goodrobotusses

He is very good, to be fair.

Fascinating watching English lads discuss Grealish. Probably the most overrated player in the PL. One paced, barely scores, despite having played in an attacking role for a dominant City team. Sterling, Sane, Mahrez, B.Silva, Foden have all been more of an effective threat than he was in those wide roles.

Mad to say after paying £125m for him, but watching him play like that in a CL game against a good opponent while completely undercooked after no pre-season made me realise he’s probably better than I thought he was. His touch and ability to turn on a dime are sensational. Never considered the possibility he might even go up a level, as Salah did when he arrived here.

Think this is what we need. All of our CM options have strengths, but none has that TAA/Alonso ability to consistently hit accurate long passes from deep. We've added plenty of "weapons" this summer, in Slot's parlance, but that's one we've lost, and it's an important one.

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that Arteta could have peak Messi and OG Ronaldo and he’d still Hector Cuper his side into 2nd place. He’s a footballing coward.

I mean, yeah, I just didn’t want to be mean. But I don’t think there has been some kind of realistic better alternative to Diaz out there since Mane declined and left. Other than Vinicius and Mbappe, I can’t think of a better left forward over that period. Kvaratskhelia, I guess, but whatever our attempt was to get him, we failed at it. Of the other candidates, I think Leao is probably a fraud; Rodrygo, no one knows because he’s not played there; Barcola is only just getting going really; Raphinha only had his first top level season at 27 and isn’t really a left winger. Am I missing anyone?

Yep. Luis Diaz is an excellent left winger yet somehow seemed a step down simply because Mane was so brilliant.

Think shifting Guler is part of Alonso’s attempt to improvise/create a controller because none of the other options can do it, as good as they are at other things. Think if the Arsenal deal weren’t so far along by the time Alonso arrived, they might have gone for Zubimendi. They looked at Stiller but didn’t seem convinced enough to pursue (ditto us). Think the Real Madrid free transfer thing is becoming a bit overblown too. They do do that, but they can still splash the cash when it takes their fancy. Hopefully I’m being paranoid and we get Mac tied to a new deal. He’s brilliant and vital to what we do.

I hope not too. I think he's arguably our most important player. We never control midfield particularly well when he isn't playing. But I do wonder if he'd be tempted if Madrid get in his ear. And at that point I think we might deal, especially if we had Wharton lined up. Hoping I'm wrong on this and one day this season a new contract gets announced, and then we add Wharton next summer in addition to him. But if we reach the summer without that happening, he'll have two years left on his deal and I'm pretty sure Madrid will come sniffing if they haven't found an alternative.

What Wharton offers that no one else does, apart from maybe VvD, is the ability to play penetrating passes from deep. He'd complete the job of replacing TAA in the aggregate by helping us get out against pressing teams. If we signed him and kept Mac I think we'd go horses for courses with the midfield options, depending on opponent and physical condition of the players.

Me neither. Slot and the nerd gang seem pretty unsentimental but he's a good player, probably underrated, and literally the only Scouser left. Need someone with a connection to the club and city IMO. Yep. More like Szobo than anyone else in our squad.

Don't think we should bother with Rogers, but if we could upgrade Endo with Wharton, our rotation options would be incredible. Wouldn't have to flog Mac and Grav to death. But I worry about Madrid. They need a controller, moreso now Modric has gone in addition to Kroos. They looked at Stiller and passed, were too late for Zubimendi. Can see them looking at Mac or one of the PSG boys.

My hope-it-doesn't-happen-this-way theory on this is we get Wharton next summer and Mac goes to Madrid.

I'm still trying to understand how a "Bayern insider" writes essays exclusively in English and not German. You'd think he might want to communicate more with the Bayern fanbase and not people in the UK.

Not sure I see it with Rogers. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention. Seems a decent player but not sure if his reputation gets a bit of English player inflation. But if our recruitment nerds and Slot wanted him I'd trust them. Would have to bin that "cold" goal celebration though, not having that.

Man, that aggregator account probably wasn't looking for this kind of engagement. Well in, Mo.

Guessing the fitness of Gomez and Konate, and the adaptation of Leoni, will dictate whether we wait until summer or not. The Real Madrid nonsense around Konate might become a factor too.

No worries, hope you have a great time!

Lemke near Alexanderplatz is also decent for some local craft beer (not a trend that took off much in Germany, for obvious reasons, but there are a couple of decent local breweries).

