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19 May 2022 22:19:52
Despite the penalty Beundia head and shoulders above everyone as man of the match but he'll be dropped again Sunday.
27 Sep 2020 13:33:17
Apparently Alli is available and Chris Sutton has suggested he could come to us.
I know we were linked to him when he was at MK Dons but for me he is by far the most overrated player in the league.
He had one good season as an unknown but has been found out regularly ever since. Plays like a beemer/ merc/ audi driver who thinks they're all that because they've "made it".
1.) 27 Sep 2020 13:46:50
Alli is a good player had a poor season last year but before that I think his stats since he joined Spurs stand comparison with anyone playing in that type of role. I think he struggles with how Mourinho wants him to play, however I am not sure he is what we need right now, I would rather we bought a wide man and moved Jack into a more central position where I think he can create more havoc.
Just as an aside, I drive a Mercedes but I certainly don’t think I have “made it“ lol 😊.
2.) 27 Sep 2020 15:30:33
We want footballers not Boxers. 😊.
3.) 27 Sep 2020 15:31:57
Joking aside, totally agree John.
4.) 27 Sep 2020 16:09:49
Agree John, no doubt he improves us, but it’s one of the last positions we need improving in.
I rate Alli, just think he’s only really played in his position for two seasons. Did pretty well, and because of that success he just kept getting pushed further forward and then out wide which just never worked. He’s a number 8, old school, box to box, from a time when centre mids were expected to do both, go forwards and backwards, that’s how he made his name and needs to get back to it to see the best of him.
There are big questions about his attitude, seems pretty childish on the all or nothing documentary.
27 Sep 2020 13:32:09
The Sun obviously have their biases but are normally clued in on transfers. The Scottish Sun claim Brighton have expressed an interest in Edouard. Maybe that makes him available for less than we thought? No way they pay the expected £40mill on a player.
12 Sep 2020 10:15:28
I see Noel Whelan is up to his old tricks again. Claims Wilson not happening meant we panic bought our second choice.
Obviously does zero research before spouting off when Watkins was clearly our main transfer target from day 1.
1.) 12 Sep 2020 10:36:54
The guy is an irrelevant cretin. The man is robbing a living. Every man and his dog knew Watkins was Smith’s number one target.
2.) 12 Sep 2020 11:47:43
Agree ant, the Watkins deal took at least 2 weeks to thrash out it was almost there before any bid went in for Wilson, isn’t whelan a Leeds fan? Nothing but jealousy they couldn’t even convince their manager to stay on for more than 1 year cause he knows they going to do a Norwich and go straight back down😂😂.
3.) 12 Sep 2020 12:04:46
Just for clarity Whackattack Bielsa only ever signs 1 year contracts so it’s nothing to do with his lack of faith in his team, and I for one don’t think they will go down in fact I think they are more likely to do a Wolves or Sheffield Utd. Bielsa is a class act.
4.) 12 Sep 2020 12:07:02
I can never understand why ex-pros are considered experts in the transfer market. I don’t think they have any more idea than the rest of us and clearly don’t research much, if anything.
Kevin Phillips suggests we made a massive mistake in missing out on Callum Wilson. Well, firstly the guy didn’t want to move to Villa and, secondly, he has a paltry scoring record in the EPL, managing double figures once. All the Sky and Talk Sport place the guy on a pedestal as some phenomenal goal scorer. Complete tosh.
5.) 12 Sep 2020 12:35:42
If Wilson had stayed with Bournemouth for this season, I doubt that he would have scored half the number of goals Watkins scored last season.
6.) 12 Sep 2020 14:06:06
I do agree villajohn he is a good manager I was just having a pop at Leeds, wasn’t his last contract for 2 years with option to extend by 1 year, well so say the article about him signing the extension anyways, honestly I can’t see them doing a Sheffield or wolves he’s not as good a man manager as wilder or nuno, they threw away automatic promotion last year then rubbish themselves in the playoffs, and started to slip a bit this year also into the new year, bilic was also a good manager with Fulham but it didn’t save him, 1 thing for sure I think this year’s premier league will be tougher than last years, looking through the fixtures there’s none looking to easy, my money is on West Ham Fulham Brighton West Brom and Leeds to slug it out down the bottom, what u guys think who will be in the relegation battle?
7.) 12 Sep 2020 18:32:15
Look at Bielsa’s record, wherever he has been he has had success and he plays a brand of entertaining football which is why he is such a sought after manager. I have even heard Klopp refer to him as world class so that’s good enough for me. Time will tell whether Leeds tsurvive or not it I think they will even if it’s only because there are 3 worse teams which I think will be West Ham, Fulham and Albion I also have a sneaking feeling Brighton might struggle as well.
