S-Clarke

It's all about the risk appetite though isn't it. Chelsea don’t have to worry about him flopping 2 years into his deal, they’d happily make a loss and wouldn’t blink. We can’t work like that. Just imagine if we'd have stuck Lemina or Hoedt on 7+ year deals, at the time they looked to be 'marque' signings but that would have killed us. I think 4.5-5yrs is about right for us, I wouldn't want us going any longer than that. Options are a good idea, but we're not usually privy to what goes into contracts.

What are the chances, the bell end Richarlison in the middle of that.

West Ham have tabled a £25m bid for Moffi apparently, that should be enough to do it. Worryingly Everton have also submitted a loan bid for Atalanta striker Duvan Zapatta - who is an absolute beast. We need to see some concrete links to strikers soon, bit nervous we're going to be where we were on Aug 31st at this rate.

No squad planning, even their fans say he's not really required. They need help in CM and CB. I just think 8 year contracts are just ludicrous, 5 years yep...maybe 6, but 8 is just stupid and such a risk.

It's a pretty good sign of his character that he was trusted to be thrown in there like that, in a place like Goodison. Technically he needs to be better as Chez alluded to above, but he showed some balls. Some of those blocks he made were crucial and that for me shows up his character, and if that's right then technically he will come to the fore shortly.

They're such a shambles though, what if he flops? They're not immune to spending big sums on players and then wanting shot after a year (Lukaku, Havertz, Werner to name a few). I just hate seeing clubs run like that. No planning on the squad side of it, no thought. This is the sort of behaviour that FFP needs to cut out for the protection of that club as well as the others in the league, but of course they're using loopholes to get around it.

They'll just go and sign a guy from Shaktar Donetsk for £100m and give him an 8 year contract.

They've got some dangerous players, but I thought they were absolutely horrendous against Leeds. They should have been done by many goals, their centre backs were just static and letting Leeds runners in time and time again. It was only Martinez and poor finishing that stopped a thrashing. It was a win that masked an incredibly shit performance in my opinion. They're almost certainly beatable if we go for their throat.

I must admit, I wasn't expecting to see Iwobi. He was stretched off with Oxygen in the last game, talk of broken bones and all sorts.

He reminds me of other young keepers who have come into this league and initially struggled. De Gea for one, and Kepa. Both a bit flappy when they first came here, but they did get better. I think it's way too soon to be writing this guy off, the things he does in games come across to me as a lack of experience rather than outright ability. I would agree that it's risky to have him in a struggling team right now though, and I'd have preferred a more experienced keeper with him on the bench, but we will just have to be patient.

I didn't realise I posted that in here

Chelsea have no real strategy, as shown by their bid for Lavia just a few weeks into his career here. They wait for other clubs to scout, then go sniffing and get them anyway (Felix another example). Not really sure what their end-goal is, they look all over the place.

Now I've got my breath back, I'll try and share some views. We didn't play badly at all, throughout the game. First half we had some good opportunities, we kept Everton at arms length for the majority of it and were only let down by awful set piece defending. From open play our shape and defensive discipline was spot on throughout the game. What we lacked in that first half was a bit of attacking balance. We had KWP left, Ely covering for Lyanco right side and it unbalanced us and removed our opportunity to break. The press was a little bit off as well because the players didn't seem as comfortable in their positions. As soon as we altered that in the 2nd half we looked more comfortable, KWP a key part in the JWP equaliser. Elyounoussi was also a little more free on the left hand side, although he is still a bit too slow for this league IMO. My MOTM was DCC, I think he's a monster of a CB. He adds the composure and calmness that so often goes missing in Lyanco's and Salisu's games, so he compliments those two really well. He's getting better and better with more game time. This was a huge win, make no bones about it. So pleased with the character to turn around a game like that, it was huge and it will add even more belief to this group. I can see what we're trying to do now, against Forest I think we were rightfully all very confused and bewildered, but the last few games we have a clear approach and the team shape is bringing the best out of certain players. If we can get ourselves a real number 9 (Adams tries, but he does struggle when he's isolated) then I think we have an excellent opportunity.

This is the big thing for me, we're getting the best out of JWP by removing the shackles from him. He had to do way too much when Lavia was out and he was part of a 2, it muted his game. But now we're getting the best of both, he still provides cover and bite in CM but has the licence to push forward and pop up anywhere across the front. This will give us much more of a threat, as he can pick a pass as well.

Just saw the Liverpool result, wtf?

GTFI. Coming from behind to moot. And now breathe. Huge day. And in amongst all of that, we fucking won at Goodison.

concentrate on the game FFS. You haven't got time to be posting on here.

I'm staying on the toilet for the next 10. Just to be safe.

There's going to be space on the break now, hope we can capitalise on it.

FUCKING GET IN. MLT V FUCKING 2.

The delay on peoples streams are very confusing. 🤣

Oh Bazunu, jesus christ. So, so lucky.

To be fair he did well there, had to take one for the team. Give him credit where it's due, but generally he's had a tough 2nd half so far.

That's the big difference in this second half, Adams is holding it and playing better passes. There's something here for us.

Diallo is so shit.