MrBlack

I'd say Martinez would be the worst, but he's definitely on the top 2. For all the luck we've had with Watkins avoiding injury the last few years, I thought that had balanced itself out with all the other players we'd lost. Seems the football gods really do have it in for us. Please please please don't be long term. 2 weeks and missing the England games would be nice.

Forgot to add...recency bias obviously doesnt apply when picking centre backs. Oh and **** Southgate, glad when he's gone, etc etc.

Wouldn't have gone with Rashford. Solanke much more deserving of that spot. Toney is obviously a great footballer, served his ban, and straight back in to scoring form. Not sure I'd have selected him, but if Solanke replaces Rashford I'm not sure who I'd pick instead. Probably another full back. Henderson... joke. But the rest of the squad is surprisingly OK. Obviously we're kinda shafted at goalkeeper with no great options anywhere.

Maybe if we hadn't changed manufacturer and badge. As per @NurembergVillan, these things delay the typical timeframe. Of course, Adidas being absolutely huge, very experienced, and probably a far more competent outfit than Fanatics may mean they can actually deliver on time. (I am aware Fanatics supply loads of sports clubs these days but I'm yet to be convinced they're actually any good at it).

So if next seasons shirts are already on a pallet somewhere which badge do they have on then and why hasn't a picture of them been leaked? Why haven't the club announced anything knowing that such a leak is incredibly likely given recent history? We only signed the deal with Adidas recently, and that isn't even formally announced so I'd be surprised if they'd manage to design and mass produce the kit already. More likely our kits will arrive later than normal I'd expect (and normal for us is late anyway)

The official line was actually that we didn't want to impact our fortress home for the next couple of seasons when we'll be in Europe and potentially champions league. Also that the demand doesn't seem to be there with 200 unsold tickets every match. Transport and traffic are being dealt with by the redevelopment of Whitton Station, and if they make an offering like the warehouse available the demand immediately before and after a game would reduce anyway. Either way, the official line was most definitely bollocks.

I think both would be the same. They'd both be a success based on preseason expectations (and even more so given the injuries we've faced), but would both be a punch in the gut. We've maintained champions league form for 50 games now. To not get it would be gutting, however it comes about.

With our result against spurs and arsenal having won against Brentford, the best this could now look is Arsenal 65 Liverpool 65 City 64 Villa 61 I suspect Liverpool will beat Brighton putting them on 67 and we probably won't beat both wet spam and wolves. Mid week game before West Ham and wolves being a bogey team... one will bite us. Whilst winning them would put us back in the vicinity, we won't be title challengers and nor should we be considered as such. Especially as spurs may also be on 62. I think this thread should probably die for this year now.

How's his footwork? I guess Gauci is expected to be the highest potential, but having a competent third choice would be a massive luxury given we've not even had a second choice goalkeeper for longer than I can recall.

But the original point made (that we haven't looked like world beaters despite this) is moot anyway. We've looked exactly as good as we've needed to to get to the stage we're at. Emery isn't trying to wipe the floor with every opponent. He's balancing the need to progress with the need to prioritise the Premier League. At this stage, we should expect to so start using our stronger lineups, but the opposition will be better (most likely Europa league drop outs), and we've got injuries piling up so I don't expect us to be looking like world beaters still. Weird complaint to have that we've qualified for the knock out stages but not looked good doing it.

Buendia was playing a good chunk of last season under Gerrard when we were shit. He also brings a lot more besides expected assists and goals, whilst Diaby does nothing else. He'd have made the same step to everyone else in the squad did. And he'd have continued to be our second most creative player, along with a player that harrases the opposition giving them less time to set up their long cross field passes over our defence. Anyone that thinks he wouldn't have helped us this season is the person that needs to give their head a wobble.

If we finish 5th you would rather we didn't get the consolation prize and the other English clubs don't succeed in Europe?

Wow Luton

Wow Luton.

Manually drawn serves zero purpose if they then use a computer. They could build in whatever rules they want. I'd love to inspect the code, no doubt see a rule that says "if Aston Villa draw away against the top seed in every pot" Funny looking at all the rage in here when the format was announced... but now we might actually benefit from it. Very amusing.

Sancho proving it's United that's toxic rather than him? Or do we think he'd still be rubbish for us?

I'm not cutting my nose off to spite my face. Them getting through is good for our champions league insurance policy. Whilst them getting knocked out in this round or the next makes little difference to them.

Great goal by Arsenal. As much as I dont like Arteta, I'm all about what helps us the most and Arsenal getting through is a big boost for our hopes of Champions League (accepting that we might finish 5th and that would still be an amazing season, and finishing 4th is still a distinct possibility).

Get rid of PSR/FFP and I'm sure we'd have voted for it. As it is, our owners are in win at all costs mode because the only way to compete with the scum 6 is to be able to spend more. The only way to spend more is to earn more, and filtering money down the football league doesn't do that. Game definitely gone.

I dont think it would cost us any points. Donk is less capable on the ball than Tim, so while he may block more attacks, he'll concede possession more. Probably break even for me, but not quantifiable as you said. Certainly not worth recalling Donk (if we even could) to find out given how much we should be saving from his wage.

Depends on your definition of crippling. I meant in the sense we wouldn't have to sell anyone. But we would be pretty stuck with one in one out. I'm not sure what you mean about answering my points? The fact we won't sell 12 players isn't answered by anything at present. We might do, but I very much doubt we will

The point about those players likely having negative "equity" if we sell them is valid. We 100% will not sell 12 players. I'll be pleased (and kind of surprised) if we manage to move on more than 6 with the tight belts shown by the rest of the league. It's valid to question the amount of money we'll save by selling Carlos and Digne, when there's a good chance we won't be able to move on either. We can definitely improve from our 90% ratio though. We'll have a lot more income this season with european football and price rises. We'll have had two high earners (Coutinho and Donk) out on loan this season, and sold Traore, that will be positively impacting our position for next years reporting period (assuming these new rules come in that quick). It's not going to be crippling for us, the worst part will be how much more room it gives the scum 6.

Because their owners are sick of losing money and they're happy to be ever presents in the PL, make money, and not win anything? I guess the point is for a lot of teams it's barely any different from the current rules. It's us and Everton that are currently closest to a hypothetical limit, so not sure how the rest will see it.

I dont like this new rule. Locks in the scum 6. Just look how much room they have spare to spend on salaries compared with nearly all the rest of the league. Forces a club to make very gradual improvement and prevents a club even doing what we did to try and compete. Unless there's some leeway for owners to top up the revenue with backed grants, its a killer for the immediate future. Having the same rules as uefa would be sensible, but they're only coming onboard over a rolling several year period. Again, if they'd been at the level they'll be in two years time when we qualified for the UECL, we'd have never got there. At least not in the timeframe we've done so. Allowing some clubs to spend more than others is not fair play. It's a financially forced unfair competition. Edit: I know "FFP" doesn't really exist, and it's more about sustainability, which I accept these rules do ensure better... but it's miles from creating a fair competition.

As highlighted by others... the alternative is a non-dm (Youri), a formation that doesn't work (see spurs game), or a player that Emery has tried to sell twice already (Chambers). Now is definitely the time.