17 May 2020 09:06:06
If we stay up and get the reported £80mill asking price for Jack who do we think we could realistically bring in?
I think our starting lineup could look like this (Dunk being less likely with the owners strategy of younger players but best option within budget imo) .
Heaton
Guilbert Dunk Mings Targett
Phillips
Rashica Mcginn Benrahma
Samatta Wesley
Subs
Nyland
Konsa
Engels
Nakamba
Trezeguet
El Ghazi
Davis
Only one cm on bench as both starting wingers could slot into that central position.
We could stick with Konsa who has been decent and look at right back instead but I'm struggling to think of any great options available less than £20mill who are significant upgrades.
1.) 19 May 2020 14:27:37
Not a bad line up however I would take a couple of players from Utd for Jack so I would ask for Axel and Chris Smalling.
I like you I know he is outside the age bracket but it gives us some premier league experience which we have been crying out for at the back, and ask for £55 million I would also ditch Wesley Engels Trezeguet Taylor and El Ghazi And I would look to bring in Harry Wilson, Benrahma Barkley Mitrovic and Batshuayi and go 4 4 2.
I am sure there are lots of other ways we could go and it’s great to indulge in a bit of Fatasy football, but I think we can all agree that whatever we do we need to do something different next season.
2.) 19 May 2020 17:34:57
I think Wesley will grow and he has shown at times that coming short to bring people into play is his strength. Wesley deeper with Samatta running the channels could work.
Utd wouldn't give Axel and Smalling for a combined £25mill valuation and Smalling is even worse than what we have imo.
I don't think we'd get enough for the players you listed to buy all of your wish list and ditching both wingers for Benrahma and Wilson would still leave us short in that department.
While his defensive work is poor you can't argue with the fact El Ghazi has won us points at the other end so should keep him for backup/ rotation.
3.) 20 May 2020 14:25:50
Smalling available for £15 mill apparently he has had a decent season with Roma and he certainly isn’t as error strewn as Engels. In terms of cover for the wingers I would use Louie Barry and Green as cover after extending his contract . I don’t think el ghazi or tres does enough at either end of the pitch although tres works hard that isn’t enough in the prem imo. However that’s the beauty of this is it’s all about opinions.
4.) 20 May 2020 18:19:55
With you on that John.
5.) 21 May 2020 06:19:53
Barry isn't really a winger, he can play on the outside of a 3 at a push but he's a number 9 through and through.
I liked Green for us at times in the championship but it worries me he can't even get into a struggling Preston team now. May be a case of just not the right fit and his pace works better for our counter attacks but you'd have thought if he was that good they'd play him.
rknewell's banter posts with other poster's replies to rknewell's banter posts
14 Feb 2026 19:38:35
Bizot the big villain but Bogarde really needs to learn to take some responsibility. He does some decent stuff defensively but the fact he is so unwilling to just clear the ball or run past someone puts us into a lot of trouble.
1.) 14 Feb 2026 20:01:52
Shocking from Bizot, it’s the 3rd game against them in a couple of seasons we had a man sent off and on all 3 occasions there was absolutely no need for it. Garcia on the bench I don’t understand why he’s not playing, Bogard offers absolutely nothing as a fullback all he does is play backwards he didn’t give Bailey an ounce of support going forward and has to take the blame for the third goal he had 2 chances to clear it then passes it straight to Newcastle in the box.
Emery has responsibility also, pure madness to keep trying to play out from the back with 10 men. on the plus side it’s only the cup, I’d rather be out of it with our current injuries we don’t need to extra games and we don’t have the squad to win it either way.
05 Feb 2026 17:01:34
Looks like Duran is living up to the Balotelli comparison I suggested last season.
Thought he was superior to Watkins, went for a big payday in Saudi, and now finds himself at Zenit St Petersburg. No doubt he will wind up a few Russians and find himself needing to move again in the near future.
30 Dec 2025 22:17:52
First game I've missed for a long time, maybe for the best.
The run always had to come to an end, a shame that it came in that fashion but despite beating Arsenal and City at home I don't think we could say we are at that level yet.
Consolidating top 4 will still be a great achievement and you never know what will happen with the other teams.
21 Dec 2025 18:41:56
Cash does some good things, but when your default setting is to turn around and pass to Konsa, it will come back to bite you.
