revolution saint

Good stuff, I think you're right. It kinda makes sense and gives us the experience we need up top.

Werner would be an awesome signing. I don't think we'd go as high as the quoted figure but reckon it's certainly within our power to get him. Works well in a 4-2-2-2, knows Ralph and proven scorer under him. Fingers crossed this comes off.

Fair to say that the majority of the country aren't that normal and sensible for electing this shower of shite then? Oh and Lammy wasn't in the shadow cabinet in 2019.

That’s a pony argument. The only people who directly elected either Lammy or Dories were people within their constituencies, are the people in Tottenham not sensible and normal then?

Interesting. We were linked with Issa Kabore a month ago and he looked decent to me. Would have thought that would be a more realistic target if looking at City right backs

Fantasy Football would be ok if you had only one window in January to change the team instead of every week. I can’t be arsed with all the faffing around and get bored too quickly with it all.

I think there’s also a case for including just plain nasty.

Never had you down as such a snowflake.

No way! Really? Thanks for pointing that out MLG, I would have had no idea otherwise. You're a bloody lifesaver.

I see the business model is working well but appreciate that it's frustrating for us fans to lose our best players. It'll be a shame to lose Jan but I don't begrudge him his move and would like to wish him all the best. This has tarnished an otherwise decent window for us. Oh well.

If I recall correctly you were one of the people saying the West wouldn't be able to stop Putin and his war machine, effectively it was pointless trying to intervene in Ukraine. Now that military assistance appears to be working you've changed your tune and Russia apparently isn't all that great. As I understood it the warnings about further Russian expansion were based on the West doing nothing - obviously military and economic actions means that's unlikely now. You don't stop doing something if it's working.

Fuck off

To be fair, they'll have a bigger target to aim at if he signed. That might help them. Agree though, we don't really cross the ball much and certainly not from the 10s.

Can't argue with his scoring record - he's, what, 1 in 3 games at least each season in the Bundesliga for a side that struggles most of the time. Probably the "safest" option we've been linked with.

Mara has at least equivalent if not better stats than Sesko especially considering he played in a better league and his club was pretty poor. TBH all I’ve seen is YouTube videos but Sesko didn’t stand out massively. Could be great of course but not seeing what the attraction is with him particularly.

"Chance for us to grab the one or the other" - what do we reckon he means by that? Broja or Delap? Or just a figure of speech?

He wasn't terrible but people seem to get blindsided by confirmation bias..........

I think you could make an argument for some areas if genuine competition exists. Things like railways and water there’s no competition so market forces don’t really work and you’re left with an argument based on the inherent efficiency of private enterprise which is an argument I don’t really believe in.

Advantages and disadvantages to both approaches and a lot will probably depend on the player themselves. Delap has had a complete year with the first team now - how many years does he need and at what point does it become just going through the motions? Training is to prepare yourself for the real thing and if that prospect looks as remote as it ever did then that's also got be demotivating. I reckon that a decent competitive game is as good if not better than training. The level of quality in training must be phenomenal but I doubt it has that competitive edge that all players want. If you're a striker you want to score with a crowd watching you, against players giving it everything and to know it's a goal that matters. Football is still a relatively short career and, personally, I'd want to make the most of it.

I think the issue with Foden is a bit more complex. Suspect one of the reasons he wasn't really used much initially was that physically it was more of a struggle to compete in the premier league at a young age; he's not exactly a big lad. The other thing, and this is more of a general big club thing, is that the bar for a young player to break into the team is that much higher. Simply put they're not better than the experienced internationals City already have. Arguably Foden would have progressed quicker and be better if he had more regular gametime. We'll never know but the fact that he's a very good player now doesn't necessarily mean he wouldn't also be if he had taken a different route. With regard to Delap - physically he probably won't have any problems, I don't know about talent wise but there's definitely a spot for him here whereas there isn't anything more than substitute and cup appearances at City. If I were Delap (or any other similar player) then I'd be backing myself and want to play as much and as quickly as possible. For every Foden there's a Jude Bellingham, Sancho, Rashford etc etc.

On a slightly related note, does Pep actually have a record of playing kids from the academy? Apart from Foden I can’t think of any. Appreciate why he wouldn’t as they play at a higher stakes game but kind of undermines a stance on keeping players you’re unlikely to use.

Agree with this. Shields knows the lad, he knows his parents, agent and the Man City hierarchy. I can’t see us submitting two or more bids without getting some encouragement. Wonder when we start getting the reports of Delap wanting more regular game time?

Maybe we are? Well, that would be fantasy land but never know. That 23M bid probably contains a shedload of add-ons so might not be an entirely accurate figure. Definitely a risk but at the same time it’s good seeing the club backing itself and philosophy.

Athletic reported we had a bid for Delap turned down last month so this is either a rehash of that, or it’s a second bid. If it’s a second bid then we must feel it’s feasible to do a deal and I guess having Shields in place is informing that decision.

Well you might have to pay the player more but the selling club wouldn’t give a toss.