NSmith22

1 minute ago, Xela said:

If we go down, our bargaining position is massively weaker. He'll be taken off our hands for much less. 

Potentially, yes. But if Southgate takes his head out of the sand it may not matter what league we’re in. 

1 minute ago, screwdriver said:

"I am not bothered about the cup final next week, this was our cup final today and we were terrible. Certainly some players have played themselves out of next week."

 

I'm sure they're really upset about not being allowed to chase mancity shadows and get torn a new one at wembley....... It's going to be an anal massacre next weekend.

The players will be glad to not be out there...........El Gazi couldn't wait to get off the pitch today with an inocuious "injury"

 

If I was a pro I'd be definatly in the managers office with the old tight calf on monday morning

Yikes, are you a supporter or...?

1 minute ago, AntrimBlack said:

Disappointingly, Smith's days may be numbered. These owners will not put up with this sort of performance, considering the investment they have in the club, and the possible future investment they will put in to get them to where they want to be.

It is beginning to look as though the PL is a step too far for him. It's a shame; was a great story, but fairy tales don't often come true. 

 

It won’t get any better if Pitarch isn’t sent packing as well. 

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

Some appalling purchases 

Yep. Dean changed the formation and brought Jack into the middle and we were still dire. Recruitment has been absolute crap, especially in the midfield. Trez, although give his best, wouldn’t make it into the top 6 in the championship. I’ll get crucified for saying this but Jack needs to go for his own career. We get £60-£80 mil, sack Jesus, and bring in someone that has a clue about English football. 

Pitarch needs to take just as much blame as Smith if we’re going to go on about giving him the sack. 

6 minutes ago, eholm said:

Wow!  Somethings gonna give now. No good outcome here. Gutted. 

This is false. Fake rumor. 

7 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Piatek seems too good to be true. Certainly don't think he's the real issue at Milan. They have lots of average players, i think he is quality though. I don't think he is going to want to give up the Milan lifestyle too easy because of a manager who himself could be gone in a month or 2 with the way they are playing, doesn't play him much.

I don’t think the issue is Milan wanting to sell but more a case of Elliott needing to offload some high earners and getting a fat fee. The other issue is competition from other big clubs and convincing him to come here if a bid is accepted. 

Piatek was brought in last January for €35 million so one would assume he won’t be leaving for any less this window unless it’s a loan deal. I watch a fair bit of Milan and I can’t see this one happening but if it did we could possibly have our own world class striker. He’s got all the tools to put it together. Problem is, Milan don’t have much cover at the position as I doubt they’re going to rely solely on a 38 year old Ibra. 

16 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said:

Great claim from Westwood's late corner at Burnley though. Perhaps he's been learning!!

Perhaps and I hope you’re right.

44 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Nyland was such a liability, that as soon as Dean Smith had the chance, he replaced him. And as a club, we were so desperate to replace him, we signed someone that we then have needed to replace. 

I'm not sold on Joe Hart, but at this point, trusting Nyland is a massive gamble  

I don’t think I could agree more on Nyland. He seemed so far out of his depth when he got his run last year. He was absolutely clueless on aerial balls into the box last season, needlessly coming off his line to try and catch or punch the ball out. I honestly hope he starts today so everyone can get a refresher on how he plays. His run this month will ultimately decide our fate and that’s terrifying. 

20 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

oh right, interesting!

Nyland & Sarkic then.....not sure whether that scares me or not.....

Nyland as no.1 is absolutely terrifying to me. He’s a great shot stopper but his decision making is awful. 

Spurs definitely planned that first half around attacking the right side and Taylor has put Walker-Peters in his pocket. Dean once again proves he knows more about tactics than all of us combined on here. Wesley needs to settle down and get stuck in to some of these 50/50 balls.

I don’t want to pile on Hutton because I think he’s done a serviceable job for us under Bruce, but we have to get some outside backs. Taylor and Hutton provide zero support for the midfielders and forwards and we have to have ball playing fullbacks in this system. 

Grealish completely changes the identity of this team when he’s on the field. Tony you can save your money on a rumored AM and invest it in keeping Sam and shoring up the defense. 

Just now, Junxs said:

Agree, every time hes had the ball hes either misplaced the pass or overran the ball.

Should have gone off instead of Snodgrass

After the 2nd, Snodgrass looked disinterested. Not surprised he was taken off.

Been forever since I’ve been on here but this forum never disappoints. Agree with the majority, I’ve wanted to see Hogan/Davis since the beginning of the season. Seems like the perfect marriage for both of their styles. As great as Kodjia is its more of the same style the last 5+ years of hoofball hoping for a bit of magic. Let’s go boys!!! UTV

God no. Lansbury getting ready...

Davis is beastly right now. Loving everything he's doing.

With Hogan and Gabby on the field there is nothing good that can come from crossing balls into the box barring the lucky bounce. Hogan needs service on the ground, through buildup play. 

Lansbury has been awful for 3 halves now. Hourihane on please.

Does the stream not become available until right before the start or am I missing something? All signed up and can't find the match stream. Is this on Sky for you guys? 

Just now, Jareth said:

Better not be a pre-cursor to AVTV's service....

Also why I'm not happy about the price LOL. If this is going to be commonplace I might shell out the fiver for the first couple games to see how the service goes.

I'm ecstatic this is coming stateside but damn the price is steep. $145 is more than I pay for NHL Gamecenter and that's for every team in the league not on national TV. 

24 minutes ago, Junxs said:

Sorry but we should be looking to improve the first team, not the back up. Rumour has it we are only planning on signing 3-4 players. If one of those is a back up midfielder I would be fuming. Especially when you consider one of those 4 will be a keeper. So that would only leave 2 more signings.. Do you still see that as an instant improvement?

Current squad, with a proper offseason, should easily be top 3. 2-4 incoming seems absolutely reasonable even if only 1 is a starter imo.