The AFTV third kit mic cover is dope, though.

City 1.46 to win title. Seems like tso spotted something in de bruyne no one else saw. The club already had lukaku / de bruyne on a plate and dossing around with torres, etoo, schurrle his first season is looking worse and worse as time passes. Obviously willing to give credit where it's due to him and there's a column for that but mistakes column is heavier.

Also congrats to palace. Pretty underwhelming start to season but a decent start in tough champions league group raises some optimism. Not too worried about top 4 with arse/plop tripping over themselves. City too good to think about title anyway so I'll take 4th and a cup run or two.

Bloody hell kbd was immense yesterday. Those through balls and crosses just cutting stoke apart.

Would have just taken a goal to be honest, happy days. Also Sunderland are second last lolol

lol. I've been following that thread too. Clueless.

i am rather behind keeping up with the league in general but i see that spurs won Untd drew and arsenal and chelsea lost so I appluad everyone's performances this weekend. City finding a way to collapse in January again should be fun title challenge ON

Shouldn't Richarlison be the first player to get a retrospective ban under the new diving rules?

No.
Sure, it was a dive, but there was also some contact from the defender.
The first one is going to have to be so clear cut. No contact or contact initiated by the attacker. Like the Pires one v Pompey.

Seems like a bit of a pointless rule then if such a blatant dive as that one goes unpunished.

net spend, fella:

pep at city: £283m
jose at mun: £238m
arse at arse: £210m

is arse's net spend in 21 years £210m? That's incredible if so

I don't even think it's in the top 10 unpunished dives over the past year.
If that gets a ban, there's going to be calls for bans every week.

In saying that, I suppose you have to have a lot of bans before it changes the mentality of the players.

The new law only came into force this season, so the past year isn't really relevant and it's only in effect if the referee gives a penalty as a result of the dive.

Good?

Don't forget that period when he bought for cheap or free and sold for a fortune. Anelka Fabregas etc.

'96-'00: £14m
'00-'05: £33m
'05-'10: £31m
'10-'15: £95m
'15-'17: £99m

I still don't understand, it seems to me that even with that breakdown of costs, he's done a pretty adequate job of solidifying t4 for so many years

I guess the argument is that after the Invincibles era Arse fans wanted to push on and become a Barcelona / Bayern type of dominant force rather than doing a pretty adequate job of solidifying top 4!

From what I've read, nobody has a clue what to do - seems like the general approach is just to hope it all works out, which is something we're fairly adept at.

I don't think anyone itt lives in any of the counties most at risk.

I mean, as a Southampton fan I would have loved them to continue the streak of 8th, 7th, 6th etc. and push on to a CL spot before eventually winning the league, but I'm not sure it reflects the reality of the situation. Didn't Arse's trophyless nine years begin almost exactly as oil money came into the league?

oh for sure. I'm on Wenger's side; he's done an amazing longterm job but his pragmatic approach is under-appreciated by the dumb masses who want GLORIOUS VICTORY RIGHT NOW. I do feel that the time for risk aversion has passed now though and after winning the FA Cup last season he ought to have either bowed out on a high (of sorts) or rolled the dice and gone for some serious high rollers. His days are numbered now, which is a shame.

i came to the conclusions that wenger had lost his marbles in summer '15. that was the leicestering season. i spent the whole summer blathering in here about how arsenal were certainly about to spunk their £150m chest of war because

A) glaring holes in the squad
B) most recent accounts showed big cash reserves sitting there collecting 0.75% interest per annum
C) rivals not at full power. mun in particular were a shambles
D) key players (ozil, sanchez) in their prime and with 3 years left on their deals - this is what yanks refer to as a window to compete

was the perfect time to go full. instead he came home from the markt with petr cech and a silly goalkeeper hat, and finished 2nd to vardz&co. might sound like hindsight, but not so

i suspect its a combo of arsene's scroogemcduckery plus i think he massively overrates his players

i'll obv give jose and pep guff for their undeserved wizarding reputations until the end of time but i'll say this for them, they have no problem going out and spending £100m on a pair of fullbacks or a frenchman will silly hair if their squad has obvious holes. if wenger was city manager i expect he'd still be trotting out kolarov and zabaleta at FB now while patiently waiting for some world class FB that he can pinch for £20m to come onto the markt

damn all this wenger talk is making it hard to keep up with the zero posts about this brighton-everton game

god i hate rooney now. he was so fun to watch 5ish years ago.

brighton might actually score soon. they are turning the screw on everton.

edit: lol literally 4 seconds after i type that the commentator says "brighton are turning the screw". weird.

EVERTON

LOL

Well deserved Brighton. Brilliant from Bruno in the buildup.