Lallana's Left Peg

Many of Long's best attributes come to light when he isn't near the football - but that's ok, as its the same with many defenders as well. I prefer my players in attacking positions to be better on the ball but I can see why teams like players with his sort of attributes - he can certainly impact a game even when he is nowhere near the ball and make space for others etc. £12m still seems very steep to me but he has five goals and five assists this season and not too many players in the league have that.

The market for both is very slim. If they leave it frees up some wages but even then, I am not convinced there will be much wriggle room with all the new contracts signed and also that most of our young players will have wage increases factored into their deals as well.

Ramirez and Osvaldo are coming back...

Is there anything which suggests otherwise? The circa £30m 'left over' from last years leavers was gobbled up in the summer from the £27m we owed for previous transfer activity from the Cortese era. The new TV deal doesn't kick in until the end of next season. This years leavers is a different kettle of fish but it's all very well selling two player for £40m but then if you want to buy six with the money then you need to factor in wages into things and not just the transfer fee. Our wage bill is already more than the end of last season and a few players have signed new deals too. Our commercial activity for this season won't be great (the club has publicly said it is targeting the end of next season for gains) and we've only earned £4m more in TV money this season from last season so I just don't see where all this extra money is coming from for lots of signings.

Where is the money for wages coming from all these players? There isn't much left in the coffers at all. We bought a new team last summer. Les Reed has already said we won't be making too many signings at all. I know it's fun writing a shopping list down every summer but is the expectation in the fanbase seriously that we are going to sign half a dozen first team players?

Up to £10m at most. We don't have much money for transfers and the wage bill is pretty maxed out.

Nah - Boruc is better than Federici and will start as number one I would imagine.

Carl Jenkinson? Arsenal's fourth choice right back? No thanks.

Point accepted but is Clasie the same sort of player as Cazorla? If so no worries. But that isn't a Schneiderlin replacement, it's a completely different type of player altogether which brings other issues. Ever since we haven't been able to play two of Cork, Wanyama, or Schneiderlin together the team doesn't look as good in my opinion (with the odd exception of course).

Yep, but he plays further up the pitch, and is skilful. Clasie, unless I've not seen enough of him, is different. Mane is small but he is quick and skilful too. The Premier League is a place for big boys in the middle of the park. Clasie is 5'6". If I look through the teams in the top half of the table none of them have a true central / defensive midfielder who is first choice and anywhere near that small? Just a concern really - I don't know much about him but when you see Davis struggle playing further back you realise how much of a 'presence' you need in the centre of the park in this league.

I worry he looks a little undersized for the centre of the park in the Premier League.

He's not out of contract. A little bit gutted about Rowe - I know he had injuries but I always thought he was a handy player at U21 level.

Could be absolute ******** but wouldn't be a surprise: https://twitter.com/Jimmy_Chilides/status/602908530287476736

No-one said Shane Long was a moneyball player. He gave the example of Shane Long IF we thought at £12m he was undervalued. Not that he thought Shane Long was undervalued at £12m.

His definition of moneyball is absolutely correct. He was not saying that Shane Long was a moneyball player, but rather that he would still qualify as a moneyball player at £12m if we thought the skills he gave us made him worth far more than £12m.

Started the game well but after we didn't take advantage of our chances Man City came back into it and when they pressured us we **** the bed and pumped it long. Didn't like the way we stood off them up to our own 18 yard box - it was asking for trouble. Second half much better, they were there for the taking but it didn't click in the final third. Mane was class, JWP looked nice when he came on too. Frustrating but we gave a half decent account of ourselves. Come on Arsenal!

Got the feeling he's retiring based on his farewell to the fans after the game.

Morgan definitely out, Jay Rod will travel but likely won't play any part.

My Man City supporting mate said they played a weakened team as they had a game the day before (or after, I forgot) in Europe which they won.

Man City have a good Academy team but this summer will be a big indication as to whether the club take the Academy seriously or not. If none of them are promoted to the first team squad as realistic contenders then it's a bit of a joke.

Liverpool knew what he was like when they lured him away from QPR at 15 with...money. So I have no sympathy. I feel like I've heard that sentence before.

He has a chance, apparently. I would expect Koeman to declare it will depend how he is in training today / tomorrow.

Liverpool fans getting very excited that this is them wrestling control back in the situation

To be fair, it's what we did last summer.

Vardy is worth a look. What is the alternative? He doesn't have great quality on the ball but he has a lot of other things going for him.