While your point may be valid, the question as to whether a youngster is good enough is surely more relevant. Mavropanos has had minutes this season and that might have increased his transfer value. But he's been so bad it may also have cost us points?

I’ve still got the bottle opener contained in a members pack from way back that plays the Thomas commentary when you use it. Still makes me smile every time.

Feels like a season on loan to ideally a prem level club is required. Much like chambers had this year. A test to see if he’s good enough but won’t cost us points. I’m not convinced by chambers and think we should sell him this summer for as much as we can get. Same for mustafi.

I think we should be buying 2 CB this summer as the top priority. We can’t rely on Koscielny going another season - he could maybe do a Kompany style role for us, 15 or so starts. But with Holding maybe out for the early part of the season I’d still be buying 2 CB. I wonder if there is a cheap ish heavy prem experienced CB out there who could come in and do a job for us and wouldn’t cost a lot. If we don’t have a huge budget then we aren’t going to be able to get top level players and sometimes a ‘sticking plaster’ type player to allow us to make incremental improvements may be the answer. That or turn to youth!

We hear so much about the aguero end of season finish but the only similarity is a 90+ minute goal to win the title.
For city’s title to even come close their last game would have had to have been at old Trafford and they would have needed to beat them 2-0, also it would have been the old city doing it before they got their millions, and the city team would have been made up of 5-6 homegrown players. Then it would have been comparable

I would say yes, Mavropanos has been. Although I do accept he didn't cost us points yesterday at Burnley, he was dodgy and has played in games where we did drop points. As Rich said, a loan is in order next season, like Chambers had at Fulham this season where he's conclusively shown himself to not be good enough (according to my Fulham supporting relatives).

I do agree with Rich. If Chambers plus Mustafi are sold and Mavropanos goes on loan, we're left with a fit but second tier Sokratis, a second tier and unfit Holding (I've said before that I agree with what DHD said about him, words to the effect of good but not as good as some make out), and a formerly top tier Koscielny who's injury record and age makes one unsure whether he can even be an adequate squad back up next season. So we need two central defenders, probably even if Medley breaks through.

I also think we need a new left back. Monreal is way past his best, even if he gets a new contract, while Kolasinac can't defend to save his life. As the squad stands, I'll be surprised if with Holding and Sokratis as the first choice pairing in the centre and either an elderly has-been (Monreal) or a poor defender (Kolasinac) at left back, I can see socratis' moans about our defending not just continuing but picking up.

I hope you're right about Nketiah. But I can see what Gunfire was getting at about him.

No arguments from me ... couldn't agree more but when has it been any different ..... ?

Don't know much about US presidents before World War 2 but since that time , they've all been sleazy underhand pr**&cks .

But wait a minute
https://www.livesoccertv.com/news/30272 ... stigation/

If Man City were banned from CL next year i wonder if our 5th place finish might not become an unexpected jackpot. I don't know whether a ban would result in them giving us the position but you can live in hope. Still when we win the Europa we will be there in any case.

Trump's neocon hawks desperately trying to manufacture a war. The attempt to manufacture one in Venezuela failed, now they are on to Iran which they have been trying for a few years now. My guess is it won't work. 18 years so far in Afghanistan. Still in Iraq to some extent, no one is interested except the old men in the government who aren't going.

It's time for America's friends like the UK and others to initiate some 'tough love'. A shame the American people at least a scary percentage caught up in identity politics, are sheep.

We did get a good laugh of Ben Shapiro getting his hat handed to him by Andrew Neil. Him calling Neil a liberal had me laughing. But it goes to show you how these fringe right are when they can't just sit in a studio and comment without being challenged in their own safe spaces.

Unfortunately we may see a second term for Trump because the Democrats don't have a clue. And are beholden to the same big money the Republicans are like Wall Street, the military industrial complex, big pharma, etc. There are only 2 things that can beat Trump. The economy crashing before the election or he is impeached. And if its the latter VP Pence is actually worse believe it or not. Trump doesn't believe his own BS. Pence is a fundamentalist religious zealot who will wage 'holy war' against Iran on Netanyahu's behalf. Unfortunately, the sane, peace loving, fair minded voices in Israel never get airtime in American media.

