Polarboy

Rob Green on bumming us up on BBC live reporting saying these performances have given Bruce something to think about for the weekend. It's fucking Morecambe, get a hold of yourself.

Exactly. A pundit actually seeming like they are excited to be there, and about football in general, is half the battle as far as I'm concerned. Richard's comments about the unfair questioning, and some direct abuse no doubt, online of why he was hired proved how committed and passionate he is about his job. Either that or he's a damn fine actor.

Scott is very good, for a woman In all seriousness though the bar was so low with the clapped out ex-players that people like Scott, Evra and Richards are a breath of fresh air. They don't smell like betting shops and despair in any case. I wouldn't make it a policy or anything, but I personally don't think you are relevant as a pundit if you are over the age of 55, I was going to say 50 but I don't want Big Al to pack it in yet There's some exceptions to that rule such as players, coaches and managers who have stayed up to date with current players, tactics, training methods etc, and of course there are some who've never had a clue and never will. The people who actively try to keep themselves up to date are few and far between though. Wenger would be a good example of someone who's in his 70's who's no doubt kept up to date even in semi-retirement. On the other end of the scale Bruce is still working but hasn't got a clue.

In fairness Jota can play through the middle as well, and I assume his versatility is a big part of the reason Klopp bought him. On a entirely unrelated subject I saw Micah Richards on talking quite eloquently after the match, about him and Alex Scott, presumably Evra as well, getting a bit of online abuse because certain people believe that they are diversity hires because Sky let Le Tiss, Thompson and Nicholas go, or fired them to be more precise. Shite for them given that they are all more than qualified, most certainly when in comparison to the aforementioned. Evra is mental though, the Moyes daughter comment was hilarious. Scott probably has it even worse given she's also replacing Sue Barker on A Question of Sport, and Barker made it clear she was sacked and didn't retire. I rarely watch it but from shallow perspective it will be nice to not have to look at the Crypt Keeper It really is shit on them, because they are diversity hires in part because that is just corporate policy now whether you agree with that or not, or are strictly for purely meritocratic hiring, but again they are also qualified. It leaves them in a position where ignorant people and dishonest actors can try to use it against them.

Were we total shite, badly set up to deal with Brighton and Lamptey, and was Bruce too slow to change things? Yes. But Brighton and Lamptey were also extremely good and if we shouldn't have gotten carried away by last weeks win, we shouldn't get carried away by one defeat from, again, a very good Brighton side. Of course I do worry about Bruce's ability to anticipate, plan, and then modify his tactics should he need to on the day. Fingers crossed for the court case once again

The Chronicle have the club quoted as saying that they believe Carroll has less mileage on the clock than most thirty-somethings, BECAUSE of his long injury lay-offs at West Ham. How exactly does that work? Bruce also said we have the real Andy Carroll back, so if you haven't already set that countdown to Carroll's next long term injury set it now Of course I wish Carroll the best, but it's typical of Bruce to tempt fate so early.

A couple more performances and results like this and I may even stop calling Bruce grannyface. Hard to make any sort of precise judgement given it's the first game and West Ham are shit, but we looked very decent, and the amount of options we have, from the bench etc, now is crazy compared to what we've had in the recent past. Oh and if Lewis can keep steadily improving he's going to be a top class player. Him and ASM on the left flank has massive potential.

According to nufcblog this Romano lad has gotten a number of transfer stories right this summer, so who knows. I didn't think Ashley would sanction a player like Wilson being signed, so I could easily be wrong again. The question is what has changed with Lille since we supposedly had a bid accepted in January iirc, and does the player even want to leave, or at least come to us if he does. It seemed as though he wasn't too hot on the idea back at the start of the year, reading between the lines. Who could blame him I suppose. He likely has it planned out that he'll move to the Premier when one of the top six bid for him. The only way I could see this as a possibility is if Ashley has literally said a season or two and then we flog you for a profit to one of the top six, which I'm sure has happened with some of our previous players. It does of course promote a mercenary culture around the club if that's the case. If by some miracle we do sign this lad Bruce is literally going to have to suck Ashley and Penfold off in public to show his gratitude, going by how thankful he was for transfers that would be seen as the bare minimum at a lot of clubs, certainly ones of our stature and relative wealth.

I think Fabrizio has been supping one too many Aperol spritz's with his lunch. Do we know if this guy is usually on the level?

Bruce is looking a bit peaky from all the excitement as well.

Through the fool proof method of watching YouTube clips I can tell you that we have a very tidy, quick, athletic, good reader of the game, great tackler and crosser, and if he wasn't already a NI international a future England international.

He played as a centre back in Belgium and back in Japan, but he played a full season bar three games as a right back in Italy, where he got a goal and three assists in 28 league games. As a 21 year old player his consistent position is still a bit up for decision, but having that versatility is no bad thing of course. He can also play in defensive midfield. He is tall for a right back, but he has the speed and footballing skills to be a very good wing back according to his stats. It depends on how Bruce lines up, but he seems like he'd be good in a 5 as one of the three CB or a right wing back, and a flat back four at either centre back or right back.

So both ASM and Fraser prefer the left flank, both are right footed and like to cut in, but Fraser is the better crosser so perhaps he could be moved to the right hand side. I presume ASM, Almiron and Fraser will be the three behind Wilson. If we could get a pacy upgrade on Manquillo in the right back position we'd be shaping up to be a very quick side in attack. This is presuming that Lewis's transfer goes through without any last minute hitches. Perhaps this rumour of us being in for Tomiyasu is true, but I highly doubt we'll be paying over 10m for another defender this window.

