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Allan and Doucoure were class but I think Mina really showed his importance today - didn’t put a foot wrong. Keeping all 3 fit will be so important - something we couldn’t do last season.

I would have liked Simms to have come on for him when it went 2-0. He’s well off the pace currently but still think he’ll be useful over the season.

In simple terms, it’s lunacy for a team not (nor have been for a number of years) in European competition and benefitting from the extra millions this brings, to have such expensive assets (not just James) with little to no resale - in a time where expenditure is regulated through FFP. James is an unbelievable player and, when on the pitch, he was our best player - I’d happily pay to watch him play every week but also understand that, because of years of poor management and underachieving in the transfer market, we need to make/save money to progress. Our squad is awful and in dire need of investment - we won’t sign anyone as good as James but if we can sign 3/4 young hungry players who make our squad better then that’s what needs to happen - we probably need to sell Richarlison or Digne next summer - I don’t want either to go but it’s probably what we need long term.

Probably the most unpopular opinion on here but Delph is a better fit (or unfit as he always is) in the absence of Allan/Doucoure. Gomes can only play in a 3 with the security of Allan and Doucoure on the pitch in my opinion.

A guaranteed recipe for defeat. We simply must somehow keep Allan and Doucoure fit as we’re stuffed without them. We probably need a centre midfielder just as much as we need a right and left back (back-up to Digne) - we may need to be very creative in January providing the books are balanced!!!

Kenny proving he’s not very good again tonight so far. This is probably why we’re looking at a variety of options for right back.

Or it seems the club needs to offload his huge wages… or it seems James wants to play elsewhere but doesn’t want to take a pay cut. Plenty of potential narratives - not ruling your one out but, equally, none of us are certain.

At last - he’s got something right!!!

Any other day, I’d be saying Doucoure as he was the driving force behind the win BUT 2 waves of Townsend’s magic wand of a left-foot completely changed the game. Credit to Rafa/Gomes as the tactical switch made us completely dominant.

I have/had the feeling that he’d be rested against Burnley regardless. Maybe even Holgate or Godfrey getting the nod to counter their aerial threat.

Of course - United not winning the league is the equivalent of us not qualifying for Europe - failure.

It remains to be seen whether Sancho for £85m and £300k per week is value; personally, that’s massively overpriced to me, and they’ll need to win something with the Varane outlay… regardless, this is a completely different level to our spending.

* acquisition

There’s a lot more to an acquisition of a football player than a reported transfer fee. These players may not be overpriced in transfer fee but their wages and other fees are astronomical. Yes, Ronaldo is arguably the best player in the world and £15m seems a ridiculously low price but factor in £480k a week - yes, probably still worth it but you get my point…

I’ve written him off but share the same hope - Jonjoe clearly loves the club so if an opportunity arises (which is very likely), between now and January/end of season, then I’d be delighted if he could prove many of us wrong.

Agree, although I do still think we’ll need a big sale next summer - probably Richarlison - before we can spend but it’ll certainly help with Gylfi’s, Delph’s, Tosun’s and James’ wages off the books too. It seems clear that Rafa was certainly the right profile of manager as he’s basically come in and worked with what’s here. Hopefully he’ll make some of the players we may have written off at least attractive to other teams as we can’t afford many more £20m+ signings walking away for free at the end of their contracts.

I think we are the ones sailing closest to the wind but I definitely think lots of teams are struggling - Newcastle, Burnley, Wolves, Brighton and few others seem pretty hamstrung maybe even Liverpool. I think Villa would have been had it not been for £100m incoming - likewise, a big Richarlison windfall could have covered up our problems.

Reality check… Gbamin is the only one who maybe doesn’t belong on that list but the reality is he’s also been a waste of money up to now - albeit down to rotten luck.

Well it was fun watching the YouTube clips and imagining him at EFC…

Great right wing-back but not as good as a right-back in my opinion. I do still fear that we’ll end up with Doherty or Aurier.

This is the Niels Nkounkou topic - as per topic title ☝