Scary days.

I thought the same, although I think I read any ban would be for the 2020/2021 season. I’m sure uefa would find some way to ensure that City’s place doesn’t just drop down to the next English team

There are strong rumours over a striker-cum-winger called Martinelli signing from Brazil this summer. He’s only 18 I think and would cost £6-7m

I didn’t see the Burnley match, how did Willock do? From the little I’ve seen him this season he would be ahead of Elneny for me. Surely we’ll shift on Elneny this summer, he’s been out of the matchday 18 more than in it, if we could pick up £10m or so for him that would be good to add to the pot

Funny I thought that as well but if Man U were 5th I am sure they would make a way for it to happen.

If we are signing 1 centre back that should be enough for the time being as we would have sokratis, Holding, new signing and Kosielny

That should temporarily be enough and allow us to reinforce other areas with a left back and winger priorities.

On the new contracts I’d expect Aubameyang to sign as at 29 it’s a no brainer for him but Lacazette is a year younger and more attractive to potential buyers, it might a little harder to get him to commit.

Not sure about that one. I would have taken David Luiz as a free agent but it looks like he’ll sign a new deal.

I keep seeing rumours of Bailly from Man U. Not keen on that one, apart from his first 10 or so games he’s looked a bit shaken despite having all the raw attributes to succeed in the prem

We take Bailey or Cahill and we are just marking time. We need a person who is hopefully a player for the next 5-7 years. We get either of the other 2 and all we are doing is putting off constructing a defence. There are risks because if the player we buy does not work out it gets messy. But I would rather get a 25yo than someone in their 30’s where they will probably be slowing down, more injury prone and likely in pre-retirement mode. Look at Lichensteiner this year - a disaster.

Yes it has been different. No human being is perfect. It is a matter of degree. Give me a Bush senior or Clinton, who while sleazy in many ways, at least were not dribbling idiots like Bush junior, or vicious narcissists like our boy Trump.

If the warmongering doesn't work (which I doubt--there are too many hotspots that can be prodded), he can renew his attempts to get nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2019/05/13 ... n-city/amp

The recommendation is for a ban on Man City in the Champions League. It would be some kick in the teeth. The cynic in me says it wouldn't happen.

Unless the new signing is another Beckenbauer, by 'temporarily' do you mean about five minutes? Because I don't think Sokratis or Holding are any better than second tier level, and these days Koscielny is quite some way below that.

My wife hates noisy football commentaries so much that she hid that opener at the back of one of our kitchen drawers! It was only rediscovered during a spring clean.

Agreed. We need a Maguire type and a ball-playing type.

I think it needs to be tempered with our other requirements. We desperately need a left back good enough to play a full season in a back four. We only play wing backs because Monreal is past it and Kolasinac can’t defend.

Desperately need a winger too as we just don’t create enough chances when we aren’t playing well. We need 3 players across the Side desperately so I’m alright with sokratis and Holding alongside a new player.

What about one of the better defenders in the lower leagues?

Tom Bonner has yet to commit to Dartford for next season. He is better than Mustafi. One who played at the back for Arsenal as a youth was Isaac Hayden, who wants to leave Newcastle. I was always impressed with his game.

Ben Godfrey at Norwich is one to watch. Highly rated and a few clubs eyeing him.

Arsenal and Chelsea can name 12 substitutes for the Europa league final. So arsenal have requested Saka and Ameachi are pulled out of the England youth squads they are in. Neither likely to get on but if there are 12 subs then they could get a place on the bench - great experience to go to a European final as well

You're better than Mustafi omoh. But this Norwich guy then or I'm sure there are a few others. Even when we are playing clubs lower down the table its hard to see someone worse than Mustafi. Truly.

Tim Conway, star of the 'Carol Burnett Show,' dies at 85

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/14/ente ... index.html

Liked Tim Conway. So that's 3 celebrities now in less than a week. Peggy Lipton from Mod Squad passed away from cancer 11, May. Next Doris Day yesterday, now Tim Conway.
Peggy Lipton here with Paul McCartney before he married Linda and in Mid Sqad. RIP all 3.

