GWT: Premier League Round 3

[bleedblue1223]

Were I not on my phone I'd reply with a photo of Eden Hazard laughing.

 

[VEGASKING]

I think I'd shoot myself if I read this thread today. So I'll post without doing so.

Had decent hopes coming in to this season coming off the success of the switch to a new formation to end last season. Filled a nice sized hole with the Lacazette signing. Had the Sanchez injury and Koscielny suspension to throw a small wrench into the starting XI for the first few matches but it is still no excuse for some of the mind boggling decisions Wenger has made so far. Two left backs playing center back, which leads to Chamberlain and Bellerin playing LWB, Welbeck playing at all once Sanchez is back let alone starting ahead of Lacazette and Giroud, playing Ramsey as a defensive midfielder when all he is concerned with is being in the box trying to score goals, starting Ozil wide right rendering him basically useless. Xhaka unable to complete even the simplest of passes, turning the ball over leading to goals on a consistent basis with what appears to be no repercussions from the manager.

For whatever reason the 3 at the back isn't working. Switched back to 4-2-3-1 in the second half against Leicester and got the win, played much better with it against Liverpool until Bellerin gifted them the third goal. Time to switch back methinks.

Don't know why they always get off to such slow starts but gone are the days of it not mattering. There is too much competition at the top now. No one is guaranteed top 4 anymore.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Newcastle's kits this year are a disaster. Can't read the numbers.

I think you may have been too dazzled by the skill of Mikel Moreno to see straight.

Or perhaps the stupidity of Mitrovic?

I must say for once I like the NUFC home kit, but then the red numbers hark back to the strips they had in my childhood, so every time I look at them my mind turns back to innocent days of Peter Beardsley turning defenders inside out on a pitch that looked like an allotment plot.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Decent enough performance from Newcastle this weekend. Won't get too excited as the goals came either from terrible giveaways or from complete WH defensive collapse. Hopefully this give Mitro some confidence however.

Need another 2 first team players before the window closes but that's wishful thinking. Really wouldn't mind Praet...

I'm intrigued- which two positions?

I'd like four (which I appreciate is as likely as forty-four): keeper, left back, creative midfieldy / forwardy type person, striker.

And if they can't move Colback, I'm all for him being lowered into a vat of boiling oil.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Part of me hopes West Ham bombs against Huddersfield and they go hard after Benitez.

I think he'd make the move. Supposedly, he feels indebted after pulling out of the job at the 25th hour when Real Madrid came by and clearly there's been some tension at Newcastle.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Part of me hopes West Ham bombs against Huddersfield and they go hard after Benitez.

I think he'd make the move. Supposedly, he feels indebted after pulling out of the job at the 25th hour when Real Madrid came by and clearly there's been some tension at Newcastle.

There's more than tension at Newcastle- Ashley wants Benitez out. It's just he doesn't want to pay £5 million to get rid of him. (Incidentally why strange things occur when I type a pound sign I cannot explain. Some hangover from Brexit, perhaps).

Apparently, it would cost £6 million for another club to release Benitez from his contract. Ashley would jump at that money, because he can always pull a ****-stained, middle-aged Englishman devoid of credibility out of a skip to fill the manager's role.

The thing is, West Ham's ownership is scare better than Newcastle's. Why would Benitez go through so much hassle to possibly shift from frying pan to fire?

A better fit for Benitez- purely in the short term, you understand - might be Palace. He could even have an emotional reunion with Andros Townsend.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

There's more than tension at Newcastle- Ashley wants Benitez out. It's just he doesn't want to pay £5 million to get rid of him. (Incidentally why strange things occur when I type a pound sign I cannot explain. Some hangover from Brexit, perhaps).

Apparently, it would cost £6 million for another club to release Benitez from his contract. Ashley would jump at that money, because he can always pull a ****-stained, middle-aged Englishman devoid of credibility out of a skip to fill the manager's role.

The thing is, West Ham's ownership is scare better than Newcastle's. Why would Benitez go through so much hassle to possibly shift from frying pan to fire?

A better fit for Benitez- purely in the short term, you understand - might be Palace. He could even have an emotional reunion with Andros Townsend.

I'm not sure I agree that West Ham ownership is a fair comparison to Mike Ashley. I've got my issues with the Davids to be sure (namely, they have an awful case of foot in mouth disease and a magnetic attraction to microphones, which is a terrible combination), but they've supported Bilic in the transfer market (perhaps not enough, but far more than Benitez has gotten) and they've stood by him when he could have easily been canned at the end of the last campaign, or even last weekend.

I tend to think West Ham has a better squad for him to work with, but you may be right that Palace would be a better fit.

 

[Stray Wasp]

I'm not sure I agree that West Ham ownership is a fair comparison to Mike Ashley. I've got my issues with the Davids to be sure (namely, they have an awful case of foot in mouth disease and a magnetic attraction to microphones, which is a terrible combination), but they've supported Bilic in the transfer market (perhaps not enough, but far more than Benitez has gotten) and they've stood by him when he could have easily been canned at the end of the last campaign, or even last weekend.

I wouldn't stop at the Davids. Karen Brady is another who'd ideally treat the world to a couple of decades' silence.

You may or may not remember her previous incarnation at Birmingham City, where she was just as self-regarding and foolish as she is now.

 

[Plato]

I'm intrigued- which two positions?

I'd like four (which I appreciate is as likely as forty-four): keeper, left back, creative midfieldy / forwardy type person, striker.

And if they can't move Colback, I'm all for him being lowered into a vat of boiling oil.

I'd like four as well but I know not to expect much. Ideally a LB, as I'd much rather have Mbemba in the middle than out wide. Not much confidence in Dummett I'm afraid.
Desperately need a play-maker in the middle as well. No creativity at the moment outside of Jonjo, who only shows up on occasion. Patience is wearing thin with Ayoze, who seems to lose possession tripping over his feet twice for every pass he completes.

I also woke up this morning to news that Wolves were in discussion for a Colback loan which immediately put a smile on my face. Of course, the next thing I read was that Gayle is very close to a Fulham switch which boggles my mind. No sense in that whatsoever unless the Lucas Perez rumors are true as well.
Sigh.

 

[Stray Wasp]

I believe I've earned the right to be paranoid. As such, I can easily envisage one of the following scenarios:

1) The people who sold Carroll on the back of Leon Best scoring a hat trick against West Ham would pounce on Joselu's goal as evidence they can get away with raking it in for Gayle.

2) Ashley would like to repeat the Milner / Schweinsteiger pantomime from 2008 in order to break Rafa's resolve to stay.

I can't argue with your assessment of Dummett, Shelvey and Perez. The latter hints at being a footballer, alas I just don't think he's quite good enough. There's no point in being too harsh on Dummett - better to ask questions of all those who are content for left back to be a dumping ground rather than an integral component of the team, coaches and money-men alike.

Shelvey's small-time egotism is infuriating enough in its own right (he's nothing but a bald, less abrasive Joey Barton); still worse, he's yet more proof that you can be someone who knows how to play central midfield properly, or an Englishman, but not both.