nyblue23

I'll fly.

This is bothersome to me. As someone who avoids the British tabloid rumors, it always seemed like Barkley was ahead of the crowd in terms of maturity and lifestyle. Is this really his reputation over there?

I have this same fear. I do think Lookman and Sandro are probably overlooked and underrated for their capabilities on the wing, but this still leaves massive overcrowding in midfield. Several of those players CAN play across a front three, but they don't exactly inspire attacking confidence (i.e. poaching goals). We definitely need to offload Barry and McCarthy, take the money and invest in someone with good attacking quality from the wing. That will leave Schneiderlin, Gana, Davies, Klaasen, Besic and Barkley who could all play from those two deep-lying mid-positions, and that seems like more than enough with Europe ahead.

Maybe the few youth... Mathis, Markelo and Bowler. Mathis especially.

Ugh. And he already told the press that Arsenal were in for him. http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/03/arsenal-striker-target-henry-onyekuru-confirms-bid-made-by-arsene-wenger-6682425/ Honestly sounds very similar to Rom. Not going to get playing time at Arsenal, or get enough time immediately at Everton, so loans to Anderlecht with the promise of more playing time in a year back at Everton in order to earn a switch to Arsenal. At least we have a bunch of other players who genuinely seem to want to be here. Maybe us getting in the top 4 this year might change that.

Implicit bias. Again. Do you not understand this concept? You hate him, therefore your eyes tell you something different than what is actually happening. "My memory and judgment" means nothing anywhere against facts, which in this case, the facts are that he scores a fair number of goals with his right foot and that he is not nearly the one-dimensional player you make him out to be. He often has a shit first touch and doesn't hold the ball up as well as you'd like someone as strong and powerful as him to hold it up. He's also a complete and utter shithead. But that doesn't change the fact that you're delusional.

IN: Pickford Klaassen (Onyekuru) Ramirez Keane Rooney OUT: Kone Cleverley McAleny Deulofeu LOAN IN: Donkor LOAN OUT: Onyekuru Galloway Browning YOUTH: Markelo Mathis Bowler U-23s EXTENSIONS: Charsley Broadhead Hewelt Duffus Jones Dyson Kiersey Lavery Brammall Gray EXTENSIONS (since January): Pennington DCL Mirallas Davies Coleman

Yeah that's the line that got me. Not denying his accolades with us and the level he kept us at under Martinez (if not for him, we might have legitimately been looking at relegation one or two of those years - again, I know there'd still be eleven players on a pitch but Martinez bought strikers like Kone and Niasse), but fuck you Rom. "I know I'll have to work harder than I ever have before." Eat a dick, bud.

So like a 20 minute easy hike then.

I think all of them save Barkley, though I think I'd rather see Klaasen behind a front 3. I will say that unless Barkley works on finding himself in better spaces in the box and learns to head the ball, none of them really provides foil for any of the others as a target man, but you could more or less say the same for Barca. Also I suspect Barkley's gone anyway, so moot point.

Daddy daddy can I sit at the table?

A few hours late with that news.

Also I hope this is true: http://www.teamtalk.com/news/romelu-lukaku-arrested-in-la-after-throwing-huge-party-reports

Yep. This sums it up nicely. Great for us while he was here. Make a hefty profit, build better, become more well-rounded. Hope Mourinho and he fight and he gets benched, goes to Italy or France and kills it. He'll be fine at Man U... score 18-20 goals a season... But it's hard to balance two massive egos like his and the chosen dickhead. I'll root against him as long as he stays in the Prem, but I'll be happy to see him succeed anywhere else. He's still young... maybe he'll be grateful to Everton one day yet.

Holgate likely will start. Deulofeu was not entirely our fault (although I have no illusions that Koeman liked him, but that decision was well taken out of our hands). Joel was solid but Pickford will be much better, and playing either McCarthy or Barry over Gana seems incredibly short-sighted given that Gana was by far our best defensive player last year. Again, I don't feel like this year's going to be easy with an almost entirely new squad, but we weren't left with a lot of options if we wanted to seriously improve.

We weren't good enough two years ago. Who would you have liked to stay? We had a team of young prospects (Lukaku, Barkley, Geri, Stones) and aging veterans without much time left (Jags, Baines, Pienaar, Gibbo, Howard, Osman, Barry, etc.). The youngsters either weren't good enough or wanted to leave. The middlers (Besic, McCarthy, Naismith, Mirallas) have either been deemed not good enough or have been hampered by injuries. I think the problem is the way the team was built under Martinez's reign; not what we're doing now. I do believe it will be hard to adjust, but I'm not sure we had any other choice.

Ever heard of implicit bias?

Sometimes agree with you. This is just idiotic. What are professional athletes if not that?

It's not about him kissing any badges. It's about the question of whether he makes our squad better on the pitch today. And in my eyes, the answer is not so much.

Like I said, not at all put off by it. Just an anomaly amongst our impressive summer.

I honestly am not bothered by the stuff from the past. I'm also a more recent fan. And I do recognize the value of his leadership off the field. In fact, prior to this past season, I thought he'd be a decent addition to the squad and I thought the feel-good factor would balance out his declining form. A year later, I just don't think it does balance out what he'll take away from a much-strengthened squad by being in the starting XI day in, day out. If he's leaving Man U to come back, he is clearly being promised a fair amount more playing time, and that's playing time that could be given to the likes of DCL or another one of our emerging forward/wingers. I don't want him here for football reasons only.

I get access to a lot of weird shit working at bars, but all I'm excited about right now is the shitty bottle of Havana Club 7 Year I may or may not have smuggled back from Mexico recently. Scarcity makes everything taste so much better.

In my experience bartending at fancy cocktail bars, ladies like a lot of shit we don't give them credit for. That said, my most common order from women is most definitely, "I like vodka, but nothing too sweet." A lot of men order the same, or worse.

I just searched and found Archer hidden in the annals of this thread. Shit is hilarious. I'm an episode into season 7, which is the second to last. Most highbrow cartoon comedy I've ever seen.

We have our very own white Iverson.