Pizy

Wonder if Lamps will have the stones to directly expose the reason for this sudden fallout or he'll play the dignified diplomat and just wish him well and urge us to move on. I really wanna know how a dude who's essentially a captain for us, who just signed a new deal a few months ago, and who has been excited about the new challenge this season can just suddenly want out. Something untenable must have happened. Have to wonder if his departure effects his mates in the squad. He was clearly super close with Willian, Jorginho, and Emerson. Guess they'll still be living in the same city so will still see each other off the pitch.

Pepe, Tierney, Luiz, and Ceballos. Must be said, that's a very decent summer for the North London bastards. The 4 weak areas (CM, RW, LB, and CB) that ArseFanTV and the like have been bitching and moaning about for ages will have all been addressed in a single window. Very, very strong contenders for that 3rd spot. Still interested to see what United and Spuds can pull of tomorrow. Jealous of all the activity from our rivals. 😩

Luiz long balls over the top to the rapid Auba/Pepe. Luiz defending against top teams with that Arse defense. 😂 He'd deadly for them against the small teams they normally dominate. Liability against the big boys just as he has been for us.

Just think about all the times the ball is played back to Kepa under pressure and he then gives it to Luiz to make something happen. He'll now have to give the ball to Zouma who is awful on the ball when under pressure and Andreas who is decent on the ball in possession but doesn't do much at all with his passing. That's pretty scary to think about. Means we'll have to be even more reliant on Jorginho dropping very deep to pick up the ball and recycle. Like I said earlier, I think it'll work out for us in the coming years and will allow us to go big for a CB like maybe Koulibaly next summer. But it could give a Fabregas/Diego Costa like boost to Arse this season. Yuck.

The only logical explanation for this at such a late hour and for it to be for a hated, direct rival is that Lamps has told him he won't be starting. What else could possibly make sense? He's had all summer to seek a move and signed a new deal, so he obviously wanted to be here up until now. So maybe Frank during Man United prep has gone with Zouma + AC in training and Luiz lost it and threw his toys out.

We'd have to pretty significantly change the way we play without Luiz's ball playing ability. At least until Rüdiger gets back and even then we lose a significant weapon without David's long passing and through balls. Ugh. Don't know how to feel about this. The thought that it may help Arse overrides my sense that he may be calamitous at the back for them.

I'd actually see this as a bit of a blessing in disguise if we weren't serving a transfer ban. I love David, but he's woeful defensively and a total liability every match. He's great on the ball and is a true leader, but is a ticking time bomb. Sending him to Arse would be kind of funny. Their defense would be just as calamitous and it stops them buying a better CB. But starting the season with only Zouma and AC as fit CB's? That's surely a no-go.

What in the actual fuck!? Just signed a new deal and the season is days away. Sounds fishy. Refuse to believe it.

Not criticizing, just pointing out how odd it is. A club that has never spent huge money just out of nowhere becoming potentially the highest spenders this summer.

Everton acting like a guy who just won the Mega Millions jackpot. Throwing money at every flashy thing they see. I swear they've bid for about 15 players this summer. Whats weird is that they've just unveiled plans for a new stadium just a week ago. Usually that means tightening the purse strings, not going crazy with the spending.

Everton bid £70m for Zaha. A medium sized, midtable club can afford to bid £70m on a single player! The money nearly every PL club has these days is bonkers! 😂

Reports suggesting Spuds are on the verge of bringing in Countinho on loan and Dybala for big money. Why they would want both when they are best in the same position I don't know, but they've definitely taken a big leap up in their recruitment if the pull it off. No more scrounging the bargain bin for deals I guess now the stadium is done. All these clubs who have never spent big before are going bananas this summer. At a time when we have more money in the coffers than ever and can't sign anyone.

Even with a year left on his deal Spuds would be morons to sell Eriksen to a direct rival. I'd just let him walk for free when he's a year older.

How exactly are Everton able to splurge this mega money while abiding by FFP rules? They haven't generated huge funds from player sales and they aren't a commercial juggernaut. If they pull off these moves they're heavily linked with they'll have spent like almost £200m.

What a weird transfer that would be. I still think it's super dumb the way they've essentially flushed Lukaku down the drain. Think there will come a point during the season when they regret doing so. Neither Rashford nor Martial are consistent goal scorers. No guarenteed Mandzukic works out, either.

Think about what a statement of confidence it would be for Mount to get the nod on opening day against United at OT. The lad will play his socks off.

Anthony Taylor, huh? Great. Worst referee in the league.

Pedro is the counter attacking teams dream player, that's why I think he'll start this one. I think we'll surrender most of the possession to them at home and have Luiz and Jorginho repeatedly try to play balls over the top and through the midfield to the sprinting Pulisic and Pedro. For this to be successful, we must hope Kante is is up to good fitness levels and that our defense isn't a shambles. Otherwise this could get ugly.

This will be a quite considerable step up in quality compared to what we've faced in preseason. This being their home opener I expect them to really raise their game and be massively up for it. Just can't see him leaving Pedro out.

Not sure we can afford to bench our best goal scorer. We're already a side that struggles for goals.

And he tends to do best against bigger, less pacey strikers and forwards where he can man-mark and physically battle with. Struggles against quicker players. So it may not be best to start with either Tammy or Giroud.

I'm just glad to get Old Toilet out of the way so early, win or lose. Better now than in the run in at the end of the season when there are loads of fixtures.

Yeah, this preseason has been a big reminder for me about Zouma's shortcomings. His concentration/focus isn't great (which the espn commentator mentioned seemingly a dozen times yesterday) and his ability on the ball is very subpar. He almost never made forward passes this summer that were more than a few yards. He always plays the safe sideways or backwards pass. I think Zouma will be fine this season against certain teams but I 100% would not play him against super quick, highly technical teams like City/Liverpool/Arse. Luckily, it seems like Rüdiger isn't far away. Hopefully back to his 18/19 form.

It is, indeed. Live by the Luiz, die by the Luiz. Hope like hell that Kante is ready by next weekend. Rasford, Martial, etc running at our defense doesn't exactly sound exciting after what we've witnessed in preseason, does it? 😅

Think he'll 100% go with Zouma and Luiz until Rüdi gets back.