Football 2024-25. Pep’s last season?

United have raked in £100m though, including selling homegrown players. I don’t rate McTominay at all, but he gives his all, and it’s a bit sad to see someone there 2o odd years shipped on as it suits the FFP rules.

Transfer window’s nearly over, anyone on here been signed by Chelsea?

Not Stanno – he’s a Bluenose. :D

@dander – unfortunately he’ll forever be remembered as one half of the disastrous McFred midfield partnership that induced so much swearing amongst United fans. Probably unfair, but there you go

Sancho on loan to Chelsea? Just bizarre. We paid 75 million for a player who mainly sat in the bench, then was sent out on loan to the club we paid the 75 million to, and now he’s off on loan to Chelsea, where he’ll no doubt spend his time warming the bench.

Meanwhile Sterling is off on loan to Arsenal, who presumably felt they were missing someone who could reliably find the corner flag or row Z with their efforts on goal?

Oh and Toni has effectively retired. Off to the Saudi Pro League/Sleepy Meadows Home for the Greedy and Bewildered

Off to the Saudi Pro League/Sleepy Meadows Home for the Greedy and Bewildered

Says the United fan….

Usual mental window, last minute loans are always weird, but Chelsea still appear to be run by a 12 year old with access to Championship Manager, Brighton were the biggest net spenders as well. Big clubs relatively quiet, City made a large profit, Liverpool and Newcastle made small profits, as stated, ManU spent big again, think they’re around £500 million net spend with Ten Hag now, so should really be pushing for top 3 this year.

You have to feel for Toney, he wanted a big team, but none of them came in for him, he’s a player who hasn’t made a huge fortune and is getting on, so you can see why he’s gone out to the Saudi league, plus Brentford basically told him he’s gone, one way or another.

It’ll be interesting to see the newly promoted teams and how they do, i see Ipswich were the second biggest net spenders, just ahead of ManU, if they go down straight away that’s a hell of a lot of debt for 1 year to sustain in a 3 year period (and only 1 EPL season), they could be in real trouble, the newly promoted seem to have to either make a big gamble, or accept they’re going straight back down and spend modestly.

@binners – I’ve got a feeling that Sterling might find the form he was in a few years ago. Arteta managed to turn Havertz from Plug in the Beano to a half decent team player last year, so there is hope for Sterling.

Sancho was in good form at Dortmund last year. It’s obvious that something at Man U isn’t right, well it’s everything by the stories we hear. ETH is simply awful – his Ajax success was that he was lucky to have such a talented pool of players in peak form.

I’m really looking forward to another year of mediocrity from your lot.

Toney is a weird move but the betting ban blotted his copy book. Maybe moving somewhere without bookies will be good for him?

@doris5000 – Shrewsbury have bagged a great player in Alex Gilliead, really disappointed Bradford have let him go. Not necessarily the most technically gifted player but he’ll give you 100% week in, week out. Massive engine too, he can run forever.  Hopefully you stay up so we can play you next season ;-)

Best. Reveal. EVER. :D

https://x.com/BCFC/status/1829645543313658046

 i see Ipswich were the second biggest net spenders, just ahead of ManU, if they go down straight away that’s a hell of a lot of debt for 1 year to sustain in a 3 year period (and only 1 EPL season), they could be in real trouble,

Very worrying from a longer term perspective. Even with my blue rose tinted glasses on we are not the kind of team who are “definitely” long term Premiership, and I’d sooner we bounce up and down like Norwich rather than go big and go bust.

I’ve got a feeling that Sterling might find the form he was in a few years ago. Arteta managed to turn Havertz from Plug in the Beano to a half decent team player last year, so there is hope for Sterling.

You’re talking about a player they spent £65 million on, who had a struggle at Chelsea during their mental period (still ongoing!), it’s not as if Arteta took a gamble on someone like Dele Alli and turned them around.

It’s obvious that something at Man U isn’t right, well it’s everything by the stories we hear. ETH is simply awful – his Ajax success was that he was lucky to have such a talented pool of players in peak form.

