I didn’t call Balogun arrogant I called Anelka arrogant. And that in hindsight, and that Balogun is maybe walking that same path. He clearly doesn’t see patience as a virtue, which might work out for him, but it certainly didn’t for Anelka in the long run. He was on the track to being a super star, decent career but nothing like it looked like being.

In trying to work out the the reasoning as to why Balogun isn’t getting a chance I think the signs point to his ambition working against him. I was a bit taken aback at his England “snub” tweet.

At the same time I’ve already posted as to why it makes sense for him to leave if he doesn’t have the patience to work his way into the first team. Good luck to him, it’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

Loaning Kieran Tierney to sociedad seems absolutely pointless. Strikes me as they would never be able to pay the fee we would demand to take him permanently and it’s unlikely the player would also want to go there long term anyway. Feels like another Torreira loan this time with a more talented player.

I think the bigger plan with our strikers is to sell Balogun this year (£40-50m), then next year look to sell Nketiah for a similar amount then bring in a top class No.9

Man City want Pacqueta from West Ham, £70m bid. That seems a little bit like a panic bid.

City has depth, versatility and high quality in defence, but in other areas of the team they are a few injuries away from being very stretched. It’s a small squad. They didn’t pick those injuries up at all last year - although it has to be said Pep does manage the squad well often giving 3-4 game breaks to players sporadically through the season.

Man u’s new striker, Hojland will miss the first couple of games of the season and will need to be managed carefully as he has a potential stress fracture in his back.

I said before it’s a lot for a 21 year old to come in as the main striker, with a £70m price tag at a club like Man U. Will be interesting to see how he copes. Man U have had an awful recent record with striker transfers

So West Ham fans will finally get what they've wanted all summer, to see one of their best players join Man City.....

*pinched this joke from someone else online

Have to say Pacqueta seems to make sense for city. Seems equally as creative as combative

I think the use of the long ball so much was a reflection of how we were struggling to play through them at the beginning of the game, rather than a positive tactic. I don't think it is ability--being on an 8-game losing streak and how poorly we played against them in the pervious game had a lot to do with it. Once we got our composure, it was a different story.

Using the long ball occasionally, especially when the opposition have overcommitted, is a nice option. But at this stage, it doesn't look like Harertz will give us that physical presence as you say.

Aston Villa's Victor Manas given a three match stadium ban, £8,000 fine and warning over his "improper and violent" behaviour in 94th minute and in tunnel after Arsenal's win at Villa Park in February.

Charges against Miguel Molina were withdrawn. He has been given a warning.

After quite rightly sacking Lee Mason over his unbelievable error forgetting to draw the lines in our game v Brentford the PGMOL has now rehired Mason as a referee coach

In the City game I agree. When we played them in the league we went with our normal approach which had Partey back up the high press and left De Bruyne to wander laterally across the pitch in all kinds of space and difficult for a CB to go and follow him.
Arteta went very safety first and using Havertz as a potential out ball when we couldn’t get through the press was sensible irrespective of how physical or not Havertz was/is.
Going toe to toe with City is risky, we’ve done it well in 45 minutes of games where we spooked them but they adjusted and took control in both games that happened.
The better tactic against them is to stay compact and then exploit them when you do get the ball, but you hunt the ball aggressively in your danger areas but not chase it high up the pitch - which is what they want so they can pass it round you.
If Arteta adopts the same approach in both league games I think it will give us a far better basis for nicking the points than the set up in the last two league games against them

I’m genuinely not sure why anybody is shocked at this.

These ref situations always seems similar to when the next Tory MP does some heinous thing and gets booted from the cabinet for it. You know full well they will be brought back into the fold later when everything has died down.

Charlie Patino is going on loan to Swansea for the season. It was thought he was going to leave permanently.

Raya is being done on a £3m loan with an option to buy for £27m.

It seems like Kudus from Ajax is refusing to join Brighton without a release clause. This is the problem Brighton have with their model if they refuse to sell their players when a decent offer comes in. Players see it and want to ensure they have an exit strategy for a club they would consider a stepping stone. Tough for a club like Brighton to balance that

Posting from Turkey, and hammered.

The Charity Shield definitely important psychologically; it was good to see the bandwagon jumping City fans around here disappointed.

Another season, another hope.

Eff em all, eff em all,
United, West Ham etc.

