qwertyell

Yes, it literally says that in the article I found on him. For reasons unknown, my brain read McMillan (the name of his manager) as Millwall, and I made the fatal error of trusting it - in spite of a historical pattern of letting me down at every turn. Tottenham interested too. In Lawrence, not my brain.

18 year old CB at Millwall, and 18 year old midfielder at Spurs (along with twin brother Matthew).

Good to get his debut out of the way - as long as he uses it as a very stark learning experience. He was okay on the ball, grew into the half as it wore on and put in a couple of crosses. But out of possession he was all over the place. You wouldn't necessarily expect a 17 year old to have immaculate positional discipline, but his seeming lack of effort and intensity when being asked to defend was a red flag. Nervous energy is supposed to make you charge around like a headless chicken, not jog about like a warm down session. But at least he and the manager have a solid idea of where he's at and where he needs to get to now. I don't think he'll be starting any more first team games this season - and probably looking at a loan next season. It has only been one game, of course, but he doesn't look close to being ready for men's football. Speaking of loans, Jake Vokins has started the last 12 games for Ross County after recovering from his broken foot. Seems to be doing pretty well, and contracted to us until 2024. I wonder if he comes back into back up contention next season.

What to make of that? Got the W, so that's the main thing. But at the cost of injuries to Lyanco (hamstring), possibly Livramento (seemed to have a problem with his side/ribs) and Broja (knee). Horrible performance, generally speaking, and the likes of Walcott, Long and Adam Armstrong aren't good enough to play for us. Or shouldn't be. Tough debut for the kid, Small. Didn't like his work rate off the ball - too often jogged/walked back into position - but he was actually growing into the game a bit towards the end of the half when he got hooked. All good experience at 17, though. We need some creative players in the summer. What we've got on the books is garbage.

This post could've been made any time in the last four years. We're a counter attacking side. We don't know what to do when the opposition lets us have the ball and asks to be broken down. Nothing new here.

It was coming. They've looked miles more dangerous going forward than us. Long, Walcott and Armstrong are a horrible front three - they're all embarrassing on the ball in build up play. We can't create a thing. Not impressed with Small's athleticism. Doesn't have a sprint in him.

Stephen Green in old money. Pretty boring name all in all - not really worth getting hung up on.

It's complicated. (Apparently) Vitoria only ever owned 50% of Edwards' economic rights. Spurs still retain 50%. Sporting have only bought out Vitoria's stake. Were Edwards to move to a league that doesn't allow joint ownership (the Premier League, for example), the buying club would have to strike a deal with both the selling club and Spurs, doubling the cost. Something like that, anyway. It's complicated. Good little player - when he can be bothered.

Have they done decent business, though? Sure, they've improved their squad a little bit, but not in a major way. Wood is their only attacking signing, and he's got three goals this season. Trippier's a good player, but Burn and Targett are back up options at most clubs in the league. Not to mention Howe's historical inability to organise a competent defence. I'm not convinced they're going to gel into a particularly impenetrable unit any time soon. Guimaraes is a big upgrade, but you wouldn't expect a holding midfielder to have a massive impact one way or the other on their season. Time will tell, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the bottom four places all the way to the end of the campaign.

They've got a very talented young keeper, Bayindir. Not that swaps ever happen these days, but anyway...

They also loaned Diallo out to Rangers. That would be four attackers out the door (or in the clink), none in.

Don't see why Chelsea would be remotely interested in doing Newcastle any favours. They've got a nice little unthreatening, potentially mutually beneficial relationship with us going at the moment - I doubt they'll blow that up for the Saudis.

Jankewitz got his first start in the Swiss super league. Played for an hour. Two assists in a 5-1 win. Didn't get sent off deliberately.

Curious as to why - big talent though he's hyped up to be - Carvalho hasn't featured for England at any level above U18s, and not since 2019. You'd think the FA would be trying to fast track him into the U21s and making him feel important, knowing Portugal have a claim on him. It's not like they don't pick loads of other Championship players.

Matt Jansen was a legitimately brilliant prospect, to be fair. It was terrible the way his career ended, when he was on the cusp of breaking into the England team. Bit of a Sliding Doors moment. If he hadn't pulled out of making his England debut in the lead up to the 2002 World Cup with illness, he would've almost certainly made the final squad. Instead, Sven picked an extra defender, and Jansen had to make alternative plans for the summer - which ended up with him crashing a scooter in Italy and suffering brain injuries that his career never recovered from. Cadamartari was dogshit, mind.

Well, that rumour burned brightly for about three hours. Good times.

Loftus-Cheek vibes from the way he strides powerfully through the midfield. Whether he can so easily brush aside fully grown men remains to be seen. An interesting proposition at the right price.

According to the official website, he's a lot older than he looks. https://www.ctfc.com/teams/first-team/defender/will-armitage/

A cadaver on wheels would be an upgrade on Elyounoussi..

Blimey. We can't moan about decisions today. Could've/should've been a penalty and a red card in the last two minutes. Very lucky escapes both times.

That cross to the back post has been on all day. I don't know who our defenders are marking in the middle - City have only got three tall players and they all hang out at the back post. Tough to hang on for a point now.

I know the only way we had of winning this was scoring early and hanging on, but it's bloody agony to watch. Salisu having a storming game. Forster excelling at, well, being a big fucker. Not convinced we can hold out, and I'm sure there'll be a game changing penalty and/or red card (Bednarek the hot favourite) in the pipeline, but we've been really decent so far. Redmond still looks underpowered to me after covid. Doesn't look like he can break into a sprint. Fingers crossed for the second half, I guess. Not sure what else we can do.

I see the Man United manager has realised 4-2-2-2 is rubbish in a proper league and has completely abandoned it moving forwards.

Disappointing if we're letting him go, having spent £1m signing him from Birmingham at 16 - allegedly from under the noses of lots of PL clubs.

Burnley have requested another postponement of their game tomorrow vs Watford. They're already five games behind schedule. Mad.