Teale's 'tache

I don't think there's many fans that don't want a cup run, but I think circumstances dictate many would understand the clubs decision, having a good season in the league helps as well of course! Good point about the BT money, hadn't considered that, with income streams down it's more important than ever we don't turn that cash down. I do worry if the score line gets ridiculous though, it could do irreparable damage to some of our youth players. I'll support the lads all the way though, hope they do themselves proud, it's an incredible opportunity for them.

There's simply no room to handle the postponements in place already and there's only going to be more. I wouldn't be much surprised if they were forced to suspend the PL for a while the way things are looking. If it is suspended it opens up a whole can of worms for the Euros in the summer, unless of course a number of other leagues have to do the same, in which case they'll just have to put it back another year... when there's supposed to be a World Cup... hmmmm...

Will be incredibly interesting to see the line-ups in this one, I don't think Liverpool will risk playing many first team players, their schedule is busy enough, so it will be mainly fringe players I'd of thought, but then they will want to ensure there's no embarrassment... tricky balance to be found there. From our point of view it's an interesting decision to let the game go ahead, I can understand wanting to get the cup out of the way, in an already congested season and no idea when we will be able to fulfil league games again a cup run isn't really desired now, and the fans are hardly going to be up in arms. There's a few ways to look at it, you could say they are dropping the kids in it, which could damage their development, or they are showing their faith in those players and giving them valuable experience. I'm no fan of Liverpool, I've never known them to act with any degree of class before and so I don't expect them to start now. I just hope our boys do themselves justice, the score line should be irrelevant, just take what they can from the experience and use it to improve and develop.

Good result, enjoyed the game, special mention to the battle of the #7's, McGinn vs Kante. Sensational battle between the pair of them all game long, both fight for their team in the right spirit, plenty of respect for each other, both absolutely none-stop, just made for great viewing. It's the kind of thing you don't see too often as the referees are often too picky, so kudos to Atwell as well for letting them go at it. We do look a really good team at the moment, night and day from last season.

I don't think we'll be doing much business if any (barring catastrophic injuries), we've a full squad that we've not much used, and there is rarely quality/value to be had in January. Maybe some loans out, and possibly sign a few more for the academy as we did in the summer. Thankfully there's no need to panic buy like last January. We'll keep our ear to the ground and if there's any value to be had for a player that would improve the first team I'm sure we'll be in for them, but that kind of quality at good value is rare in the winter market. I can see plenty of movement in the summer when contracts run out, we'll have squad places to fill and depending on where we finish an ambition to fill it with real quality.

Working in the web industry, I've been crazy busy since the start of the first lockdown, looking forward to some chill out time (after today) finally, and thank McGrath I got a bonus this year, as it was not expected but desperately needed. Feeling incredibly lucky right now, I know so many have lost their jobs/homes and even worse family. Hope you all have as good a Christmas as possible and 2020 slings it's hook without causing much more damage. Keeps safe guys and gals. UTV!

It's what every fan dreams of, Lawrenson Validation™ is better than winning the Champions League... or something like that...

Remember when there was a bit of panic that we weren't getting players in quick enough and would miss out on points in the first few games?... good times!

I agree, though it's hard to find any definitive stat which tells us how transfer fees have been affected so far, or may lead us to guess how the values might be by January, but then maybe our budget could shrink by January should our own revenues fall more than expected. Another thing is that good players are usually more difficult to obtain in the January window due to clubs not wanting to to let them go in the middle of a season, potentially weakening themselves, but again it depends on finances, some clubs may be forced to sell this year. It's crazy times we are living in, it's difficult to predict anything, I mean we just stuffed Liverpool 7-2.

The problem with saving money for January is you don't get the value, but the benefit is you know what you need in the short term. However, if we spend the budget now we'd get better value, but we wouldn't know where the injuries/illness/loss of form will hit, and could potentially strengthen the wrong area of the squad. I think this season it may be wise to keep some back for January, and this is because the squad still has a few areas of weakness that are unlikely to be fixed by one or two signings, there are going to be a lot of injuries, but if we get one or two long term ones like last season then having some budget left in January will see us better able to plug those gaps. That said, if quality becomes available at the right price before the window closes you have to look at it.

Would now be a really bad time to post that fake tweet loading gif?

Who pretends to be on the phone?! And this is why I don't believe a thing this guys says...

Not that I disagree with you, but I wouldn't imagine Purslow has told Jim White anything. Unless Purslow wanted it to get out because all Jim White does is run his mouth about how great he is and how many contacts he has. Purslow is just too savvy for anything like that. He may of leaked we were done to pressure another club or agents, but I'm sure we are always keeping our ear to the ground and are never really 'done' until the window closes, you never know when a good deal might drop in your lap. We may not sign another player, but to me that wouldn't make Jim White any more credible.

Exactly, when Jota signed for Liverpool who did he think he was going to replace? He didn't, because that isn't how it works at this level, it's not just the first 11 anymore. I think Rashica is exactly what we need, real genuine pace and quality, he'd give us an extra dimension/different option. In this league you can't only have one way to hurt an opposition, you need to have multiple ways of playing. I have no idea if we are going to sign him but it's nice to dream!

I think it's quite bizarre the reaction this transfer rumour has caused, I can understand people getting excited, even sceptical to a degree, but there's always some who will take it too far. I think he'd be perfect for us, if I was to describe exactly what we needed at the end of last season then Rashica is the embodiment of that description, pace, quality, goals. Maybe that is what has caused such extremes, the desperation for him to sign, the disbelief anything that good could happen to our club. Anyway, I'd like to thank you for bringing the information you had here, I hope you haven't been too harassed because of it, and I hope he eventually does sign and you can break out some seriously smug gifs for the none-believers.

Costa and Suarez up front together, managed by Simeone...

This guy is quality, very much looking forward to seeing what he can do! Hoping there's a clause to buy, because if he plays well for us the fee will rocket up, same thing happened with Mings and we had to pay through the nose for that mistake. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen again, but either way we have another quality player in for this season at least, and he should be hungry with the Euro's around the corner too.

I'm not Targett's biggest fan, but he does get a bit of a rough deal on here. I thought he looked pretty decent the back end of last season, and we've been in no rush to replace him. I think the way we play leaves the fullbacks very exposed, particularly the on the left hand side as Jack is allowed a free role, and we ask them to tuck in close to their center back which means they are always going to struggle to block crosses. Matty Cash has started very well, but look who he's had in front of him, Trezeguet the work horse, I'm not saying Targett doesn't have his faults, I'm just saying the way we play really exposes them more than any other player on our team. I think he looks better as a wing back than a fullback and that is why we will likely replace him next summer, but for now he does a job defensively and gives us something going forward.

I'll expect royalties for the use of my .gif, credit or cash is fine

My reading of those quotes is that we are one short in the squad, being a backup striker to compete with Davis now Samatta is gone, and the midfield line is interesting, I think this is more in the context of the team rather than the squad? In which case maybe that's our priority, to improve the midfield of the first 11 and maybe need to shift a midfielder to make room

Nobody will ever bid above a release fee, there is no reason to, you gain no advantage. Hence there is never a 'bidding war' on any player who has one.