I don't understand why players keep signing for them. Especially young players - you must absolutely know that you've got little to no chance of getting into the first team unless you're a world-class exception. So, OK, you go and get paid very well - but really? That's it? You don't care about...
Very important not to get carried away by friendlies. However, a few observations;
The style is clearly going to continue to be fluid and based on a passing game. Suspect we'll concede a few goals this season if he's going with a flexible, attacking back three, but it should be a good watch no...
I have a fundamental problem with the basic premise that anybody pointing out clear shortcomings in team selection, over-cautious tactics and inconsistencies between his messages and his actual decision-making "hates" Gareth Southgate.
It's not acceptable to throw plastic cups at the manager...
I live in Spain. Everyone in my village has been saying from before the tournament that England are favourites, and were baffled by my insistence that we were not. And yet here we are, in the final. Don't plan to be giving it too large because I still see Spain as strong favourites but at least...
I don't think that's 'precious' at all. Football is tribal - for my own part, I feel a visceral affinity for my club and community that's sufficiently strong that when it's belittled, even mildly, by somebody it gave a chance to manage in the top flight, and paid well, who then left to join a...
The anti-Dunk sentiment on the BBC's thread page, i assume largely from people who are judging him mainly on a bad mistake in an England game and when he plays against City on the telly, is striking. We had a bad run, conceding a lot of goals. But anybody who has seen Dunk over the long term...
I've only just seen the very start of this thread, and it seems the internet age has completely deprived some people of the ability to recognise a tongue stuck in a cheek, or even an overt joke.
For what it's worth on Potter – and begging forgiveness if all this has all been said in the almost...
Greatest respect, Baldseagull, but wasn't flair? The man beat at least 17 players in a mazy run and stopped on the goal-line to celebrate before he knocked the ball into the net. Only the great Robin Friday would have been as ballsy. I'd suggest he was the absolute definition.
Bit harsh, sir. Just expressing an opinion - I don't speak, as has been thrown at others on here, in certainties. It's just my impression of the selection, which I believe I'm entitled to on a chat site? I'd be very happy to be proved wrong, as I said. It's not like I've said he's useless, that...
Must reserve judgement until we've seen how the game turns out of course, but on first reaction, it does feel like a team picked with other priorities in mind, even allowing for the injuries. I'll be delighted if he proves me wrong, of course, but Peupion couldn't get in a Cheltenham team that...
Fair enough. In Dunk we have what appears to be essentially a one-club man and I hope he stands as an exception for the rest of his career. I assume we've had offers – I seem to remember Newcastle enquired when we were in the Championship? I'd be curious to see if, for example he goes to the...
Indeed. But another possibility is that you only last a few months in/running the first team, get shoved out of the picture when a new man comes in and doesn't share the vision of his predecessor, can't find another club due to the ludicrous money you're on, and waste a year or more of a career...
Maybe I'm out of touch, trueblue. But for me it's a pretty thin argument for people who are already earning extremely well. I'd hope other stuff matters too, in any walk of life.
Is that why they're in football, though, jc? Cucurella seemed to be desperate to go anywhere he could, so long as it was one of the wealthy powerhouses. Look how that's turned out. With a failure on their CVs, the range of 'passion projects' as you nicely name them that will be available to them...
Of course. People are headhunted in every industry. But at what point do you start to think you're in the right place? I've been in the position myself where I could have gone to bigger outfits for more money, but other considerations including work/life balance, corporate culture etc, and...
I accept the inevitability of this. But it does make you wonder if there's one of them, a single one of the staff below, say, Bloom and Barber (and maybe not even Barber) who would see the positives in staying where they are and trying to win something with Brighton? The culture of the club, the...
So, let's recap...
He's a forward who's a winger and a midfielder. He's definitely not coming, though a medical has been done and he's signing for West Ham. Or was, until his two agents fell out. He's an exciting signing, who'll most certainly be a let-down, coming from a Scandinavian club...