Seems that Chris Wood is heading for Newcastle, in a move that basically dooms Burnley. He's got a release clause, apparently. Hope it's a big one or they are ****ed.
I had thought that striking someone in the head with your hand, elbow or forearm hard enough to draw blood was the clearest of red card offenses. I stand corrected.
They are ****ed! I thought they would struggle before this, some discrepancy about the fee on Sky the reporter is £25m, the ticker says £20m, but I don't see them signing as a good a player as Wood to replace him in this window.
A bit like that joke about the two geezers in the savannah plains looking at a lion coming towards them. One geezer starts to take his boots off and put on his trainers. His mate says "you'll never out run a lion ...it's best you stay with me and we'll try and scare it off." His mate finishes putting the trainers on and says "**** out running the lion mate, just gotta out run you!"
Depends on what Pukki and Cantwell feel like doing in the summer, given both have contract with an option for one year when they expire this summer I wouldn't be surprised if Cantwell starts acting like a tart to get a move
I feel this series of cup games have exposed Conte's own limitations as well as the glaring deficiencies with the squad. He is as strong a 'system manager' as you'll ever see; a one trick pony whose trick happens to be very, very good. @PleaseNotPoll among others have argued - and I agree - that his fixation on the wing back system cost us as much as the tripe in our squad against Chelsea and Morecambe. Shoe-horning multiple already poor players into positions that further emphasise their weaknesses just for the sake of sticking to a 'system' was frankly a madness. Why play a terrible RB as a LWB when the simplest solution is to go 4 at the back and play Davies in his natural position? Why play a terrible left footed midfielder on the right of a midfield 3? Why try to solve lack of central thrust by playing inverted wing-backs? In this regard, it has to be said that other managers out there have greater tactical flexibility and can genuinely improve any group of players simply by deploying them in a logical way. Poch did this when he switched between 352 and 4231 depending on who was available. Guardiola has had to do this at City as the core of the team he inherited moved on or retired. He has adapted to playing with a false 9 - a problem he never really had at Barca or Bayern. Even Nuno showed more willingness to adapt when he ditched 433 for 4231 for a period. Being so tactically rigid means improving this group becomes even harder. Whoever we sign has to fit Conte's tactical profile as closely as possible, as they won't be playing any other profile as long as he is in the dugout. And this is where our lack of ambition and money is a real issue. The typical "make do" signings we've seen so many of over the past 2 years simply won't "do" anymore. Their flaws will be brutally exposed by a system that literally never changes one iota to compensate for them.