A fair appraisal. I look forward to seeing if any of our latest signings can fail as dismally to deliver as Antony did last season

You won a trophy.

Ming the Merciless lookalikey comp?

Player contract latest from Leeds.

? WILLY EXTENDS!

— Leeds United (@LUFC) August 31, 2024

You won a trophy.

…and finished 8th, 31 points behind city, with some truly abject performances,  after an outlay of what?… £1.5 billion?

If you’re Spurs then that’s your best season for 40 years, or whatever, but we’re not. The FA Cup win was a double-edged sword, because it saved Ten Hag from the definite chop and I suspect we’re in for a pretty serious reality intrusion tomorrow afternoon. We were tonked by Brighton last weekend and only managed to squeak 3 points at home against Fulham the week before. Not a great start, is it?

Under Ten Hag it still looks as disjointed and incoherent as ever and none of us are any the wiser about what it is he’s actually trying to do

Ref in the Arsenal game just likes the sound of their fans whining post-match, clearly.

Wasn’t really a second yellow, was it?

The 2nd yellow was ridiculous.

I can’t even see where he is meant to have kicked it? It just sort of bounces off the side of his foot?

He nudges it to the side while being booted by the Brighton player. Time-wasting? He doesn’t even move it more than a couple of feet.

Was there today and great to see a ref that didn’t give every free kick when players fall to the floor (Saka and tbf Pedro).
Couldn’t see what Rice got the second yellow for as it was down the other end but having watched it on the way home he clearly kicks the ball away as Veltman was about to take a quick free kick. You expect Rice to be a bit smarter than that when he’s already on a yellow. Maybe he just assumed the ref wouldn’t be brave enough to send him off at the Emirates.

Was weird, but the upside is that AFTV clips are a real treat this evening!

Could be worse though, i’m hazarding a guess that people are actively avoiding Sean Dyche this evening as well, christ how hopeless are the Everton players, sure fire bet to go down.

Haaland starting the season slow i see.

Haaland starting the season slow i see.

He actually seems like he’s grown a bit, when will it end, when he’s completely transformed into the Kraken?

In other news Reading are up to 8th – and no points deducted so far.

Just watched Everton on MOTD. Dear god, they’re awful! Having been 2-0 up they could easily have lost that 5-2

I used to absolutely despise Villa under Paul Lambert because they were ****ing awful yet still managed to avoid relegation, season after season, by the skin of their teeth, despite looking like a shit pub side. I cheered when they finally got what they deserved and went down and hoped they’d never darken the Premier League ever again. Look at them now.

I now feel exactly the same about Everton. We’re 3 games in and I’m already hoping they go down. They probably need to.

As an Evertonian, Binners can go fu k himself.

Its going to be a long season! And yes, we’re going down!

Its going to be a long season! And yes, we’re going down!

Everton have stunk out the league for years yet are masters at clinging on to survival.

I didn’t see it, but the fans reckon West Ham played pretty well yesterday yet still lost 1-3. Such is the PL gulf.

@w00dster – how do you feel about the state your club is in though? I’m pretty vocal about the ongoing shambles at Old Trafford which led a couple of days ago to the absurdity of a player we paid 75 million for going out on loan to a club that finished above us last season, presumably to stay within FFP rules. Go figure

Everton is a basket case and has been for years. The continuing on/off takeover saga. The owners who seem to be even more incompetent than ours (quite the achievement!), the woeful performances on the pitch and last weekend the team weren’t just booed off, a section of the fans waited at Euston station to hurl abuse at their own squad! Mental!

Yeah, West Ham did well in patches, Bowen is starting to look like the complete package now, Kudus always dangerous and so on, biggest thing for me was the strikers, City had Haaland on fire, WHU had Antonio, who tries like mad, but has no real quality in front of goal, Ederson also had the save of the weekend at the end as well, fingertips onto the post.

Today’s going to be interesting with ManU vs Liverpool, ManU really need to show they’re level pegging with Liverpool, still think they missed a trick not signing Onana, he’s slotted in well at Villa and with ManU, that midfield were missing one thing, and Onana for me is the guy who would’ve filled it best, i don’t know much about Ugarte though, so maybe that’ll work out better.