As Paul said, tons of veggie/vegan options here. Just gonna do a bit of an information dump and you can google around to see what you might be into. It will also reflect a bit of a bias to the parts of the city where I have lived or have mates, so for example the "coolest" neighbourhoods are probably Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain and Neukölln, but I don't have a ton of recommendations there because I don't spend so much time there. Bars Kaschk by Brlo (Mitte) / Brlo beer garden (Schöneberg) Offside (Gesundbrunnen) Freya Fuchs (Wedding) Vagabund Brewery (Wedding) Wilma (Wedding/Reinickendorf) Panke Culture (Wedding/Gesundbrunnen) Prager Frühling (Pankow) Roderich (Pankow) Ick Koof Mir Dave Lombardo Wenn Ick Reich Bin (Mitte) Haliflor (Prenzlauer Berg) Kohlenquelle (Prenzlauer Berg) Eschschloraque (Mitte) Schokoladen (Mitte, maybe more of a gig venue) FC Magnet (football bar if you need one, Mitte) Tante Käthe (football bar if you need one, Mitte) Zollpackhaus (beer garden, Tiergarten/Mitte) The Lir (Mitte/Tiergarten) Haus der Kulturen der Welt (beer garten, Tiergarten/Mitte) Schleusenkrug (beer garden, Tiergarten/Mitte) Cafe am Neuen See (beer garden, Tiergarten/Mitte) Zwiebelfisch (Charlottenburg) Holzmarkt (beer garden + bakeries/cafes, Friedrichshain) Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo (Kreuzberg) Ratzeputze (Neukölln) Schankwirtschaft Laidak (Neukölln) RAW Gelände (more an area with a load of alternative bars and gig venues, Friedrichshain) Run Think your best bet is the area around Tiergarten, the giant park in the middle of the city sandwiched between the Brandenburg Gate and the presidential palace Bellevue. Can run on the river, through the park, past the Brandenburg Gate, Victory Column, Bellevue etc. Food / Cafes Nam Y (veggie/vegan Vietnamese, Wedding/Pankow) Eden***** Cafe (cafe in a beautiful old house, Pankow) Geh Veg (veggie/vegan caffe, Wedding) Cozymazu (Taiwanese, Wedding) Göttlich (cafe, Wedding) Cafe Largo (veggie cafe/restaurant, Wedding) The Bird (dirty burgers and wings, Prenzlauer Berg) Burgermeister (local burger chain with v.good veggie burger, everywhere) Zeit für Brot (local bakery/cafe chain with excellent cinnamon rolls, everywhere) Kanaan (Israel-Palestinian veggie place, Prenzlauer Berg) Ruben's Arepas (Venezuelan, Prenzlauer Berg/Friedrichshain) Wen Cheng (Taiwanese biang biang noodles, Prenzlauer Berg/Friedrichshain) The Tree (Taiwanese noodles, Mitte) Lisbeth (cafe, Mitte) Salamat (northern Iraqi, Mitte) Schwarzwaldstuben (German, Mitte) Zola (pizza, Kreuzberg/Rummelsburg) El Amigo Tacqueria (Mexican, Mitte) La Criolla Empanadas (Argentinian, Prenzlauer Berg) Cafe Anna Blume (cafe/cake shop, Prenzlauer Berg) Kuchenladen (cake shop, Charlottenburg) Dilekerei (cake shop, Gesundbrunnen, only Sundays) Unser Cafe (cafe, Prenzlauer Berg) Chibee (Korean fried chicken, Wedding) Arminius Food Hall (various, Moabit) Yoyo Foodworld (veggie/vegan burgers, Friedrichshain) Meze Haus (Mediterranean, Kreuzburg) Ankerklause (Kreuzberg) La Stella Nera (vegan pizza, Neukölln) Seoul Kwan (Korean, Friedenau) Winterfeldt Schokoladen (cake/sweet shop/cafe, Schöneberg) Ksara (Lebanese, Schöneberg) Tianfuzius (veggie Chinese, Schöneberg) Cafe Komine (cake shop, Schöneberg) Lon Men's Noodle House (Taiwanese, Charlottenburg) Blumentischlerei Gaby Heimberg (cafe/florist, Moabit) Nea Pizza 1889 (pizza, Mitte) Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap (kebab, various) Shopping / Sights Berlin Wall Memorial (Mitte) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe / Jewish Museum (Mitte) Bauhaus Museum (Mitte) Topography of Terror (Mitte) Stasi Museum (Lichtenberg) Kurfürstendamm / KaDeWe (shopping in Schöneberg) German Technology Museum (Kreuzberg) Hamburger Bahnhof (contemporary art gallery, Mitte) Neuenationalgalerie (Mitte) Gropius Bau (contemporary art gallery, Mitte) Tempelhofer Feld (former airfeld and now park, maybe not in autumn though, Neukölln/Tempelhof) walk along the canal around the Admiralbrücke (Kreuzberg, maybe nicer in summer) Never been to a rooftop cocktail bar here so can't help with that, sorry!

Do you know if Wharton has some kind of release clause next summer? Been a bit of a standard thing at Palace among the lads they've bought from the Championship, and seems strange how the collective football world has gone, "Nah, not this summer."

United's Amorim adventure has landed the club in a never-ending 3-4-2-1 doom-loop.

Couple of curious moves I only caught up with this morning: Geertruida on loan to Sunderland and Openda on loan to Juve.

s***, our ruse to get a marginal gain over Crystal Palace has been discovered.

Got a foot like a traction engine. The closest thing the modern PL has to Thierry Henry.