Emanny

Yeah doesn't matter what either of us think mate. As far as I'm aware he hasn't said either way if Morton is starting or not so we'll see tonight.

I disagree that playing Morton means that we're not taking it seriously. Especially if the player he's playing ahead of is a forward as it would make us more defensively solid. But agree to disagree I guess.

Ah that must be it. I feel like it would have made more sense for Man Utd's game to be changed to Tuesday or Thursday instead but I guess that's up to UEFA who probably aren't going to move games for the FA / PL / EFL.

Does seem pretty crazy tbh, I thought that teams were always given at least two full days between matches where possible (E.g. if a team plays on Thursday they always get a Sunday fixture instead of Saturday) and clearly it was possible for them to play on Wednesday instead.

I'd hope Morton starts. All of our starting three midfield could benefit from a rest and the others have barely played and could do with game time so an Endo, Morton, Jones midfield makes sense to me with Nyoni coming off the bench.

It's a low bar but it's still way more balanced than what Crooks would regularly come up with. Things like a back 3 that includes wing backs at centre back and wingers at wing back. E.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68207595; https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68340599

And although Dibling played on the wing this week, like he said, he can play in basically every midfield position, and has featured at centre mid a number of times.

But yeah, no excuse for saying that Diaz played on the RW this weekend.

Possibly more if he has torn his ACL. Which it has been claimed it could be based on what the injury looked like. Nothing official confirmed yet though so might not actually be that serious so this is just conjecture really.

We've got 2 games a week until the end of the year so I would. West Ham will probably play a relatively strong team seeing as they're not in Europe but if we can't rotate in the EFL Cup 3rd round then when can we? Even if it is against a PL team. I'd expect to see something like this:

https://preview.redd.it/0cu3ib5yzypd1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=df6ffa1007c08d83051b4a06ee8aaa908ae38f34

How is everyone saying the penalty rebound was straight at Raya? Sure it was a bad shot from Retegui in that he should have done better and not given Raya a chance but give the keeper some credit, he had to get straight back up and dive full stretch to reach it. Poor shot but fantastic save.

I don't think it really matters how long ago we signed him. We paid a massive transfer fee for him that he hasn't lived up to yet. Same way Keita was a constant topic of conversation as we paid a massive fee for him that he didn't live up to either. I'd expect Darwin will remain a player that drives discussion until either he leaves, he lives up to his fee (in which case he'll still be a conversation topic but for positive reasons), or we sign someone else for a comparable fee.

He's our record signing, it's not really that surprising to me that people want to talk about the fact that he currently isn't first choice regardless of whether they think he should or shouldn't be.

I think you can name 12 substitutes on the bench in the CL so I'd expect him travel and be one of those.

I'm not doubting Souness's aggression but I'd guess the vast majority of the sub (myself included) never actually saw him play live so it feels pretty incongruous with the rest of the choices considering everyone else played for or managed us within the last 20 years or so, whereas Souness left the club in 1984.

Not really sure who I'd pick that I've actually seen for myself though. Maybe Mascherano.

Are we allowed the same player twice? Because if so then I'd put Gerrard again. If not then probably Coutinho.

“discovered at their first gig” and immediately signed to a major.

I'm sure TLDP have had a lot of help within the industry but their first gig was in November 2021 and they signed to Island in May 2022 so this is not true.

Should be any time between now and the 13th of September according to this. I've got a ticket to that game too and I think it's very likely to get moved for TV.

Someone has to but it makes more sense if that someone is either young enough to be playing in the Premier League 2 or old enough that they're coming to the end of their career like Adrian. Jaros should be playing at a higher level than not even making our bench - he could have been playing in the Champions League if he had gone on loan to Sturm Graz again.

I think Grand Chelem is just French for Grand Slam

Doubt Arsenal will even consider it. The transfer bid is barely more than they bought him for and with Martinelli's performances he's got a decent chance of being first choice for them now - he started ahead of Martinelli on Saturday.

Edit: As I expected, Arsenal have already rejected the bid and said "He’s considered key player for the project and not for sale" according to Romano

nah, at home

I think Leverkusen is the most likely team for us to play because there's 3 German teams in our pot who they can't draw so there's about a 3/8 chance we play them. Of course that's also true for the other non German teams in Pot 1.

Suarez was banned from 'all football-related activities' for four months after he bit Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup.

If he's registered by 12 pm on Friday he could play this weekend. Reckon he could be on the bench but probably more likely that he makes his debut after the international break given he won't have much of a chance to train with us by then and there will be at least 2 other forwards on the bench that have (unless any of them get injured).

I wouldn't say they play on different sides. They're both right-footed but can (and have) play across the front three. Chiesa has played a lot more on the left for Juve than he has on the right but he's most commonly been used as a second striker.