UTA

The Raya deal being a loan is interesting. Fab Romano is suggesting we have done it to comply with FFP which doesnt really make sense at all as we have sold Turner and Trusty since signing Rice so surely it would have been an issue earlier. Plus we are very likely to sell balogun & Tavares plus possibly even KT. Just doesn’t make sense

We must be using it as a way of easing cash flow and kicking the amortisation down the road to sign another player outright. I wonder if Neto or Kudus could join as soon as balogun goes. It’s been a crazy window

There really aren’t enough of these types of posts anymore

He made an error. He was punished. Time to move on.

I think my frustration with this is not just centred on Mason per se, more that the referees in this country are not really held to task. It is a closed shop with no incentive or desire to improve. Yes Mason lost his job, but after 6 mistakes on VAR - and he's the only one as far as I know who has lost his job through poor performance.

I do hold out hope for Howard Webb because when I hear him talk he does seem like a really good communicator and I think he cares about the standards of refereeing and making things generally better.

it is a thankless job and a really tough job and clearly the lot we have are the best we have, but when you compare it to the level of officiating in other sports it is so poor. Of course the players don't make it easy for them in a way that rugby has much more in built respect but some of the awful mistakes being made so regularly is not acceptable.

He was a Video assistant referee who forgot to check the video.

He literally had one thing to do. No way should he return after such a cock up

Got a kit with Jesus 9 on the back; I keep crossing myself.

Yeah I can't believe FFP is close enough for us for that to be a reason not to spend the £27m now. Much more likely that we've seen an opportunity to defer any purchase we make to next year's accounts (which all helps) and quite fancy a try before you buy - why wouldn't you?

Another 3 weeks of the transfer window, lots of outgoings to sort but I feel there will be one more player - a right sided forward/attacking mid to come.

Even right now Edu is putting in a 9/10 transfer window. get a quality right sided attacker and sell the unrequired players for a bit of decent money and it can be boosted to 10/10

It wasn’t even a contentious cock-up - it was clear and obvious. Bent, even.

Everyone in the *%^@*** ground knew it was off. EVERYONE

I didn’t even need a replay.

10/10 would require a new centre forward.

I have a problem with Mason per se. As bad as the refs in England generally are, he still stood out as one of the very worst.

It was long overdue when he got sacked and while this new appointment might not be surprising it is as poor a decision as the ones Mason routinely made, the incompetent *%^@.

West Ham using the Rice money to sign Maguire, McTominey and Ward-Prowse is so utterly predictable.

Wtf so West Ham go for Balogun ..

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 90525.html

But we want another 6 despite having Jorginho, rice and Partey ? Now there’s news that chelsea want lavia despite having enzo already. Where does that leave caicedo ?

Sell Balogun+ Partey for caicedo ? Is that what’s about to happen. Would be utterly crazy,

They missed the mark there. They should have hired him as a fitness trainer.

Chelsea bid £48m for Lavia from Southampton. I’d probably rather Chelsea got him that Liverpool. Liverpool need him more, Chelsea already have Enzo Fernandes for the No.6 position

Looks like the Kane to Bayern deal has been done.

it’s going to be hysterical watching them play without him.

they must have a replacement lined up surely. i wonder who they will waste the money on.

All kicking off....
Chelsea outbid Liverpool for Lavia
Liverpool look like they are interested in Caicedo.
Caicedo preference supposedly for Chelsea.
Id prefer him to go to Chelsea who are a s***show at the moment.
He goes to Liverpool and absolutely transforms their midfield and makes them more of a threat to us.

Richarlson to step up?

Oh, wait......

I cannot believe we are in for another number 6 if Partey is staying and we all thought that was where Rice was going to play as well.
Doesn't make sense unless Partey is going and its all gone quiet on that front.
I absolutely would NOT be selling Partey.
Let them fight it out or play together in the big games.
Whole point is to increase the quality and depth not weaken it by selling a player of Partey's quality and class.

Whoever it is they'll have to pay over the odds because teams know they have a pile of cash and a Kane shaped hole to fill. Maybe Jonathan David from Lille

It would be great if Brighton held on to Caicedo for 12 more months as this time next summer I can imagine us moving on Partey and Jorginho and Elneny so we'll need another defensive mid. He's a fantastic player, Liverpool need him more than Chelsea.

Heard more rumours about us going back in for Douglas Luiz. I can't see that happening this summer, maybe next though

Even better if we compare to what is going on at other clubs. I randomly looked up Newcastle this morning and they've moved on attackers and bought a shed load of defensive players when last year they were already defensively pretty solid.

Most of the others seem to have done 2/5 of f'all thus far so it's going to be a scramble over the next few weeks.

Balogun