If you had of actually read the comment properly you wouldn't be struggling, or at least you shouldn't be. As I said Villa have been heavily linked with buying Ollie Watkins off Brentford, more heavily than Wilson, and Brentford supposedly want close to 30m for him. The reports hold weight because of how well Watkins did in the championship last year, and the fact that Dean Smith has worked with him before. Clearly if Villa are in negotiations for Watkins it has to call into doubt how serious they are about buying Wilson, unless they are going to spank 50, 60m on the both of them and pay Wilson's 75-100k a week wages. I mean they did pay 100+ on transfers at the beginning of last season, but first season back and not being in the middle of Covid is a vastly different position to be in. I think it's fair to say that a relegation side buying two 20-30m strikers in one window seems a bit implausible. Maybe they will try to buy both, but my point still holds up to scrutiny even if you can't see it. Edit. Of course it could be the case that the media reports haven't caught up to reality and Villa have given up on Watkins because Brentford are asking for too much, but both he and Wilson appear to have pretty much the same transfer fee. This talk of 20m for Wilson in the BBC report again seems suspect given word was they wanted around 30m.

Care to elaborate?

Gallas plus 5m for Ashley Cole's transfer to Chelsea is the only one I can see with a quick look.

So yesterday we were in pole position because of Bournemouth wanting Ritchie in part exchange, and now Villa are going to buy him for 20m. As much as it would be easy to suspect Ashley has purposely shat the bed because of fees, wages etc, this report from the BBC seems a bit odd. For a start 20m is about 10m short of what Bournemouth are supposedly after and seems low even for an opening bid. Surely even Penfold could get through a deal for 20m if 8-10m of the deal was Ritchie. You know it's not even the limitless cash that we missed out on from the Saudi's that annoys me most, it's having to put up with the chuckle brothers fucking about and taking an eternity to buy a player, and or let them slip away, purposely a lot of the time no doubt, to another team because of a few million quid. There's also the fact that Villa have been reported to also be in talks for Ollie Watkins who the Villa manager has worked with before. Can Villa actually afford to spend 50m on them both not even counting wages, or is this Wilson link meant to force Brentford's hand as a bit of bluff. I know I'm likely deluding myself, but I don't think anything I've said is that implausible.

Just seen a Villa supporter say that he hopes Wilson to Newcastle is true because he doesn't want him Because Villa have some many options up front, or realistic transfer targets with premier experience or obvious quality that would suit the premier.

You hear a lot about Wilson being injury prone, but in fairness he's played 93 league games in the last three seasons which isn't too bad for a supposed crock. He's certainly a lot sturdier than wor Andy in any case. Perhaps we could get Wilson and Carroll to synchronise their fitness/injuries in terms of Carroll being fit for the 6 to 10 games Wilson is usually out for. Of course it doesn't pay off as a Newcastle fan to get too ahead of yourself. Villa might offer him 10 groaty pudding a week to blow our offer out of the water.

Gillespie, Hendrick, Holding, Fraser, Giannoulis and Wilson for 5m. If, and it's a big if obviously, Bruce and Penfold pull that off fair play to them. Obviously it stings to be shopping with a Lidl budget when we could have had enough to shop in Harrods, but that would be great business whatever way you look at it. If we offer Ritchie in part exchange and get Wilson for about 20m cash, we might even have enough left over to get the Marega lad if there's any truth in that story, or indeed any of these rumours. Don't know much about Giannoulis but have heard he's decent. Lets just hope he isn't another Krafth, at least so far, in terms of quality, but he's distinct from Krafth in that he's supposed to an attacking wing-back.

I had a look at some of his stats in more detail and in fairness when he was played as a centre forward last season he scored 12 goals and made 5 assists in 27 games, which is more than respectable even in a weak league. He'd been moved out wide for 9 games over the course of the season which I assume is pretty disruptive to your game. I think the problem is that Joelinton has been so shite in everything he does, it colours the perception of any other striker coming in who's big and strong and yet doesn't really have the classic hold up abilities of a centre forward.

Been reading a bit about this Moussa Marega lad we've been linked to putting a bid in for in the, admittedly unreliable Portuguese football press. Apparently despite his size he plays more as a secondary striker, as opposed to a centre forward and someone who can play up on their own and bring others into play. Sounds fucking familiar doesn't it Given he recently turned 29 I can't see it, but as Mark Douglas pointed out we did just give Hendrick a four year contract, albeit on a free, and he'll be 29 in January. Chances are we won't buy him and it's all rubbish, although we have been repeatedly linked to him, but who knows he could be another Ba or Cisse as opposed to a Guicarc'h or Andreas Andersson. He's certainly got impressive speed and power.

Not that I'd wish an injury on anyone, least of all one of our own players, but Gayle getting injured now might actually turn out to be a good thing. Ashley was more likely to let Bruce muddle on with it if Gayle and Carroll were both fit for the start of the season. Lets face it Gayle was going to get injured sooner rather than later in any case given his record. Maybe Bruce can cry his wee granny face out to Fatley and impress upon him how monumentally fucked we are, if we have to start the season relying on Carroll to stay fit, and or for Joelinton to suddenly start banging them in.

He just needs that pre-season with a few dips in the paddling pool and the wheelie-bins and he'll be good to go man. LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That he hasn't had a pre-season in about six of seven years is pretty fucking mad. I fear I'm so desperate for good news about the team that I might get sucked into thinking Carroll might not break down again almost immediately, after cutting his toenails etc. A fit Carroll would be a massive bonus, will it happen, yeah probably not, but again I'm that desperate at the minute. https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/latest-videos/andy-carroll-this-is-my-first-proper-pre-season-in-years-and-i-feel-great/