Despite that, Maatsen was the weak link at full back, we got away with so many of his positional errors and weak tackling.
I really feel for Ollie, even when he does everything right, it's going wrong.
He deserves credit for Rogers second goal though.
We're now in a great position to secure top 4. My big concern for next season is keeping hold of Morgan, no way can we afford a salary to stave off the vultures without weakening the rest of the team.
30 Nov 2025 16:36:23
I am a former referee. I had to deal with a lot of crap, especially as I officiated a lot of youth football.
Referees should be given respect but there also needs to be accountability and some level of agreement over 'subjective' decisions.
Arias stays on the pitch despite jumping with two feet. His movement is not natural for either running or tackling.
The jump had only one intention which Kamara was lucky to escape. He only gets a yellow card after review.
Caicedo tries to play the ball, his natural movement takes his face down studs into an Arsenal players ankle. He gets a red card.
Force and control are reasonable indicators but why is natural position not considered like with handball?
14 Feb 2026 08:11:45
Like Whack said, any deal with related parties is subject to independent review. Man City failed with their bid to scrap that rule and I agree with the decision.
22 Jan 2026 17:40:25
The problem with playing Elliott for even one more game is that we're basically telling Liverpool we do want/need him and they'll hold out hoping to get the £35m.
I personally don't rate him above bench cover, most of his Liverpool cameos have been either basic keep ball when winning or 'pass it to Salah'.
He made a difference for England U21s but so many players in the past have looked great at that level and not gone on to do much.
15 Aug 2025 08:31:14
If we're honest, is he anywhere near a £100k+ a week player?
His camp can feel hard done by all they like but he hasn't earned more than offered.
He hasn't been fit for 2 years and by his own admission he hasn't made progress so why does he deserve to be paid more.
He is not a top player like Ollie or Emi and his work off the pitch doesn't hold a candle to Digne or SJM.
To be honest, I won't miss him like a Milner or a Grealish. He's not special and just comes across pretty poorly in a lot of clips I've seen.
04 Aug 2025 06:52:17
Totally agree.
I would also add that Watkins having a break to recover looks almost like a new signing going into the new season.
24 Jul 2025 13:33:59
I think the back 3 is only because Konsa is away. I don't think he trusts anyone of the youngsters in a 2 and doesn't seem to want 2 with the same dominant foot either.
04 Mar 2026 16:50:00
Agree, Buck. Of course, Emery won't change something that has yielded constant success for 3 years.
Every time we've been 'found out' and had a few bad results, we have just played through it and found success again.
While I do somewhat agree we should have adapted to bypass the midfield when we are so short in that department, I understand why Emery would persist and want the other players to get more exposure fitting into the system.
01 Mar 2026 15:47:54
Pedro had plenty of experience of English football, cost Brighton around £30m, and their fans at that point supported their team regardless of form. So many of our fans turn on players at the first sign of imperfection. For us to achieve aims and expectations, we need everyone on it week in, week out.
It's hard to blood raw and inexperienced players. Emery was in a bit of a no win situation with Malen and Guessand. Guessand was stuck out wide because Malen, who should be a winger, wanted to be a striker. Emery tried to find a way to work with both, but clearly the solution wasn't to the benefit of the team.
01 Mar 2026 11:38:34
Spot on, BK. Take the entire first choice midfield out of any team for 3 months and they would find it difficult to hold onto top five, that includes City and Arsenal.Emery has done what has been needed with transfers. The majority of our signings in the last 3 years have given us something for 12-18 months and then sold for a profit.We could have sold the likes of Konsa, McGinn or Watkins for good money in the past but they've been reliable for so long that it wasn't worth the risk.
22 Feb 2026 17:21:28
Both Watkins and Bailey were trying to run behind the defence, but the defenders didn't try to find them until it was either too late or they were facing their own goal. While we are lacking a midfield that can live up to what we are missing, it wouldn't have hurt to bypass that area a little more often.
It would have been a massive risk against DCL, but having Torres there to try more decisive forward balls may have paid off.
21 Feb 2026 07:49:46
How many times did he play wide then? That's right, zero.
Both he and Emery have said he wanted to be a striker and that was the only position he would play.
I think only 1 of his goals came when he started and that was in probably the worst half of European football we've had.
Outside of his finishing and a bit of pace, he was actually pretty awful.
Couldn't hold the ball up, running into trouble because he was too selfish, making wrong decisions on a regular basis. Like Duran, it's nice to remember the goals, but if someone who is only good as a sub demands to start, you need to let them go.