Longststaff and Gilmour? Is this likely? Apparently Celtic have turned down a £10m offer for Ajer. Is a £10m bid from NCFC likely?
Gilmour seems fairly advanced, hopefully finished off when he's clear of CoVid. Playing style and game time seem to be more important to Chelsea than money, so I don't think we'll be outbid for him, it just depends on whether someone else can convince Chelsea that his development is better with them. Longstaff I can see interesting Norwich from a financial perspective. He's 21, clearly got some talent, and entering the last year of his contract. It looks like he fell out of Steve Bruce last year too, so he might not be in the picture for first team appearances at Newcastle. If a loan goes well, he might be available for nothing next summer. I'm almost surprised there's not talk of a cut price permanent move. At CB, it seems clear we have 3 main targets (Ajer, Bornauw, Adarabioyo) and a budget of up to £10m. Bornauw would have been available cheaply were Koln relegated (they weren't) but there might still be a deal to be done. Adarabioyo apparently has a £10m release clause. If Celtic want to try and start a bidding war and push the price beyond £10m, then Norwich are priced out and will move on. It seems Ajer is unhappy at Celtic's approach, so we'll see what happens. My gut feeling is that a CB is a relatively easy player to integrate into the squad, and we do already have 4-5 options. We can afford to wait on that until later in the window if needs be. Maybe later in the window £10m might be acceptable to Celtic.
According to the Pink'Un yesterday, Longstaff isn't a target. If the Gilmour rumours prove correct, and if we are serious about staying up, IMO we'll need an experienced, EPL proven, No.6 to play alongside him. To misquote Alan Hansen, "we won't stay up with kids".
We could ask Chelsea to send Kante along as well so he and Guilmour could get used to playing together. Much will depend on how we play, as an experienced back 3 with a double 6 midfield shielding it would make us much stronger defensively than last time in the PL. McLean and Rupp have PL experience and can both play in a double 6 formation. There's also Sørensen though he's still adjusting to the number 6 role, but his stint at RB suggests he could also fit the need. Olly Skipp was just 20 when he joined us with almost no first team experience and yet he hit the ground running and never looked back. Ajer can also play as a DM, but that move doesn't look likely now.
I'll take him now though. Good goal. Feet onside per VAR Euro. EPL VAR would say otherwise no effing doubt
His feet were onside, definitely, but his arms weren't. Good enough reason for the miserabilists who run English football to disallow the goal.
You can't score with your arm, so having part of the arm beyond the offside line doesn't make you offside. It has to be some part of the "head, body or feet". Hence that vertical "armpit line" on VAR screens indicating where "the body" ends and "the arm" begins.
Except at the beginning of the season the VAR rules were quite explicit that it was not the armpit line - that it extended down to effectively the end of the shoulder muscle, which is well over a third of the way down the upper half of the arm
It seems to me that the Rashica signing could well signal a tweak in tactics which could include more counter attacking. Milot has pace which Buendia, Cantwell and Dowell lack. His ability to dribble past defenders at speed could make a big difference. The addition of Guilmour to the double 6 midfield could also suggest this as he and McLean could be the providers for Pukki and Rashica while also being strong defensively in the way the 4-4-2 article you posted suggests: "Billy Gilmour is a clear successor to Kanté’s throne, having already shown what he can do under Lampard last season with his excellent ability on the ball and skill in shutting down opposition attacks." His "ability on the ball and skill in shutting down opposition attacks" could well be the answer, especially if Skipp stays at Spurs. His all action style is different to Skipp's and could allow a tweak in tactics, given that Rashica isn't really a Buendia replacement. Gilmour's strengths lie in his ability to play as a CM, DM or AM would open up new tactical possibilities. Perhaps we'll stop trying to emulate ManCity and adopt Chelsea's 3-4-2-1 instead.
"FA Law 11: Offside IFAB Laws of the Game 2020-2021 A player is in an offside position if: any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered. For the purposes of determining offside, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit." (My italics) In other words, the boundary between shoulder (part of the body for the purposes of the Rule) and arm was clarified as being the line defined by the bottom of the armpit.
That’s much closer to what I said. You said “vertical” armpit line above, but that would cut out a large part of the shoulder. So it’s not a vertical line, it’s the horizontal armpit line. Which is roughly where the end of the shoulder muscle is, ie my explanation. This was heavily debated and explained at the time Robbie, so while I accept you’re never going to admit it, I’m afraid you’re wrong.
Dearie, dearie me! Here is a VAR image from the Liverpool v Chelsea match in March this year, in which Timo Werner (No.11) was ruled offside. The vertical cross hair line to which I was referring is clearly shown.
OK dearie, keep your hair(line) on. What is a "vertical cross hairline" ? Not in any football speak that I have ever encountered. The basic rule for offside from my playing days of yesteryear was that you were offside if any part of your body with which you could legally score a goal was ahead of the last defender. Simple.
I assume the line is meant to show the point in his arm at which his arm becomes offside? Is that what you are trying to show here?
I thought they were changing the offside rule to the "tee-shirt line." Edit: The tee-shirt rule was in place this past season.