Mate I suggest you search the internet for east European brides. They will allow you to play noisy football commentary. Just like the players at the club everyone is replaceable, it is just the cost that is the worry.

dear me Decaf ... Clinton who bombed the sh*&%*t out of Yugoslavia , was flying in tons of cocaine when governor of Arkansas , got blow jobs had sex with his staffer and lied before Congress about it

Bush Snr ... head of the CIA an organisation which has cost millions of lives worldwide , bombed the hell out of Iraq

They are better than a ...... Oooooh how awful ...... " a vicious narcistist " ...?


Peace prizes ... ? Kissinger who backed the Khymer Rouge , overthrew Allende creating a bloodbath in Chile .... got one .

Obama wiped Libya off the map , committed more troops to Afghanistan , destroyed Syria , armed ISIS , unseated a democratically elected govt in Ukraine ..... also got one

Why not Donald ... ?

Trump's major crime .... was beating the candidate the main stream media , their pundits , thought would win by an avalanche .

Trump isn't ideal by a long chalk but to bang on about him for forever and a day ; shows a lack of understanding of how sleazy , corrupt and underhand American politics really is .

Enough of the world affairs

Imagine if Liverpool lose the Euro to Spurs ...what would have been a fabulous season by any clubs standards , will be viewed as failure .

David Ornstein has said Arsenal’s budget without CL is £40m, 3 positions being targeted are CB, box to box CM and Lacey winger. Budget goes up with CL and I would assume with player sales.
Ornstein said next level of targets are LB, RB, striker

We must be freeing up close to £500k per week in wages with Czech, Ramsey, Welbeck, Lichtsteiner all leaving, that is the equivalent of purchasing Sokratis and his wages (£20m fee plus £5m wages per year)

40m is peanuts in today's market.

It is embarassing, less than many newly promoted clubs. It is basically one relatively top class finished article player but more a defensive one than anything attacking.

What I do not understand is whether it is purely down to Kroenke's parsimony or if wages and FFP are impacting us and hindering us whilst other clubs seem to be able to circumvent the rules.

There was some talk that January's inability to spend was linked to FFP and the PL's rule on wages etc rather than Kroenke tightening the purse strings.

I strongly suspect that FFP and the self-sustaining strategy are being used by the Kroenke ownership regime to not only avoid spending money on new players to improve the team, but to dampen fans' expectations that this might happen.

Hernandez, same club, left wing, mustard.

This may be the case but We pay Özil and Mhikitaryan 500k per week to stroll around the pitch pretending to be busy. We pay Čech 100k to sit on the bench until now. You’d have to assume that at some point these contracts would hit us at some point.

The real problem is that Gazidis and Wenger invested 100 million in 3 duff players (perez,Mustafi, Xhaka) and mishandled the Sanchez and Ramsey contracts so we wasted essentially 200 million in assets.

Imagine if you gave emery 200 million to spend? That’s 4 world class players and we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.

Liverpool have recruited really well from with the PL and lower leagues. I think we should do the same.

I think if there is truth to the Edu rumours then we may have a good inroad to the S.American market, hence the rumours of Martellli.

It’s our transfer dealings really. It’s the stuff zippy and bungle not a top tier football club. Scream at Kroenke all you want (he is a *%^@ I agree)

You could just go on and on

Letting Gnabry and Chesney go for peanuts and now at munich and Juve

So so many duff signings, Gabriel, el Nenny, Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac

It’s the sort of stuff we used to laugh at Tottenham for doing

Kiwi, neither you or I is a saint. That does not make us morally equivalent to Hitler or Pol Pot. Similarly, just because the US has had some stinkers (Clinton was exceptionally sleazy, yes) that does not make Trump ok. He's worse. Its like having a chimp or an 8 year old kid with ADD in the oval office ... ... And a little tip. It doesn't help your argument when you try to throw in the kitchen sink: you need quality not quantity to win your case. Bush snr bombing Iraq? I thought that was a UN mandate because dear old Saddam had tried to pinch Kuwait. CIA some sort of axis of evil? Gaddaffi as a martyred saint? You are starting to sound like Chocolate Gooner.

Any, yes, time to move on .