goodrobotusses

Nah, it was the other musician Beck talking about the scientological underpinnings of Crocodile Dundee.

Wasn't that a Dundee fan talking about Owen Beck?

The clamour for Ramsay is becoming bizarre. He managed two appearances in the Championship and 11 in League One over three loans. Then he ended up on loan at Kilmarnock. He had fitness issues, sure, but if he'd been tearing it up in training when he was fit, you'd assume he'd have left some kind of impression at at least one of those clubs. He's literally only here still because no one wants to sign him. (I can say these sorts of mean things about him and get away with it because I'm not his boss.)

Agree with this. If we somehow pulled an unlikely CL win out of the bag, you can file this season alongside 04-05: a basis on which to start building something, even though we've actually been pretty terrible (the difference being Rafa didn't spend £450m gross on players in summer 2004). Have seen the delayed sacking of Rodgers as an example of the big cheeses not acting in the summer despite the coach having lost the fans, but I think that was a case of they'd wanted Klopp and he'd said, "Bog off, I'm on holiday." We were basically only in a position to get him once he'd gotten bored of the swimming pool. This summer, the guy we all assume they'd wanted in 2024 and presumably would still want is available and looking for work.

He's this generation's Bielsa. His teams are a laugh but you wouldn't want him at your club if you want to win stuff.

I presume you mean Spurs.

I assume Jacquet is someone they'd sign no matter who the manager is. Don't think his signing is any backing if Slot per se. But the Geertruida fudge seems like a half-hearted attempt to make it seem they were still willing to invest in a "Slot player", even if only temporarily.

I think he senses it too. The biggest giveaway is the fact he didn't get any backing in January when CL qualification could depend on it, just a half-hearted attempt to loan a lad he knows for six months.

It would have cost us money to bring him back. Villa needed to pay a fee to break the loan and didn't want to because they have no PSR headroom. Why should we bail Villa out of their obligations by waiving the fee, especially as it has been shown the current LFC coach doesn't particularly trust the player? This thread is turning into Groundhog Day.

Think Ali felt responsible after the pen and was trying somehow to make amends. No West Brom moment this time unfortunately.

Definitely possible. Probable? Hmm. I felt the positive reactions to the Marseille, Qarabag and Newcastle wins all came with asterisks that were being glossed over. Marseille aren't as good as I'd seen claimed, Newcastle are awful away from home and are nothing without Guimaraes, Qarabag are Qarabag. And among that we ballsed up the Bournemouth game. You can lose a mad game against City. Happens. But now it really feels like what in previous seasons would have seemed like PL bankers are suddenly coin toss games. Shouldn't be that way, but we're still not that good despite marginal improvements in attack against poor teams. s*** season.

Let's have both, aim high.

I'd say if TAW can be painted as an echo chamber of positivity, you could just as easily say this place is an echo chamber of negativity. FWIW I don't think either characterisation is 100% accurate.

I get what you mean but I don't think we can use the short period both were fit (or at least "not injured") as much of a sign of anything, given Isak was clearly miles off it and we were falling apart.

It is a big squad, but when you look at it you realise it's not as good as you'd think given the money spent. They have a handful of excellent players (Palmer, Fernandez, Caicedo, James when fit, Estevao potentially), but the rest are middling or injured/unable to stay fit (Colwill, Fofana, Lavia, James previously).

At this point I don't care how we do it. Bit late for aesthetics. And don't let football depress you, Sammy!

He made a mistake. He has made plenty in the past. All goalkeepers make mistakes. Allison is still one of the best in the world.

Think Chelsea's legs might fall off as the Club World Cup exertions take their toll.

Imagine if we qualify for the CL on a one-goal goal difference swing.

His inability to play at high intensity for 90 minutes (which might change with age and experience, to be fair) and Isak's injury record answer the question of how we're supposed to fit both into the team together. We're not. They're supposed to rotate and replace as fatigue and injury risk sets in, to keep both fit and fresh and to see out games. This is a problem when one of them is injured, however.

I don't recall us recalling a loan with an obligation to buy.

He won't play here and can't play elsewhere this season.

Why though?

I think we would have had to pay a cancellation fee to get back a player the coach doesn't really want.

Sorry, not having that. If Villa/Emery didn't really want him, they shouldn't have signed him on the terms they did, or at all. Emery has not been using him all season to keep him under 10 games and avoid the triggering of the purchase. Now that Villa have an injury crisis and Villa need to use him, they want to extend the number of games before the purchase is triggered or get rid of the clause entirely? f*** off, Unai lad. Feel terrible for Harvey, he's a good lad. But this is Villa's fault. They shouldn't be "signing" lads they can't afford, and have been doing this sort of thing and riding the edge of PSR for years. They took on Rashford's wages to have him for six months FFS. I don’t think we should be in the business of bailing out Aston Villa, who are ahead of us in the league, from their bad business decisions. Bravo on reaching the CL and all that, but the hangover is coming at some point and it's going to be terrible.