LAM09

If PSG have just got €55m potentially rising to €81m~ for Simons with a sell-on, we know whoever we get is going to be well over priced. Tel for €60m~ isn't good business despite his age.

It doesn't always work that way. A serious injury and he becomes the forgotten man. The real winners (off the field rn) are Villa. They have managed to get stupid money for someone who has been nothing more than an impact sub.

You are aware KDH has previous PL experience (59 games to be exact), right? His struggles or limitations shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially the person who has coached him for almost two years. I'm unsure what was known, as early signs showed Maresca would make choices that benefit the team. He did that by getting rid of a few bad eggs and standing his ground by freezing others out (Chilwell—which I'm still unsure was a wise move considering he could still be here come June). His biggest call will be Sanchez this weekend. If he remains GK, he won't be manager till the end of the season. You are mentioning one game in isolation. Felix didn't get a minute of match time against Everton, Fulham, and Palace, and the one game he played was at LW against Ipswich. Nkunku was fielded as a CF, and people are wondering why he was a non-entity. He isn't a CF. As I mentioned in another thread, it's very clear Maresca has his favourites who might have delivered for him prior to Everton away, but they haven't been doing so since. At least we are in agreement about something —rotation, rotation, rotation.

It's a combo of his sole transfer selection (from what we can tell—KDH) and the board signing guys the manager was never interested in (Felix being the obvious example). If he doesn't want to play someone he chose and "watched" day in and day out for over a year and doesn't like the look of Palmer's alternative, despite Palmer being off the pace for weeks, he is essentially contributing to this and our bad run of form. Maresca becomes a YES man, employing all of the players at his disposal regardless of who brought them in, or he isn't a YES man and fights for the correct players, assuming he's given the chance in six months and KDH was a one-time occurrence. Something needs to give for us to take crucial steps in the right direction for the club's immediate and long-term future.

This has to stop at some point. It's a scattergun approach rather than picking the best of the bunch. Just look at Pedro Limo, who seemed set to join us last summer before Wolves came in. I understand he's young and may come good in years to come, but he is just another example of what's wrong with this ideology in footballing terms. If we're talking about human trafficking, the board is doing a stellar job.

I can just see a scenario where we go for a last minute loan move for Rashford.

I feel you are doing Duran a bit of a disservice. He isn't an all-action striker that might be nipping at defenders feet all game, but he has a more rounded game compared to Delap and actually offers a presence, which is something I truly believe we miss dearly. There's no consequence that the last two CFs that led us to a league title were just that. However, in a perfect world, having both with NJ permanently moved outward would cover our CF's concerns in the long run.

We all need to accept the fact that we aren't buying a proven CF. It's Duran/Delap or bust. All I know is, NJ can't keep leading the line for us.

Villa did bring Malen in who could play CF. I'd just be surprised if they actually let Duran go after their supposed reluctance to do so. I guess it all depends on whether these Felix rumours are true or not.

I'm still very cautious about the idea of spending big on an attacker from Portugal. All you need to do is look at Nunez to rethink the prospect. If we are going to go big for someone over 23, we have to give Isak some real consideration. At a reasonable price. The idea this club thing they can get €80m~ is a joke. If we get Tel and sell him for €50m, we should be pleased.

Another project buy. The only real upside would probably be offloading Nkunku in the process.

I think it's becoming more apparent that he has players he likes and others he doesn't. At this point, the lack of any real consequences for underperforming players is going to cost us. Palmer is probably the only one who has been rather poor in recent matches but understandably won't be dropped despite us having a direct replacement.

Two men have been stuck to Haaland for absolutely no reason most of the game and they still aren't able to stop him. I'm tired of us scoring first and turning off of the rest of the game. Maresca's future should seriously be on shaky grounds right now. GK situation will say a lot next week.

In all fairness, we were the better side in all three encounters last season. If you can't finish teams off, you only have yourself to blame. Jackson effectively had an open goal today but decided to control the ball instead of shooting. No one in their right mind can honestly think he's gonna turn into Drogba.

Haaland is actually embarrassed to score. Is Maresca going to defend the moron again?

I'm pleased to see Maresca remembers Nkunku exists, but he really should have come on for Sancho with Jackson going outwide.

I presume Maresca is banking on James' superior technical ability to be the difference. We are still in the game, so he has time to wake up.

I have no idea why our gameplan is. Just giving the ball back to City, as we have no presence to hold it up. and don't get me started on James. He has literally offered nothing on either side of the ball. We are very lucky to be level.

It's lucky we didn't get him when we first bid for him, as he'd have even few league games under his belt. I honestly can't think of a youngster his age to be injured this much who hasn't suffered from ACL tears.

The two most important positions in a football team are held by players that are exactly that: untouchable. Sanchez & Jackson can effectively do no wrong, and we have paid for it multiple times already.

It's such a stupid way to look at things. Those "four mistakes" have led directly to goals while Caicedo's misplaced passes haven't.

Son, Dzeko are two that come to mind who did alright. We'll see if Marmoush follow suits as well.

Yoro got toyed with by Sulemana a matter of weeks ago, so despite the hype around him, my thoughts are reserved right now. Mainoo doesn't seem to have anything notable in his game that would warrant a similar fee either. I wouldn't say it's worrisome, as they are in the red where PSR is concerned. They need to sell now. Dortmund's model of picking up young English talent for peanuts and selling them for a huge profit is working wonders for them.

Napoli have shown plenty of interest. The price is putting them off. If we drop £60m+, the board haven't got a plan at all. Diallo is the only player United have that is worth looking at and probably could have been bought for peanuts last summer.

Separate budgets 🤪