Foxtrot

I’d say swallow your ego and choose between RB or the bench till you’ve developed some game intelligence and resilience. Otherwise get rid, he’d command a massive fee. If Gakpo is 85m, Szob should be 100m+ easily.

Perhaps Big Sheikh Hughes is an Evertonian or a closet Manc, doing what people used to do on that manager computer game, forget the name, ruining the sides you hate?

Can be done, if you have the right third colour to make it look a deliberate palette and not your accidental colour blindness. I’d suggest camel/tobacco or cream, at a push. But that sounds a bit too fancy for our Andoni, judging by what he’s gone with before. I salute the coat though, as a first step. Like The Bunk says in The Wire, having a refined taste is not gay, it’s being a grown up.

They could be, but the midfield is all wrong. I hope Barcola’s pace will help, but what we really need is a passer and a presser behind Isak and Wirtz so we first keep tight in def. transitions and then create opportunities quicker in offensive transitions. We’re weak centrally and end up on the back foot too often, and we have no one neither bossing the area nor intelligent enough to find the attackers quickly enough. That and the general lack of pure gnarly leadership in the squad. I’d sell Gakpo and put all the money on a mf general and a wizard passer. Imagine a midfield two of say Camavinga and Wharton instead of Macca and Grav.

On the whole, none of Macca, Szobo and Grav are even close to being in the absolute world class category, there is always a huge deficiency in any formation including two of those three.

He showed up today. The header was class too, power and under the bar.

He should only be used as a sub, against tiring teams. But however awful he has been, the team need cohesion for anyone to be any good.

f*** me this referee was a right awful a*******

I like Statler and Waldorf better.

Yeah!

On the bench today

What marmalade was that? It all hinges on this now

Love the last bit especially. "Nervous" here is a glorious word that pulls their pants down.

Sorry, didn’t mean to have a go at you specifically, it’s the general “crazy mum” publicity stuff that does my head in. I’m sure both you and your mum are alright!

This “tough mama” stuff comes from one (1) article. It’s the same as with Mbappe’s and Rabiot’s mums. Mums in football business = bad. Somehow all the chicanery that goes on everyday in football and any other business conducted by males is the expected normal outcome, but when a “mum” enters the picture, it gets loads of bad press. Mbaye is with Jorge Mendes now, and he’s a the most exploitative a****** in the business.

All I had high hopes for when I was younger and still looked up to people. Then I grew a few inches and that was that.

Your scout report says Brahim Diaz has only one year left on his contract. Can play both flanks, can use both feet, which I am led to believe is a plus.

“farting in the same sofa cushion for 18 months"

Jesus. f***. That McCarthy meme gives me worse nightmares that Bob in Twin Peaks when I was a preteen watching proper scary stuff for the first time.

I’ve seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by television fame, celebrity culture, personal branding, the attention economy, content manufacturing and virality, and lastly the algorithmisation and increasingly synthetic manufacture of absolutely f***ing everything. Carra clearly doesn’t count in the “best minds” category, but he is the ultimate product of this “culture". The only thing to do is ignore it all, as best you can. Watch the football, forget about the commentary. I often watch the games in a language I don’t understand, much better!

Not 15, but here’s what you want to know, you lazy git: “humble, he’s always happy, but quiet." “humility" “balanced person, humble, sensible and someone with very good family values” "friendly, talented, and discreet” “he is still skinny, but he’s strong, he’s so fast, and he’s using his speed fantastically" “he can score goals, he’s technically skilful, and he can dribble inside or outside. He’s a top player.”

The Barcola sale makes PSG a tidy profit in the PSR game.

Out of those I’d love to have Conceicao, who at 40m is an acceptable punt in this market by any metric. Seen quite a bit of him as I always try to watch the big 3 Portugese teams clash and fight (always entertaining, in a "two red cards a bare minimum” kind of way.) He’s a terrier and never gives up and he took a step up at Juve last season, so there might be another level in him yet. If it doesn’t work out you can always sell him to Spurs and double the money in two years

More like Finnegans Wake?

I’ve not had too much of the ”holding ones back bit. The only thing regarding my back is a nice set of knives I’ve collected down the years, hah!