goodrobotusses

Pušić, the little smoker.

Talking about the f***ing Ballon d'Or as if it were relevant to anything.

United signing Cunha from Wolves and Delap from Ipswich, straight out of the Fergie playbook -- weaken your rivals by signing their best player.

Read the other day that Wirtz's dad is 71. That'll explain it then.

I assumed Tsimikas would leave, Kerkez in, and Robbo in rotation/competition with him until the end of his contract next summer. Would still be surprised if Robbo leaves now. Figured he'd maybe go to Celtic next year on a free. If he were to go, then wonder if we'd sign Hato to cover both LB and CB, with Kerkez first choice. Would be giving ourselves a lot to do though.

His comments on MotD were quite past tense about his time at LFC. Took me by surprise: "We’re obviously going to have a busy summer, so we need to see where everyone stands. But it’s been a special time here – I’ve loved my time here. It’s been eight special years, and like I said, I’ll cherish every moment that I’ve played in front of these fans, especially at Anfield. Today was special."

I would if they were the same age. I'm not against selling either of them (but not both) if a better replacement were available (this is the obvious snag). Diaz seems the more obvious sale because of his age and the documented interest in him, but Barca are broke and would he even want to go to Saudi? Mostly I just miss Mane. Gakpo and Diaz are solid players and contribute plenty, but Sadio scared the s*** out of opponents. These lads don't because they're not as quick and direct, just a bit too crabby.

Barcola might become a bit of an odd one out there. Good player.

That's what I'd expect too.

Yeah, was gonna say my impression was that he’s a tall fast lad. Read a report on him that he doesn’t have a great shot volume and when he does shoot it can tend to be from bad positions but still young and coachable. No one sure of his ceiling. Think the likes of him and Ekitike are high-risk transfers that could make you look like a genius or an idiot. Nunez came to us off a better season than either of these but who knows ultimately? Striker market not great.

Glad I’m not the only one who noticed that the year they came up under Bielsa. Took to calling them the Leeds Manbuns.

I suspect that’s what’s gonna happen.

Merry Christmas to you too!

Hmm

Running around the living room pretending to be an airplane in tribute to Fjortoft here. Hoeneß gonna win him over by offering to do his taxes for him.

Don’t think Klopp or Slot would ever have wanted to drop him because he’s such an important attacking weapon. Literally no one else in the squad can do what he does with the ball. There have been moments where he’s switched off defensively, which is understandable as he’s only human, but also others where he’s given the impression that he felt the whole off the ball side of the game was beneath him, as if he simply couldn’t be arsed to track back in any meaningful way. Maybe that was tactical, perhaps Klopp wanted him more in a position and with the energy to launch a counterattack should we recover the ball. Or maybe he got a little pampered and unfocused, with all the distraction around whether he’d become a midfielder or not. Either way, he’s been an unbelievable player for us and there will be games next season in which we fail to break an opponent down, and there will be discussion afterwards about how much we’re missing TAA. But he’s going, and to a club I particularly dislike, so once he’s out of the door, that will be that for me.

Or alternatively: “As a proud Dutchman, I will NEVER sign a German.”

“Of course we will be looking to strengthen, but if we go into next season with these players I will be very happy with what I have available.”* 3, 2, 1… *not a real quote

Would love Alvarez. Isak is a better pure goalscorer and athlete, but suspect Alvarez would suit us and in particular Salah more. Still struggle to see a world in which we get him, but then a week ago I would never have pictured us being in a fight for Wirtz.

Don’t think Werner was ever regarded as a particularly talented footballer technically, was just fast, pressed and was on a hot streak. Like a quick Dirk Kuyt. Maybe if we’d have got him he’d have progressed and become a more effective player than he ended up being, but the regard for Wirtz is different. He and Musiala are seen as quite un-German in style because they’re technically unbelievable, maybe closer to how Ozil was before things went south.

Nah, defo legit. Only a lad who posts essay-length ITK tweets in English would have the inside scoop on the goings on at Bayern.

Didn't realise Elon Musk is a Bayern fan. Surely we've already got a penalty taker.

Mac Allister was signed but Ward is credited with the leg work on that deal IIRC. Not sure if Szobo came next but sounds about right.

Jörg’s 4D chess

You suggesting Schmadke sipping a cocktail on the beach, calling Caicedo’s agent on his Nokia with Die Ärzte’s greatest hits playing in the background didn’t convince the player?