Xen

Can vouch for this. It changed a lot over the last few years but has always been a good quiz. If you were a regular you'll probably know our team well haha. We've mostly all drifted away - and I moved up to Manchester - since Covid though. Need to find a new quiz up this way, come to think of it...

Torrential rain for the last few hours, and still going. All the roads around Salford quays are basically flooded, so I can't imagine it'll be any better down the road. Will be very, very impressed if they manage to keep it dry enough for any play tomorrow.

I'm literally 5 minutes from Old Trafford and it's very, very wet, and supposedly going to keep raining for most of the day. Highly doubt we see any play today.

And another one...

https://twitter.com/LCFC_Women/status/1677314020985143296

Far bigger priorities imo. Soumare was a good player in France and has shown snippets of ability for us, and maybe under Maresca we might see some use out of him, yet. He's also under a longer contract so harder to shift. Like @Ric Flair said, there are others who either don't want to be here or are going for free next summer (or both) and I'd be aiming to get them out first. If a fair offer comes in for Soumare then he'll be off, but I can't see that happening unless he returns to France, or maybe a loan to Turkey or similar to free up wages. Our midfield is currently looking like KDH/Choudhury/Winks, and you cant fault the application of any of them. Get Soumare motivated and pulling in the same direction and that's a strong midfield for the championship. Just need an AM next to balance it all out.

First night was interesting. Fell asleep without much bother at all. Other half woke me up when he came to bed a couple hours later, and couldnt get back to sleep at all. Racing thoughts were a lot more random and incoherent though, rather than tangible worries. So still limited sleep, but in a different way than before. GP did say the first few days in particular it might seem worse before it gets better, so hopefully its just adjusting to it. Honestly not sure what to expect, even in the best case scenario where it works without any downsides. It's been that long (way before the insomnia) that I'm not even sure what the 'normal' me is like.

Been suffering with insomnia more and more regularly lately, usually off the back of a panic/anxiety attack, which leads me to a vicious cycle of preemptively panicking about panicking, and just lying in bed triggers it. Convinced its an effect of long covid (which got worse after I had my 2nd round back in October last year) and it's pushed me to breaking point lately in combination with work stress and a few other things going on. Finally saw my GP again today, got a(nother) referral for therapy which I'll actually follow through with this time and been put on Sertraline. Always avoided it in favour of more 'natural' treatments (throwing myself into running/gym etc seemed to do wonders) but figure there's no point resisting it unnecessarily. Will see how it goes, hopefully can start to feel somewhat human again soon.

Relegated player on a high wage, with 1 year remaining so we're desperate to sell (and quickly as its well known we need a rebuild). It was always going to be in the £40-50m region, at best. Slightly disappointing its on the lower end, but if we're also looking to do a deal the other way with Winks (and/or a loan player) then we may have balanced that out with negotiations elsewhere. Especially if it avoids some of Norwich's sell on clause. Get him off the books so we can move on with players who actually want to be here.

£40m up front £5/7.5/10m add ons if they qualify for the respective European cups next year £5m if he wins a trophy for Spurs £2.5m if he's selected for the Euros Feels like that would be a fair deal for us - enough cash up front to do something useful with now, a likely £7.5m+ by next summer, and gets him off our books pretty quickly (you'd hope...). Also leaves the door open for a flat £50m from Newcastle/ManCity to snipe the deal. Don't think we can realistically expect any more than £50m this summer, and anything less than £40m would be disappointing, so hopefully we're somewhere in the middle and negotiating the structure rather than the value of the deal...

Would've spent 3 years training alongside Kompany at Man City, so the Burnley link could make a lot of sense. Although given the source I imagine its just 'pluck plausible team name out of a hat'

To be fair, JJ has had a pretty long time off already so not really a surprise he's in before most of the others...

We really need to know where we stand going into the new season, as soon as possible to give us the best foundation for being competitive next year. We should be aiming to have pretty much all our 'outs' agreed by the end of June in my opinion, even if that's not necessarily public knowledge. No ifs/maybes with players/clubs stringing us along until the season has started like with Fofana/Maguire. Cut the rot, boost our coffers and move on as soon as feasible, without being shafted in a fire sale. Theres a few of the existing crop - the likes of Iheanacho, Justin, possibly even Ricardo - who might stay who would all make a huge impact on any promotion push, but if they're not sticking around then I'd rather ship them out early doors and focus on those who are going to be here next year - new and old. Same goes for the manager. Lets have a proper preseason for once where we know exactly what we're working with.

Moved to Manchester last year, so this season has been lots of round trips on the trains, stopping with parents etc. Really eats into the weekends. Not too bad when we're playing decent, but when it's been as turgid as it has been it's demoralising. Looking forward to a few months of free weekends to just relax and do whatever. Plans? None at all. Just a bit of respite from football as I've fell out of love with it a bit this year. ...until August, when it all comes flooding back.

I'd maybe take Puel if he was coming in to a DoF role - but never as manager. He did a decent job at the squad management side of things - moved us on from the aging title winning side and brought in some good players via his connections (Ricardo, Tielemans), but the footballing side was abysmal. Won't happen in a million years though, and I'm sure there's more suitable options for both roles anyway.

Competing for a starting place in a champions league side (plus a nice signing on bonus), or staying at Leicester where its uncertain who the management is going to be (and whilst the culprit who mistreated Soyuncu has gone, the board who backed that person still remain). Wages offered will be similar, so unless we go on a 14/15-esque miracle run to end the season, and Smith/Soyuncu become the absolute best of friends, it's hard to see Soyuncu opting to stay. Especially if there's already a verbal agreement/precontract with AM.

Yep. If you have enough points then you'll get a ST, if you're on the threshold then it was a ballot as a tiebreaker. Last few years it's been between 37-43 points as the minimum required, iirc

He's most definitely not a winger. Still think he could do a job up top in the right system and with proper supply - which we haven't seen him in yet - but I'd hope he was only out on the left because Barnes and Maddison were both unavailable. Putting in the effort which is good to see at least, but quality wise was lacking today. Not the only one that applies to, mind.

Pretty sure the loan to OHL is to get him towards the required points for his work permit, so he won't be able to go to L1/Championship either. More likely have another 12 months at OHL.

You seriously think the well-respected club veteran gk coach won't have had any influence on team selection? No "He's ready to step up" or "X has been better in training"? Rodgers had the final call but Stowell could've definitely put pressure on to give Iversen a run far earlier in the season...

That's rewriting history just a little bit, dont you think? Kasper was one of our highest paid players at a time when we had a very well known problem with an inflated wage bill. He'd been poor more and more frequently over the previous season, and whilst he's a strong character in the dressing room, he was also a huge ego (well-earned) and you can see how he'd be a difficult character (at best) to manage if he doesn't fully buy in to you. BR vs KS shouldn't be the debate - the only issue with letting Kasper go is our blinding faith in Ward (ahead of Iversen) and total lack of investment in the summer.

Results-wise he'd deserve it. But so did Shakey when he last took charge and that didn't exactly work out too well. Would depend on how he present his vision to the board, if they see a path forward (and upwards) with him, if he's been able to change the culture at the club etc. Whether he's going to be enough of a draw to keep certain players here and bring in others, or if the board feel they need (and are able) to get in a 'bigger' name in the summer (Potter? Poch? however unlikely it might seem). If he gets the results and performances are going in the right direction - i.e. we're actually showing some heart and desire to improve as a collective - then I think he'd be a strong contender and it'd be fair to consider. I don't think its clear-cut at all though.

Will he? No. Should he? A long time ago.

FML