Jonty

At least he didn't respond to going behind by making a like-for-like swap of our fullbacks.

There's no way NYFC ship Lamps off to City 5 minutes after he walks through the door without him knowing about it in advance, it's no better than this.

Haven't heard that before, would be interested to see who has reported that

Wow I didn't realise he is only 20 - together with CHO (18), Mount (20), Tammy (21) and RLC (23), it's going to be fascinating seeing how these guys develop and grow together.

Very excited to see how he goes, given how comfortable RLC and CHO have looked (thankfully Mason doesn't need an acronym) it's not outrageous to think he could pick up some meaningful minutes in the league this year. Other than Barkley i'm not sure what other player naturally fits into the middle of the three behind the striker, so could be in for a decent role.

Think i'm in the minority of people who would still have him in my first XI (with Rudi next to him). Christensen looks quite nervy at times and I think DL is an important leader on the field. Even more disappointing he's going to Arsenal, although can understand him wanting to leave if he's been told he won't be a regular starter. Worth keeping in mind Cech and Lampard did the same thing before we start slating him too hard though.

Can't believe my eyes, the FSW second favourite for the gig according to the bookies?

Here's hoping he hates their sh*thouse fanbase and club management, and wants to come back in 6 months.

Congratulations Rob! [/

Giroud for me, scored the first, won the penalty for the third and put the fourth on a plate for Eden with a delightful chip. One of his best games for us - HMs for Eden, Dave and Jorginho who were all excellent.

Happy for him, some of the vitriol aimed at him has been embarrassing (for the purveyors).

The title of this thread has aged about as well as the 'German Messi' nickname bestowed upon Marko Marin.

Torres and it isn't close, when you think of the talent and managers he had around him and wasted, and that it was mandatory to trot him out for 75 minutes every game. There were times when he visibly didn't want to be anywhere near the ball or goal. Then you factor in the opportunity cost, imagine if we'd spent that money on Aguero or Suarez instead, or had at least given Lukaku a fair shake. That being said if we end up with Morata back up front next season he could have a contender. If we ignore all context and you're asking solely about the worst signing in terms of talent, Benayoun looked like a make a wish foundation kid on the field.

Get this idiot off this forum.

Any chance he's back for the final? With no Ruben now, a Jorginho-Kovacic-Barkley midfield is a bleak prospect indeed.

Also his finest moment (at the Nou) only came about because he lost the ball and couldn't be assed to track back despite there being about 2 minutes left in the game and us needing all hands on deck. Of course Ash won the ball back and booted it back up-field, and the rest is history, but still - he was never exactly industrious. The same can be said about Drogba for 90% of the time though to be fair, especially in his younger seasons.

I suppose if nothing else the episode was at least an accurate dramatisation of US foreign policy.

The pacing and writing has been dreadful this season, Cleganebowl was worth the wait though.

There's honestly a decent chance the fans there don't warm to him and he comes back in 2 years - and I am not at all saying this as a coping mechanism.

Didn't have the same talent around him though - really our only hope would have been the two years under Jose with Diego (excluding his third with Conte when we weren't in it), as the Torres/Morata years were no chance. That last minute concession against PSG at home in 2015 after Ibra had gotten sent off, that year was probably his best chance, but from memory he was invisible in that game. I think he's become a lot more consistent since then, but hasn't had the talent around him unfortunately.

I'd rather have any of Giroud, Higuain or Michy over Morata, he was truly dreadful, it was like reliving the Torres nightmare again.

It would be insanity to bail out now, give him a proper pre-season (which he didn't get last year) and a couple of signings, and let's see where we are in January.

Wow that is quite an ovation from the Wigan fans - and only 19? Hopefully we see a bit of him in preseason.

Am I the only one more excited about Frank, Mason, Tomori and Ash's Derby this weekend than our own game? I'm so desperate for them to get promotion, especially considering the opposition.

What an emotional rollercoaster - a few observations in no particular order: 1. Jorginho is on a great run of form, and i'm wondering if Kante not playing next to him somehow brings out the best in him (hopefully not the case). Either way he's grown on me and hopefully a lot of other fans after some of the flak he was copping on our dire midseason run of form. Kepa, Dave and Luiz (goal excluded) were also great. 2. RLC is so bloody good. If he can sort out his back and his fitness he's going to be one of the top midfielders in world football. His skillset is somewhat similar to Pogba's, however fortunately he doesn't share his attitude problem. 3. Despite how good RLC was in the first half, he was clearly struggling in the second. The home fans were fantastic tonight but the booing of the substitution really wasn't warranted, especially when Barkley has always given his all on the field. 4. The Frankfurt fans are some of the best i've seen anywhere in Europe, almost felt sorry for them in the end. As for their team - a truck load of effort but not on the same level in terms of quality. For all the hype around Jovic and granted he did score two goals, he was near-invisible for the rest of both games and don't think he's what we need. That being said there seems to be a drought of top tier strikers in Europe at the moment, so we could also do much worse (eg. Higuain). 5. I like Kovacic, he clearly leaves it all out on the field and is tidy on the ball, but don't think we should be bringing him back unless it's to solely be an understudy to Jorginho. We shouldn't be playing both of them together, and Jorginho is better. 6. Lastly my thoughts on Sarri, who was a hot topic of discussion in this thread. He's taken on a squad which last season was clearly in need of revival - the only additional resources he was given were Jorginho, and Kovacic on loan (not counting Kepa who was a like-for-like for Courtois). He's then taken on an ambitious project to change us from a pragmatic, defence-first team (which we have been at least since 2011), to a free-flowing attacking team. He's taken this project on a number of years after City, Liverpool and Spurs did similar, under arguably the 3 best managers currently managing. The result was two cup finals (and potentially a win), plus a jump from 5th to 3rd. There were some serious issues around January when we looked lost, but in the initial few months, and in the closing weeks of the season there has been ample evidence that we are improving. The glaring issue remains the absence of a reliable goal scorer - if we can rectify this, I think we can look forward to an even stronger run next season. The crucial thing is that we don't eject the manager half way through the job - we've seen how City/Pool/Spuds have benefited by putting some faith in their manager, and it's time for us to do the same. A beautiful SB farewell for likely leavers Hazard, Giroud, Higuain, Kovacic and potentially also Luiz. KTBFFH. edit: one final, final point - I thought Zappacosta was one of the worst players we've had in the squad in recent years, but was solid tonight so fair play to him. In his previous appearances it's looked like he's trying to come on and do too much to make an impression, if he settles down he's much better.