Arsenal

[Gotters]

Plus if Juve after €30m for him to help the books he’s probably actually worth about €5m

[Altabani]

https://youtu.be/-iAcsrI22v4

[The Fox]

Weston McKennie is fucking rubbish, I don't buy it.

[The Fox]

 

 

Seems a bit of a weird one if we really wanted Declan Rice in the summer. Great player though obviously.

[Petrousgyre]

Caicedo would maybe play more of a Xhaka role, he can play defensive midfield but prefers a more advanced position - with Rice being more of a like-for-like for Partey.

[Art Vandelay]

I'm completely paranoid but I have the feeling this one is to give Chelsea the runaround and they're actually after a clear run at an under the radar signing, like Craig Eastmond. Edu, you sly dog.

[Gotters]

We're just bidding them up like on Storage Wars before dropping the unit of them.

[Petrousgyre]

Full strength City vs half strength Arsenal. Haaland vs Holding. Should go great. 

[wev]

I can see ESR going into the Xhaka role in future, he's good at carrying the ball, has alot of determination etc probably better disciplined than Xhaka and more creative than Elneny

[Stagger Lee]

Holding needs to come off at half time.

[wev]

Agreed, though I think the yellow was a bit soft, theyve both been wrestling each other all match, but it does feel like it could go the way of the Son-Holding battle of last season.

[The Fox]

Get Saliba and Ødegaard on for Holding and Vieira and we can pinch this.

[wev]

Been really pleased with Trossard

[wev]

Well that was soft 

[wev]

Odegaard for Saka? When Vieira's been an absolute pedestrian?

[The Fox]

11 minutes ago, wev said:

Odegaard for Saka? When Vieira's been an absolute pedestrian?

Saka was off the pace too tbf and is more in need of the rest.

 

Xhaka has had a good game. Sambi Lokonga looks out of his depth though.

 

Can definitely beat them with a full strength XI.

[wev]

Thought Turned did really well too, not much he could have done about the goal, was a good finish just the defending was soft. I liked that he really put himself out there to try and prevent shots being taken 

[Silent Runner]

Interesting stuff from Caicedo on Twitter right now, essentially asking to be sold. 

[The Fox]

Boehly readying another £90m as we speak.

[wev]

4 minutes ago, The Fox said:

Boehly readying another £90m as we speak.

And a 10 year contract before that loop hole closes

[Gotters]

Not too upset about that overall.

 

Sambi and Viera don't really cut it at this level, Viera may come good but Sambi always looks depressed (he came across that way in All or Nothing too when briefly on screen). Turner seems one of those keepers that will give you kittens, he's very active and sometimes that looks good and others not so much, his distribution too is a bit hit or miss. 

 

Tierney seems to be a player for the level of club we were, not are becoming, I think he may be moved on.

 

We gave a full strength City a game with those changes and didn't disgrace ourselves at all, plus freed up some dates in the fixture calendar to allow for rest between more important matches. 

[Art Vandelay]

I would speculate Vieira will become a really good player in time but still needs some meat and potatoes. I think he’s a player who drifts around games but his involvements can often be decisive. If he could be busier like Odegaard then he’ll be amazing. Lokonga isn’t the right fit though, he’s just not that good at anything and switches off all the time. More than happy for the club to spend small fees on players like him and Tavares to find that out though, you never know.

 

Not the worst result in the end. I reckon Arteta definitely had the home game in mind as the one he wanted his team to know was the first big proper meeting between us and City. Changing the team a lot and it being away gives enough mental leeway to be able to write it off. Shame though, I love the cup.

[The Fox]

Think Brighton are really doing Caicedo dirty here, and it also seems like quite a short-sighted attitude. Obviously you don't want to get bullied and lowballed by bigger clubs, but if you start blocking moves up the ladder even when huge bids are coming in, promising young players like Caicedo are going to start thinking twice about coming to your club in the first place.

[Gotters]

2 minutes ago, The Fox said:

Think Brighton are really doing Caicedo dirty here, and it also seems like quite a short-sighted attitude. Obviously you don't want to get bullied and lowballed by bigger clubs, but if you start blocking moves up the ladder even when huge bids are coming in, promising young players like Caicedo are going to start thinking twice about coming to your club in the first place.

 

but you also have to respect in the Dortmund style model that you get a bit of service out them and let them leave when you are ready as a club.

 

you can't endlessly block their moves but he's only got a year or so there so if the bid doesn't meet their valuation they should hold their ground and make him wait til they are ready.

 

we saw with Leicester how hard it is to keep pulling off that trick of unearthing gems, and every time Brighton do it the price goes up for the who they want to sign, or clubs insist of sell on clauses on deals.

 

Smarterscout (a footy data company) find Caiceido quite exciting, say his style and output is already almost at a level shown by peak Kante.

[Art Vandelay]

I don't especially like the way clubs like Brighton get picked to the bone by teams with deeper pockets, but it is their business model and to make £60m in 18 months on someone who's played about 20 games for you is insane. Be interesting to see how it pans out but it is mega money for him. Probably them setting a precedent as Mitoma will be next and at this rate he's a nine-figure transfer.

[The Fox]

I just don't think it's reasonable of them to say "We only value you at £15k a week" and then on the other hand say "But we won't sell you to the league leaders for £70m". They aren't being fair to the player at all - if they want to keep him fine, but they should at least be offering him a pay increase on the same contract length.

[Gotters]

Why do they need to give him a pay rise, he's played 30 odd games for them and is under long term contract. Also as the selling club this seems a depressed window apart from Chelsea, there will probably be more bidders in the summer at a higher level.

 

I'd love to see Caiceido come to us, and worth pushing the boat out a little to get him now if we can seeing as the rest of Europe is seemingly skint

 

Chelsea almost making it look like Boehly is backed by some sovereign wealth fund and he's just a front.

[The Fox]

I hope we sign him for £73m so the embarrassment of having Nico Pepe as our record signing can be consigned to history.

[Mike1812]

Fair play to Brighton, I'd say. They don't need the money desperately after selling players in the summer so why shouldn't they keep a player who willingly signed the contract he's on? He should be grateful to them. 

[Zael]

I do think there's a difference in letting a player go halfway through the season when you have 2 days to find a replacement, compared to a much more scheduled transfer over the summer window. Brighton can argue that they do let their players move on to bigger clubs if they prove themselves, just not halfway through a season with no time to actually spend the money gained.