Dolman_Stand

It's not a blind auction though, through agents and representatives any buying club will know what "our number" comprising add-ons, payment structure etc. If they decide they are happy to meet it then Scott will be allowed to leave

A Spurs twitter account (20k followers) saying Hojbjerg is off to Atletico and Spurs looking at Alex Scott and Conor Gallagher as replacements.

Agree but he has been quite decent in this series so it wouldn't be warranted to drop him now oddly

Not for me, would be sinking to their level and it would end up being a race to the bottom in terms of who can push the rules the most. Would much rather we take the moral high ground and try to beat them fairly and squarely in front of a hostile atmosphere.

The counter argument to that is Bairstow could well have made up for it by putting on a decent partnership and getting much closer to the total before the tail was exposed

Suppose the difference here us Dhoni had 20 minutes at tea to make that decision and felt the reaction it caused. He is a classier guy than most too which helps. Can't see the argument for Australia being right in what they did at all, Bairstow wasn't looking to gain any form of advantage by batting out if his crease or looking to make a run and clearly was under the impression the ball was dead. As others have said its worse than a Mankad dismissal and Cummins should be ashamed for upholding it.

The club may even allow his to use the facilities after this Friday even if he hasn't signed

Newcastle can probably use this loophole for years to come if it isn't closed off by FIFA, a Saudi club can sign any player in the world and instantly loan them to Newcastle who at worst have to just pick up the wages if that, overcomes all FFP issues for them as the expenditure associated with signing the player is outside of FFP confines and not on their accounts Could potentially sign Mbappe, Vinicius etc for free, its frightening the way football is going.

Agreed, actually think he impacts the game far more from deeper but he isn't a traditional destructive DM although he can put a tackle in when needed. In truth for his ability he should be getting more goals and assists regardless of where he plays in the midfield either as an 8 or a 10, but that will undoubtedly come as he develops further as it has for someone like Bellingham in his 3rd season as a senior at Dortmund.

Mortarfying isn't it

He is and always has been but the dedication and hard work CR7 has shown to maximise every last ounce of talent he has over 20 years is still to be admired. Professionally he is unparalleled but his personality and apparent desire to be centre stage does detract from that.

See Bales have shipped 4 goals at home to Armenia

Even though he was a double winner we really need to ask Mark Little to stop turning up to do this

Couldn't agree more, would have been close to 20 goals last season if it wasnt for injuries. His progress is understeer radar really because of Scott but he's also a massive talent from the academy Easily

Yep coupled with the thrashing at Villa a few days later

Mahrez, Gundogun and Bernardo could all be on the move this summer, it would be a surprise if they were interested but wouldn't be out if this world

It wouldn't harm us on the pitch but would in terms of fee we can expect next summer. Another way of looking at it would we be happy to spend £10m to have him here for one season?

I'd be surprised if he doesn't have offers from all over Europe, he was a regular in the Czech national team up until his injury troubles. Players of that standard are generally able to pick up a contract in Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A etc all of which would presumably be in excess of what we can offer him. I can't see him being here next season personally and there needs to be a cut-off date by which he has to take the offer on the table or move on.

Bristol Post I think

He isn't really though is he? He's effectively a free agent in exactly the position as Bryan, as long as everyone involved is grown up about it there's no reason to throw the toys out of the pram.We will get to a point where if JB has decided to pursue other avenues we have to move on but comments like if we aren't his first choice then move on are pretty childish and not the way Pearson operates.

Not really , think Nige is quite pragmatic about this stuff, Kalas is currently doing the same as JB in seeing what offers are out there and NP hasn't withdrawn his contract offer because he didn't immediately sign it. Once a player is here then he will be expected to give 100% but its only fair to allow them to make that decision

Moeen added to the squad for the first two games, adds to the batting line up for sure and between him and Root hopefully can cover the spin bowling duties

Agree with most of what you say here, if we had gone from LJ straight to Pearson then he would be remembered more fondly. A lot of damage was done in that transitional summer with Holden that set the club back the last few years

£6m a year in expenditure on transfers to move from struggling at the bottom to play off chasing (and definitely should have been at least once) whilst playing some decent stuff and a cup run of a generation....its not brilliant but its not awful is it?

The Essex team consisted of 2nd string Essex players and some of the Irish squad, don't read too much into that. Would be good to see all of the batsmen get time in the middle and some runs under the belt to be fair, don't see the point of an early declaration, there's no weather issues so could feasibly bat until tea tomorrow (800+ runs) and then skittle them out on Sunday.