Given our respective performances so far this season, I’m not confident, but I said that last season and the arse-kicking I expected didn’t materialise. It’s either going to be a cagey draw or we’ll get absolutely humped today

I don’t know much about Ugarte though, so maybe that’ll work out better.

TH will probably play him as a right back or a central striker or maybe stick him in goal

Edit: apparently he’s not playing today as he wasn’t registered in time.

Having seen a re-run of the whole game, Everton should have been out of sight before that final 10 minutes, when, agreed, Bournemouth could have scored another two or three.  Profligate and brittle.

Yeah, just watched highlights on MOTD. That was an implosion by Everton.

Haaland doing what he does, but he can’t play every game can he? Who plays then? Foden false 9?

I think Harland will be coming off after 60 mins in quite a lot of games, they will manage his minutes rather than numbers of games. Then 30 mins with Foden, De Bruyne or Bobb (when he recovers from injury) as a false 9 (all three on the pitch revolving positions) it is probably a pretty good tactic. It would be a nightmare for defenders, a proper target man for the first 60 mins strong fast physical battle, and then a switch of mental focus to deal with movement and rotation.

Ederson also had the save of the weekend

I though Areola made a better save in that match. For the Eddison save, that was always where the shot was going, the keeper was set and ready, still a good save, but he was set and just had to get the execution right. The Areola save from De Bruyne, the shot was whipped in quickly to the opposite corner the keeper was expecting, he had to react to less conventional shot quickly.

He nudges it to the side while being booted by the Brighton player. Time-wasting? He doesn’t even move it more than a couple of feet.

The offence is delaying the restart, not timewasting or kicking the ball away. If he hadn’t nudged it three inches away then play would have restarted, he delayed it, it’s an automatic no discretion yellow card.

(it was also cute play by the Brighton player, who probably was aiming for the kick to hit Rice and claim it that way, Rice just made it even easier….I couldn’t work out what he was restarting for, just seemed to be hoofing it upfield. Put another way the only purpose of restarting was so that Rice could delay it and get booked – but that’s ‘part of the game’ now)

I can only assume the earlier Brighton one was because he wasn’t sure it had gone out, but in that case his first touch in keeping it in but getting it into row F was woeful ;-) – should have been yellow too.

Evertonian here. Checked scores at 4pm yesterday, looking good. Then final scores… FFS. I can’t imagine that we won’t be bottom of the league come May. Best stadium in the championship etc.

If you’re Spurs then that’s your best season for 40 years, or whatever, but we’re not.

No, you’re Man Utd – the new Spurs?

Spurs are at St James’s today.  6-1 and 4-0 barcodes wins from our last couple of visits so let’s see if we can at least not embarrass ourselves today!

No, you’re Man Utd – the new Spurs?

I know! That’s my point. We really shouldn’t be, but we are (give or take the odd recent trophy)  ;)

I think Harland will be coming off after 60 mins in quite a lot of games

Or when he gets his hatrick, whichever comes first. He’s going to lay waste to all previous goalscoring records, thus guaranteeing another title for Citeh

did I hear MOTD right; Haaland on 7 is second in the team goals charts currently behind Man City (9) and then come Chelsea and Brighton with 6 each.

Newcastle will not be thrashing Spurs later. I’m worried that Son and Solanke will run a back four missing Schar and Botman all over the place. I like Burn and Krafth as back ups, but against the better attacks just a bit susceptible.

At the other end ….. who knows.

just seen team news – no Solanke. Hmmm, that’s good news for us.

Forgotten about Reading then? [Smiley face]

The offence is delaying the restart, not timewasting or kicking the ball away. If he hadn’t nudged it three inches away then play would have restarted, he delayed it, it’s an automatic no discretion yellow card.

I think the ref looked apologetic for having to issue that second yellow card, but Rice put himself in that position so no sympathy.

Haaland is truly terrifying when he’s in this form – his stats on MOTD last night were crazy – pretty close to a goal a game, a hat trick every 9(?) games when people like Shearer were running at 30-40 games!