giant pacific octupus swirling off into infinity...

yeah Kulusevski definitely in that first bracket assuming he still has working knees (which is a big assumption)

Donate to In Memory of Adam Walczak - Supporting Agata and the Girls, organized by Chris Hall Tragically, on 9th February, we lost our much-loved and admired … Chris Hall needs your support for In Memory of Adam Walczak - Supporting Agata and the Girls

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We've been through this but their intervention was an absolute shambles.

largely mopping up his own mess though! but agree that having our best XI (bar Gittens) playing in their best positions made us a lot better!

Not there just that but Miatta Fahnbullah is the one

just the tip of the iceberg.

My strong assumption is Fofana was a late dropout and no outfield replacement (the 21st man is always third keeper) in the travelling squad. Similar to Palmer at West Ham earlier in the year.

And Fofana's fever... suspect they just didn't fancy it.

It is highly likely that they were sat around the Christmas table together - Gittens (and Lavia, Sancho, Tyrique George, Mheuka, Omobamidele) represented by Shields' brother-in-law ffs

Ben Jacobs now getting briefed by the Maresca side 'understand Maresca frustrated by aspects of the project...struggling to work within certain conditions'. It's 'when not if' now I reckon

the last 3 words of your post may not be necessary..

He is 100% not a dodgy shareholder ffs

He's a really good bloke - was pretty instrumental in opening some doors for the CST during the sanctions/sale process

my assumption is someone panicked yesterday and plugged the plug without thinking/caring that Jackson and his team might be incredibly unhappy about, and without thinking Bayern might not want to engage on different terms *insert your gif here*

Is it not more likely the relationship with Jackson is now so blitz they don't want to bring him back into the group? Though I suppose they could be hoping for a last minute Villa/Newcastle panic offer?

1 league goal in his last 15 games/since mid-December, concerns over fitness, confidence and attitude, plus the 2 stupid red cards and Joao Pedro's start mean he doesn't have trust of the club he did have. Add in (similar to Noni) the potential to make a healthy book profit, and there's your answer

She did

Yep, best of the wingers we had, which also made him the most saleable. Far from irreplaceable but you could see him really kicking on in the right environment (though given his best position is also Saka's, not sure it'll be at Arsenal)

It should just Gerry Adams them both

on a purely theoretical level, the failure of the Club World Cup is fascinating

you have famous teams, committed to winning because of the prize pool, in new and unusual matchups, a set of brand new underdogs, playing in cities where high-level football is rare

and no one cares

In all seriousness, it'll be interesting to see if FIFA learn from this (fnar fnar) - with 48 teams there are going to be some really unattractive, meaningless group games played in searing weekday afternoon sun. And that's before you consider another year of Trump discouraging foreigners to attend.

'a chance to work with winners' feels pretty barbed

Yes and no - had 1 year left on his contract and he and his family had made pretty clear they weren't interested in renewing, plus he was on a big wage and off the back of a poor loan move. Still a very bad deal, no doubt.

Elite Project Group - I might be overestimating just how many are on their books - definitely Sancho, Palmer, Lavia, Gittens though, as well as a bunch of City (and now Chelsea) youngsters

At some stage someone does need to look into the number of players represented by Shield's brother-in-law's agency Chelsea are signing.

You can see it. He can power past a fullback in either direction, and makes his own shooting opportunities. Just lacks some decision making skills and a bit of finishing finesse. Still, better sell him to Villa so that Neto can play more...

I've been very impressed with Noni this season tbh - he's the only one of the wingers who I could really see kicking on with a few (largely mental) improvements to his game. Would genuinely be a shame if he were sold (though agree it's not impossible)

We just really like having cake, and eating it, okay?!

Is/was there some rule about being ineligible if you've played X amount of first team games?

I feel like I've said this several times over the last couple of years, but that first half was possibly the lowest quality half of football I can ever remember at Stamford Bridge