'Even allowing for inflation, this thread is not worth 198 Terry Francises' - EPL 2017-18

first 2 games home to Everton and away at Leicester, good markers. then some Manchester club.

i will never trust preseason again after the david bentley/darren bent fiasco

My possibly erroneous recollection of Spurs' pre-seasons is that whenever we have a great one we promptly lose our first three league games.

NV please give me the inside info on wolves. what kind of name is diogo and how much does he know about the onion bag? is douglas set to be a desirable asset in the current market?

got me douglas and jota atm

Jota could net 10 plus this season and we'll maybe need him to. Quick-footed, plays as a left-sided forward in our front 3 usually, only in his early 20s, could make a real name for himself this season. Probably the best forward in our team right now.

We've accepted an offer from Leeds for Douglas. He was great last season, especially from dead balls, and a big part of the promotion side. But he's 28 and it looks like Nuno doesn't think he's quick enough to play wing back in the Prem, so. It's a shame but selling him speaks to our ambition bordering on hubris.

I expect us to mostly stay 3-4-3, the front 3 are usually very fluid and interchangeable around a false 9 or target man who I'm expecting to be Jimenez for the most part, but we're not finished buying yet.

Defensively, Willy Boly is a beast who is gonna be massive fun I hope. Connor Coady as a Prem level sweeper? We'll see.

Christ I hope these Pepe rumours are true

Them rumours keep circulating but idk. I will love it cos he's got a bunch of our fans moaning already at the mere thought. We do need another centre half probably, depending on where he wants Saiss.

My possibly erroneous recollection of Spurs' pre-seasons is that whenever we have a great one we promptly lose our first three league games.

Given that the majority of our squad made it to the last weekend of the World Cup, this is definitely happening.

Ben Arfa to West Ham would be the single most West Ham transfer in history.

jesus yeah

where’s zaha off to then? seeing spurs or chelsea

I was going to say it's a pity Celtic don't go for Douglas but I think he plays in the same position as Tierney and there are literally no British left sided defenders I would take ahead of Tierney.

am very surprised nobody but Leeds seems to have made an offer

I'm sure Celtic or indeed anybody could beat Leeds to any player these days, just by not paying with shoeboxes full of fivers over 6 year instalments!

I suspect Leeds are a bit like Rangers, you don't know why anyone would sign for them or how anyone signs for them, but they do.

I was in Leeds for a few days last week and was really struck by how few LUFC shirts I saw being worn. Like, I saw one a day on average, and I was out and about in town and in some burbs each day. I swear they used to be everywhere, even outside the football season?

I saw a gloomy looking fellow wandering out of the LUFC Official shop in the Merion Centre, but he was wearing a Nirvana shirt.

would you rather be managed by rodgers or bielsa

there used to be visceral outrage when Leeds advertised season tickets in Hudds. It was reduced to lols last year and then complete yawning indifference this year, when a modest poster ad appeared at the train station. I keep telling people: be merciless and keep the hating strong and cherish the sneery lols, because reversals of fortune with local rivals in football are often swift and sometimes last generations.

^^^this is all too true

speaking of which, can zaha please be sold like now

i think back in the 70s and 80s you probably saw as many LUFC shirts as Hull City shirts round these parts, a thing that feels like ancient history today.

Golovin has just gone to Monaco, which is likely to be a much better move than Chelsea or United.

poch is going to be gone before the end of the season isnt he

Is this the automatic Spurs content generating machine kicking into life because nothing else is happening?

Bad injury for Wanyama last night. And Sissoko did his hamstring so unlikely to be sold this window.

Mourinho: “Martial had a beautiful baby and it’s healthy, thank God, but he should be here now to help the team.” #MUFC

— Manchester United (@MUFCScoop) July 28, 2018

Mourinho to MUTV: 'Antonio Valencia comes from holiday, I think too much holiday for him. His condition was not good when he was back.' #mufc

— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) July 29, 2018

Burn it down Jose, burn it fucking down.

xps its a pretty safe bet imo, he looked a good candidate for leaving on a high at end of last season, his new contract frankly was a surprise but came with big assurances that the business would be done early.

now its a week to go and hes announcing that michael vorm is like a new signing

as a rule im a levy fan but hes pushed it this time and for no apparent reason. maybe didnt enjoy public ultimamtum styles back in may/june idk.

In other news: shaqiri scored a bicycle kick against man u on his debut

He made some impact when he came on

Best/worst case scenario (depending just how much damage you want Mou to do): Mourinho is gone by Christmas. Who would be in line to take over?

give moyesey a second chance

as a rule im a levy fan but hes pushed it this time and for no apparent reason.

Yeah he might have some excuse if there was a massive infrastructure project taking up a lot of time, resources and attention.

I'm pretty confident we'll make a couple of signings (CF with pace and a dynamic central midfielder hopefully, a left-back in an ideal world) but it was pretty obvious we weren't going to be making any marquee signings this summer. Not sure how many players there are who are both out there and realistically obtainable who would unambiguously improve our first XI - Zaha might be one. Not selling Alderweireld and Dembele would help - I can't really see the latter going right now unless we are 100% certain there's an adequate replacement lined up.

he might have some excuse if he somehow forgot about the stadium until last week

like our lb options a lot better than our rb ones tbph

anyway, lucas!

Another option would be to move Eriksen into a more central role where he can control the game from deep, similar to what Pep did with De Bruyne. Whether he's got the physical qualities for that I dunno, but it would also enable us to play him, Son, Moura and Alli all at the same time and give us a bit of actual width that doesn't just come from the fullbacks.

fencer in the pitched battle tho

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjSUxe6XgAIllk8.jpg

worst makeup stand ever

Mourinho asked if Sanchez looks unhappy.

"Look, do you want him to be very happy with the players he has around him? We are here just to survive and to have some not very ugly results. Alexis is the only striker we have. And the poor man is there trying his best." #LFC #MUFC

— Neil Jones (@neiljonesgoal) July 28, 2018

course he will

what kind of cunt hires that cunt at this stage

I'd love if that was the case but I don't think the team will perform catastrophically enough to make Mourinho's position untenable

we'll limp our way to 3rd/4th playing hideous football and Woodward won't have the stones to fire him

Lol Mou Tweets. I don't know what kind of fucked up world doesn't have Eriksen as a playmaker

1st and 2nd look sewn up so you basically have Spurs, Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Wolves fighting for the remaining two CL places.

Arsenal will surely be better this year, Spurs could find themselves playing catch up after their opening away fixtures and World Cup fatigue, Chelsea are an unknown but looks like Hazard is staying and United are United. Wouldn't like to call 3rd/4th at this stage.

wait

who has second sewn up

Liverpool

lock thread

"Liverpool have 2nd sewn up: 2018/19 EPL thread"

That'll do