Tomo

Well this ain't going to age well

Hopefully that lifts the crowd and the mood and helps us this half.

I see the vows of taking the good and the bad if we play youngsters is over now that has to be put into practice

We have this summer and probably will next.

That doesn't surprise me. Very few players, even HG lads, will outrightly declare themselves a one club man at such an early stage in their career. Even JT didn't start declaring he wanted to stay with us for his whole career until 25 upwards iirc, and even after that there were rumours of City.

I feel a dynamic left back is an urgent need. I'm still not as sold on Emerson compared to others (he's improved a lot but his attacking decision making still isn't great in my opinion) and I think a left back in the mould of Andrew Robertson or pre injury Danny Rose would transform us going forward. Who? Who knows but there's surely one of them type around somewhere, case in point Robertson himself in 2017 came under the radar. I've got a feeling contract talks will break down with Willian and I feel a marquee signing Is needed there, even if it was Sancho at £100m the intensity of our game will require a lot of rotation and 3 into 2 will go fine, even 4 in 2 with Willian staying. Regarding striker Tammy has took away the need for a statement signing but a alternative who offers a different skillset can come in handy (to not only keep him on his toes but potentially partner him), Martinez would be an example of a player that would fall into that category but I imagine Conte would rather sleep with Mourinho then let one of his big assets come here. I also feel a back up keeper is needed as Willy is getting on a bit and even they in this market will likely cost a good £15m. Given our current CB options and the fact we look to have two very promising ones in behind, I would put those positions above CB now unless as I said a bonafide top level one is attainable.

When we played Wolves in the FA Cup he said (something like) leaving players for two weeks without a game is dangerous (we had no midweek match before or after that tie) which is why a lot of the first team were playing. I do agree with him to be honest and I feel that was why the CL final last season had the pace of a pre season match.

My perspective on CB's has completely changed since August. With Tomori surprising and Zouma stepping up it's suddenly gone well down on the list of needs in my eyes. Unless a VVD level CB becomes available i think we should prioritize elsewhere.

Leicester will 95% beat Arsenal at The King Power next week, meaning a win against Palace can potentially see us go 9 points ahead of any realistic top four challenger (that's outside the top four). Even at this early stage that would be huge.

I think his run of form in the period we played Barcelona was a lot better than his run in 15/16. In the latter he just maintained his level (he didn't actually score from open play until December) which in itself looked great compared to how everyone else collapsed, for those two months in 2018 he genuinely looked on Hazard's level.

Seems Ljungberg's had enough.

I think form is going to flip flop between the squad given the age/inconsistency's of our player's. Right now Pulisic, Tammy and Willian are the one's on form and starting, flip it forward a couple of months it could well be Odoi, Michy/Oli, Pedro.

And that's exactly why i wasn't having the excuses for those last six months.

That's a huge blow because i actually think Jorginho's the one player in the squad we can't afford to lose.

I remember once while we we're winning at The Emirates Cech went up for a corner, i genuinely believed that one was inevitable.

Biggest compliment i can pay him is we haven't missed Kante.

I can't actually believe how well coached we are. Puts it in further perspective when you see the garbage United and Arsenal are spewing. I love the fact Frank isn't so stubborn to try and do it himself. He has embraced the best parts of Sarriball (and even Conte's style with the fitness) and moulded it with his own style and he has appointed coaches who dominated youth football with the players he wants to promote. He accepts he can't do it all himself and appoints the right people, you'd be surprised how many managers don't. Also Jody and Edwards in behind gives good continuity, with all coaches on the same page (have to give a mention to Newton aswell) one of them could quite seemlessly take over if Lampard burns out a few years down the line (I'd love to say he's got a shot at being our Sir Alex but sadly I don't think the pace of the job in the modern day will allow it) like Tito did after Pep walked out of Barca. There's a very exciting edge right now in a different way to what we're use to. When Mourinho returned and Conte arrived the excitement was based on the fact we will likely win the league very soon, now it's about the fact we are going to build a very, very strong legacy for many years to come.

But there was also other times where in theory we should have hoofed it but played it out and created serious openings. For example that move where Kova did that flick to Emerson. It's not like were Arsenal making systematic mistakes doing it, we're very good at it.

Unpopular opinion but im happy to take the 1 time in 100 it goes wrong on the chin, on the main we get it right and it's beautiful to watch. That decision was diabolical, it would have been up there with Barca 09 and Inter 10 in the injustice scale had Watford scored again.

He done it on purpose so he's here for City.

You think? I think breaking down stubborn shithouse defenses has been one of our biggest strength in the last few years. For all the problems we faced last season we actually had a better record than City against bottom half teams.

I can't stand them but there's no way it can be classed as luck. Takes a lot of mental ability to keep going and not panicking when time is running out, that quality helped us win the title under Conte.

Reece aswell, he could potentially come on in any of three positions today.

I think £300m is well in the realms of possibility. We spent £200m (summer 2017) before inflation shot up to what it is now. I think Marina will be more willing to back Lampard's wishes compared to previous managers because Frank's more likely to communicate and compromise (ie give me the top player in this position and I'll fill the gap in the other with a youngster compared to Antonio "I want all my first choice targets or I'm going to make life here untenable" Conte who I imagine went in with a sledgehammer and said my way or the highway). Time will tell but I wouldn't be surprised one iota to see us spend £300m next summer.

I think I can safely assume that if we do somehow lose tomorow it won't be because someone posted on an anonymous internet forum saying otherwise.