David Kelly

Are we all writing off Manquillo as cover for Krafth then? I know Krafth has improved a lot under Howe but for me at least he was way behind Manquillo prior to that. I'm not so sure we need to bring anyone else in for that position. I mean I've got absolutely no problem with bringing in this youngster from West Ham if he's a good prospect but I'd certainly still be focussing my attention futher up the pitch. I'm not too convinced we'll sign anyone else though. The remotely credible links have dried up in the last week since the Issak news broke, and while the fact that deal came out of nowhere offers some hope, there is very little time left now for someone to appear out of the blue. If this is it for this window, I think we've made some excellent moves but I am slightly disapointed we've not addressed the midfield/wing situation. Had we done that I think we could have potentially gave the top six a shot this season with the world cup and number of games before it potentially hindering the teams in Europe.

Aye erm whatshisname and that one who is canny and does McGeady still play for them?

That was a superb finish man. He knew scooping it over the defenders outstreched leg was the only way it goes in.

Apparently Potter has denied he only has 12 months of his contract left.

It's great to feel disapointed at not winning that yesterday. A year ago if we'd lost 4-3 I'd have been happy if we'd just showed a bit of anything against a team that good. But now we're actually having large spells of the game where we are the better team. As their support sung though, that's why they're champions. Players like KDB and Silva are just so good they can create out of nothing, and as LondonBlue said, they do keep going which one of the most impressive things about them. The thing I do disagree with LB about is that it was never a sending off. There may come a day when they decide a professional foul like that is worth a red card but that's not what the rules say now. Trippier knew what he was doing and it's the kind of fouls the top teams do every week because they know they won't be sent off for it (unless you're Rangers of course). I was furious with Longstaff for not doing something simiar on the edge of their box right near the end when they were breaking. I've not read this whole thread and I'm probably just echoing what others have said, but I thought it was easily ASM's best game for us and Joe was fucking unreal. Bruno showed his quality by keeping his head and not getting sent off playing for so long on a yellow and still being able to maintain the agression. I read Diego's opinion on Trippier costing us with dropping back and playing their scorers onside and while it's hard to disagree with that, it's also noticeable that it was BDB who lost his man on both second half goals. The second one for sure could be due to him playing a less familiar position but I guess Haarland's movement was just too good for him on that one. Regardless though, it's great to see that we no longer have anything to be frightened of with anyone anymore and a couple more signings will hopefully only renforce that.

Was agressiveness the problem or was is that we just have too many sub standard players who were playing against a very good pace attack? For me it's the latter. We are just trying to play in a way that makes use of the skill set of the players we do have. I totally agree with Alex that Stokes is wasting himself playing the way he is though. Him and Root are about the only players who are quality proper test batsmen. And if he'd played the way he is now back then, we'd have never seen that Heddingly innings against the Aussies by him.

Man Utd are a completely mental club these days. There seems to be absolutely no strategy at all to there appointment of managers or going for players. None of the players they are being linked with fulfill the same role. Been after De Jong all summer and when that seems to be gone they go for Rabiot until his mummy tells them to fuck off and now they turn their attentio to Pulisic. Completely different types of player. It seems they are now very firmly in the asking agents to just tell them possibilities mode. And no one seems particularly interested in signing for them. The least said about signing a five foot nine centre half the better.

This would be my concern also. Of course it's all if's and buts at this stage but the supporters, players and manager will all be expecting improvements in our attackers and if that doesn't happen then it will be a bad look to everyone.

I think there will be a lot of people trying to convince themselves that it's for the best and they don't want us to have the piss taken out of us by other clubs and agents if we don't sign the two attacking players that we need this summer. Whatever they come up with wouldn't be able to hide the fact that this transfer window will have been a pretty big disapointment if we were to finish it with the same squad we have at this moment. Yes we've signed one of the top up and comming centrebacks in Europe but our defence was excellent in the second half of last season against all but the very best attacking outfits. It clearly wasn't the area in most need of improvement. That said I can't believe that those looking after these things aren't acutely aware of that fact and I'm confident that they will be working on addressing this before the window ends and that whatever funds needed will be available. I would have hoped we would have the players in by now, but January proved that we are prepared to wait until the very end of the window to bring in the players we need.

Isn't the loan we've taken out just a refinancing of the overdraft from Barclays, who Mandy doesn't get on with these days, to HSBC who PCP use?

I watched the England Spain match last week and I was impressed at how much improvement there has been in the few years since I last watched a womans match. The keepers had even improved and from what I've seen of her the England keeper looks very competent. The lack of height is always going to be an issue and probably even more so with the standard of outfield players improving. I wonder whether there may come a time when smaller goals may be necessary to stop games becoming too high scoring. I agree the crowd puts me off a bit too. It's like a league cup game when you're surrounded by qpr's who are mainly kids who don't have a clue what they are shouting in singing about. In the womens case though I don't think they will grow up to being the regular match goers as happens with mens games. And I can actually see that being preferable to a lot of the people attending as Tom says. I went to watch a Newcastle Eagles game a few months back that was similar. It's a much more of family experience but it just doesn't fit with football for me.

I'd work my arse off but I'm not a premier league standard footballer either.

If he's not up to the standard they want then there's no way Almiron, Frazer and Murphy are.

Replacing ASM would be fine but not when Murphy is one of our most likely starters on the other side of the pitch. Maxi is miles better than any of the three other wide options so you don't get rid of him for someone who only likely a stop gap option and leave yourself with bottom six players on the other side of the pitch. If Harrison and Maxi are both left sided players, signing Harrison makes no sense at all. I'm surprised I've not seen anyone else question this. The only argument I've seen is that people just don't like Harrison. Unless I'm completely wrong about where Harrison plays. I fully admit I've not seen loads of him but I always got the impression he plays on the left and his wiki page seems to back that up.

I don't get the link to Harrison at all. I'm not saying he's a bad player but as far as I can see he's a left winger/forward. ASM certainly has his critics but the reality is he's about the last of our attackers who needs replacing. So why would we be looking to sign someone who plays in the same position?

TBF that trailer probably does look better than anything he's made since Zack and Miri.

I liked the look of Gordon (as a player obviously because he's a right ugly cunt) whenever I saw him last season. Yes he's a pathetic diver and seems a bit of a cunt, he certainly seemed to have the stomach for a fight when very few others in that team did and he looked like he has a lot of promise. I don't see him being worth anywhere near £35-£40m though and I can't believe we'd be willing to risk that much on him rather than paying a bit more for someone who has proven themselves much more. Paying that much for him on what he's done in the premier league so far could be similar to what Man Utd would have done if they'd bought Longstaff for the kind of fees being talked about.

Isn't he the one who scored a hattrick of almost identical goals against us last season?

Potts has clearly went away and improved his fitness/strength in the off season. Last season he looked like possibly getting involved with the England set up in white ball cricket and useful with the red ball but well behind the likes of Rushworth and Raine, and possibly Carse, as the main bowler for Durham. His improvement has been phenomenal really.

That was ridiculously easy.

Tactics seem to have been all over the place this morning.

The Athletic are saying that Pope is agreed in principle and he should have a medical this week. I do kind of think he's a bit overrated and helped by how Burnley play, but if it's the £10m or so fee that's been mentioned earlier, I'd be more than happy that he'd be an excellent addition to the squad.

498 Anticlimax

500 has to be on here.