saintwbu

Yeah probably made up that his old man died as well, Nice will love that, will give him that burning desire inside to make him proud! ****

Was reported the other day that his father had passed away, so more likely to be that tbf - even more so considering Ralph said he made a positive impact v Burnley..

I agree we need/have needed an upgrade on Long for a while. But the alternative is Ings, and I genuinely don't see much between the two, and if anything I think Long had a much bigger impact at the tailend of last season and still provides 'something different', whilst Ings is a bit meh in all departments really. For me, Long is still going to be a useful asset this season.

I’m fully aware of the terminology, rules and laws in a sporting sense to me essentially are the same thing so I don’t tend to focus on remembering they’re labelled ‘laws’ and that people love to remind others of that when they have nothing valuable to contribute to the discussion.

Talking of super-pedants...

But, and i’ll say again, as it stands, that is how the ‘law’ is written in football. Would you be happy with an official looking at the video replay and saying ‘yeah I mean his foot is ahead of the last defender, but it’s only a little bit, let it go’? What if the next referee thinks a whole leg is ‘only a little bit’, and the next one thinks half the body is ‘only a little bit’. VAR is supposed to limit the inaccuracy and inconsistency of refereeing, offside is one current law where that can actually be done, given that it is so binary. If the law as it currently is written is not fit for purpose then it shouldn’t be down to the VAR system to start deciding that on an incident by incident process, it’s merely enforcing the laws.

You’re both echoing what i’m saying - ‘it may be stupid, but it’s the rule’. VAR is highlighting some rules may need changing, but VAR is not the issue, it is merely implementing what is supposed to be by the referees.

The amount of whining that’s happening over rules being correctly applied just shows how accustomed most have become to the rules of football simply not being applied. Declan Rice encroaching is against the rules, the penalty should be retaken, the fact it doesn’t normally happen is testament to the **** standard of refereeing in this country. Offside is so clear cut its painful to see so much debate.. IF ANY PART OF YOUR BODY THAT YOU CAN PLAY THE BALL WITH IS BEYOND THE LAST DEFENDER THEN YOU ARE OFFSIDE. The rule may be excessive, it may be stupid, but it’s the ****ing rule. In time, VAR may cause the tidying up of some of the laws of the game, but until now it’s just ensuring the current ones are correctly applied.

Danny Ings an absolute waste of money, brings nothing

If anyone didn’t expect this to be a scrappy, boring, **** game then I want whatever you’re smoking! Burnley away, wet and windy, it’s everything you would expect.

It is, but I think his confidence is shot and stuff like that must rattle him straight away

If anyone has seen the training kit, the sponsors logo looks a million times better than the kits. Why the **** did no one think about doing it the same way, separate lettering rather than a slapped on piece of plastic. Unbelievable.

Was really keen on one of the songs that replaced ‘dancing’ with ‘Danso’. However, that version of Cotton Eye Joe is ****ing brilliant.

Im normally an optimist by i’ve got a bad feeling it won’t go through, but the meltdown that would follow would slightly cushion the blow

Hold me closer Kevin Danso (tiny dancer) - If we cant get a song for this bloke then we may as well call it a day!!

Oh, what a feeling, Kevin Danso (something to replace on the ceiling)

Confirmed by Wilson to be Kevin Danso

Wasn't this rumoured to be behind his exit? That he refused to come on when asked to play LB?

What about his ability to pass the ball to a teammate? Is there a position that removes the effect of that limitation too?

Tomori is way too reckless, can’t believe the hype around him. I’ve only watched him a handful of games and in almost every one he’s put in a red card tackle and got away with it. On two occasions he’s made tackles as bad and as dangerous as i’ve ever seen, luckily avoiding serious impact with the opponent. Mistake a game type player, fans love him because he flies into tackles, but he’s not a good defender.

In hindsight, the decision to not sell him to Fulham last year has worked out alright. The left back they got instead had a torrid time last year, contributing towards their relegation, Targett made some decent contributions for us throughout the season and was needed when Bertrand had his long lay-off. Hughes/Les didn't get to **** the money up the wall and instead it's been given to Ralph, and we've ended up with the same amount/potentially a bit more. I liked him, wish him all the best at Villa.

I liked him at Sheff Utd, and when i’ve seen him for Birmingham he’s also been good. I’ve read that he’s quite small but that surprised me because he always looks quite big on the pitch! I’ve seen him make some great link up play and through balls as well, don’t think he’s just a hang on the penalty spot type forward. I’d really like him in.

Has he? He cost £4mil to be a back up striker to Pelle. He’s finished as our top goal scorer in 2 of his 4 seasons here, and without him we’d have been relegated in both of those seasons. I’d say for £4mil that’s not bad going. His time is up now, but let’s not rewrite history.

Always felt like Palace would be a good fit for him, albeit they may play on the counter a bit much for him, but with balls constantly coming into the box he’d still be lethal at this level

That James transfer has got a lot of the Patrick Roberts about it, as has been said I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a really bad move for his career