Mhsc

At least we wont have 0.0 xG. Tbh feel like this performance is more positive so far but still very limited players out there. Kai and Mason sabotaging our play as well.

Touching stuff for Vialli

It certainly could be, with Hall and Gallagher wingbacks, but I'm hoping not. Guess it would make sense if we want to go for a point and just be solid.

Watching Badiashiele, Carney and Hall will get me tuned in but honestly think we will lose. Palace have pace and we do not, I don't really see how we can hurt them aside from a bit of luck.

Havertz and Mount undroppable it seems. No pace in this team, we will lose. Extremely happy to see Carney start and KK dropped, still disappointed in the lineup overall

Can it be real?

Giving all these players MASSIVELY long contracts probably helps a lot, at the risk of fucking us over in the future. I would guess we've got another £100m to spend this January if we want to. I assume we would be making some sales but can't because of the injury crisis. Didn't the purchase come with some commitments about spending money on players in the first years?

Doesn't Zubimendi have a 60 million euro release clause? Any others with 'tolerable' release clauses? Would love to see us just go no-nonsense grab some players by the end of the window where the clubs just cannot stop us.

I feel like we should just be systematically poaching a decent % the players that clubs like Benfica and the RB teams buy. Probably relies on us having the multi-club model in place though. Some of these clubs have unquestionably proven they can repeatedly buy good, undervalued and highly promising players.

Pulisic we should have sold without giving a minute in January, with the benefit of hindsight... After his WC, value was high and a lot of clubs would be interested in the hope this was a turning point. I think we should give him some subs minutes towards the end of the season to showcase he "can play and is fit" and then sell him asap in summer before he gets another injury.

On the topic of Mudryk, I've checked him out some more now that we might really be signing him. Certainly has some strong upsides, not least being very two footed, but he is fast and brave. He is essentially a Timo replacement I guess - fast, direct, dangerous when there is space to attack. If he can be more clinical than Timo then he will be loved here, because Timo was actually key for us in an attacking sense he just was simultaneously frustratingly wasteful.

Robinho all over again

So a 70m euro deal apparently with potential to rise to 100 depending on whether he turns out to be good or not, probably the kind of deal we were hoping for with Enzo too. Still very hard to comprehend transfer if this is real.

Guy has been wrong countless times and always comes out afterwards like "Oh it was a done deal but something extraordinary happened and it fell through OMG!" Wouldn't surprise me if it is true tho. Just hoping it isn't...

Got to hope it is all media / agent nonsense trying to raise the price Arsenal are willing to bid to get him.

Hard to even pick a good XI out of the group available. I guess Fofana should start and Carney too. Not a single one of our fit CM deserve to play, at CB only Thiago has earned the chance to wear a Chelsea shirt. I guess we should look at Badiashile next to him. Don't even place KK on the bench. Feel for Graham Potter when you look at the players he's got available to try to make an XI out of at this point tbh.

Puzzled by Madueke - doesn't look any better than CHO or the bunch of players we've already got that aren't good enough for the top end of the premier league.

Red card wouldn't bother me if he was a perm signing, but as a loan player it is unacceptable imo. Should be fined to claw back the money.

Maybe I'm wrong but have we ever seen him display that he is not extremely professional? I've never seen anything bad from him from that point of view. He just isn't playing that well and keeps getting played despite it, which is more down to our squad and management (not just Potter) than anything?

I think he should be a squad player for us still, but him starting every single game guaranteed as our no 9 has to stop

It is possible that training has been persistently subpar or a LONG time, given that we played so many games - didn't we play the most or close to the most out of any team in the world in the last year or two? It is quite likely that a lot of stuff that our coaches have wanted to do over the last couple of years has been impossible due to this. No doubt also played a part in our injury crisis. I am kind of hoping we have no European football next year whatsoever, maybe everyone will say I am crazy, but I remember in Conte's title winning year what a massive difference it made. I woke up with the opinion we may as well stick with Potter for now. Club should set a target finishing position with him and if he can't reach it with the lads we're buying in January and the ones we already have then sack him end of season. Feel like another manager right now will have the same problems and still struggle awfully and essentially not be setup for success, would be the beginning of a potentially great journey if they come in with our squad mostly fit at the time.

Money trumps everything in football

A great CM and a great GK would transform us. Probably better just to wait until summer tho and have our pick instead of taking those few who are available rn.

Surely he's got to get sacked now. I honestly think in the long run he could work out but seriously, there has to be a point at which a manager is sacked for bad results and we must be beyond it... That said, some of these players are not playing at a basic professional standard, and that is not acceptable no matter the manager. Avram Grant was a terrible manager but the players still showed up and fucking delivered. We need to sell some players immediately to anyone who will take them.