him.

Notice the total lack of mention given to breaking the club's transfer record.

That was Samaras. I'm a little disappointed to read that it sounds like that deal is falling through, we're short of quality in the middle. Hayden is rubbish, Shelvey has been far more miss than hit this season, Diame's been off the boil as well, Ki's return is unknown...we could do with a bit of experience and craft in central midfield. Only the emergence of Longstaff as a credible option has been keeping our midfield afloat. We would've ended up playing Atsu or Ritchie in CM without him.

Who would look at that fucking plum and go "That's the man we need to solve our goalscoring problems"? Oh right, McClaren did. Thank God that never went through.

Seeing is believing. We might get one of those loan players in. I'll look a fool after declaring a few hours ago that signing Almiron is a 0% chance but that's how I still feel. He'll show up at the training ground and knack his fucking ankle or something and the deal will be off.

Inevitably in a position we do not actually need anyone in. Maybe another centre-half, that'd be brill.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and put that chance at 0%, retroactive to the first time we were linked with him. There will be no outlay on permanent deals. We might get a loan. Maybe.

More than Rafa's got in his entire time as manager, I'd wager.

Please fuck off. You have nothing to contribute, you've been on the wind-up since day one.

Only watched the last 10 minutes but it's obvious from them how fucking shit we've been. What a disgrace. Why are people still paying their hard-earned money to watch this reeking shower of shit? Everyone and their mam knew we were going to lose this game. Paying no doubt exorbitant prices to watch the likes of Joselu, Hayden, and Manquillo playing at a League One standard. Fuck me.

I'm equally scared that in 2020, the fucking morons that populate enormous swathes of this bizarre, broken, brilliant country will re-elect the most obviously corrupt official ever to hold office in its history, solely because "educated coastal elite liberals" don't want them to. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that Trump is a wretched disaster of a president. I'm worried that that rules out an enormous proportion of the electorate.

Right up there with the risks of being in Europe, or going on a cup run. Dreadful news, but I could completely see the fat fuck spinning it that way.

One of the worst sides in the PL got what they deserved today. Fuck off to Warnock, the Brexit-loving sack of shit. Class performance all around against a team we simply had to beat.

Class finish from a centre half, well done. Cardiff nowhere near him though.

Deleted.

What in the ever-loving fuck was that last corner? That should've been straight into the mix with 10 players in the box. We did well enough but this match just highlighted the lack of quality in this squad. We've got 5 good centre-halves. Past that we've no depth anywhere. You look at our bench and just wonder who is going to come on and make a difference there. Not to mention that one or two injuries to key players - Rondon or Ritchie, for example - and we're absolutely fucked. It's sad, really. We should be stopping up quite comfortably considering how terrible the PL bottom half is this year, but instead we're going to struggle to the bitter end (and probably make it all the same, I reckon) because Fat Mike clearly is not going to spend any money this window.

We looked five times the team after they scored. Really good response. Hayden and Longstaff against Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic was always likely to be a bloodbath, we've lost the midfield completely and everything is coming down the wings. Atsu/Ritchie and Perez/Yedlin is working quite well. A point is not out of reach here. Rondon looks well up for it as well.

Dear me. Run along you little mutant, you've got a big match against Fleetwood Town on Saturday.

Such an incredible effort, what a motivator. Only half a billion pounds worth of personnel on hand, he's canny at getting the best out of what he works with.

You're right, I was just commenting on how everything done by Shelvey in particular and us in general is a heinous crime.

Retrospective ban incoming for Shelvey.

100% penalty, arm extended, no attempt to play the ball. Why was there no appeal for that?

A bit harsh on Lejeune since he's just returning from injury but I take your point. The team selection has been baffling as of late. I'd like to think Rafa is making a statement including the utterly tragic Hayden, and Kenedy's form in his second spell here has been extremely questionable, but the rest...Atsu, Ritchie, and Diame work very hard for the cause but are ultimately limited. Perez has about 50 minutes every match before he begins throwing a strop and gives up completely. Surely Muto and Murphy can't be any worse...?

Time to take Perez off, we've reached the point where he does nothing but flail his arms about in disgust that his teammates aren't producing perfect passes to him every time. Happens every game around this point.

Excuse for no worthwhile spend in January sorted. Fuck me, this mug needs a new routine. It's like a broken record.