David Kelly

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.

I think it's fair to say that The Netherlands are not quite up to Englands quality.

I've seen this put about on twitter and whilst I admit I know next to nothing about the lad, I'd be very surprised if a young up and coming international player had that attitude. If he was about 30 I could see this being a possibility but not at 22. If he picks Milan ahead of us, I have no doubt it will be for a combination of champions league football, playing for the champions who are one of the world biggest most historic clubs and the chance to live in Milan. And all of them would be perfectly valid reasons.

He's already said befoe he's really interested in our project so I certainly don't think he'd just be coming because we're his only option. Whether he'd prefer Milan is a different matter but then again it seems to be mostly coming from the Italian press that they are his preference. Whether that's what Milan are briefing them or just their own Italian bias, it may not be reality. I have to admit that taking my love for Newcastle out of it, if I had the choice of Milan or Newcastle I can't say I'd be ending up on Tyneside. Milan is a great club and champions of Italy. We have a decent English history, a small history in Europe but play in the premier league and have lots of money (that we aren't spunking all over the place yet). I still think we should be second choice at this stage to most player of his ilk.

The photos were taken just before we played our last midweek home game (Palace was it?). My mates lass plays for the womens team and he was telling us then that it happened a day or so before.

I mean after arguing for years that our midfield is absolutely dogshit, I'm not about to say that I now think it's quality just because of one signing. Like you say, it's hoping for a lot to expect Bruno to be fit all season, and it's maybe also a bit much to expect Joelinton to keep playing the way he has. I'm not personally convinced that any of our other midfielders are good enough to be first choice even where we immediately want to be, let alone looking further ahead. I guess I'm just saying that I can understand why they might look at and think forwards are the players who can help us make the biggest forward move (I mean this is nearly always the case with any club and is why attacking players come at a premium). I'd certainly like to see both though.

Bruno playing more regularly with a mobile striker ahead of him will, I think, improve the creativity in midfield. But we definitely need someone else better than Frazer/Miggy to really take advantage of that. So I can see where they would be coming from saying that we don't necessarily need someone like Paquetta desperately at the moment. Have we ever really been linked with Paquetta btw? Or is it just because he's Bruno's mate?

The safest option with Shearer is just to ignore everything other than his performances on the pitch. He's a fairly poor pundit who trots out the same shit as everyone else and is by many accounts, a bit of a twat off the field.

I was sceptical of Targett at first and while he was clearly better then the options we had playing leftback earlier in the season, I didn't think he was the kind of upgrade that we were getting with Trippier and Bruno in particular. And while I would still maintain that he's not at their level, I do think that he's done a very good job for us and wouldn't be at all concerned with keeping him. I don't think he'll ever be a player who's up to the top six level though. So if that's what we're aiming for and we've identified Lodi as that player, then I'm happy if that's what we're going for. Diego's view of him doesn't fill me with confidence though I must admit.

Almiron's goal was lush for a few reasons but I don't think I've ever seen another goal like Bruno's against Southampton. Something different always ranks higher for me (ie why Cisse's goal against Chelski was one of the best I've ever seen). For buzz I think Bruno against Leicester nails it. Last minute winner from one end of the pitch to the other. Can't beat that.

I've watched very little of it since we got promoted but I can't believe the standard of the championship is anywhere near as bad as the half hour of total shite I witnessed from their cup final on Saturday. Can't seen anything but a struggle for them.

Is it not just that he always looks like a miserable whinging cunt? You just expect to hear bad things about him but I can't actually remember ever hearing anything bad.

6 months ago most of us would have took £2-£5m. I don't think anyone would have dreamed of getting over £10m for him at that point.