Enjoy all this while you can. Rightly or wrongly problems could start next season when the expectation will be higher, because the bar has now officially been raised. Odds are that at least one of AD, GD or RP will move on in the summer, Troy can't go on forever on his current performance levels. Recruitment team have quite a job on their hands.
My bet out of that lot is that Doucoure will go IF someone is prepared to pay the big fee. He won’t go on the cheap. There’s the suggestion that Pereyra would like to go back to Italy. I think he may be offered a new deal but if he doesn’t sign it, then we may look to offload him. And I suspect Deulofeu will court a move and his agent will do some interviews but ultimately he stays another year. Deeney will be 31 when the season starts again so no worries there really. I think there’s more chance of Gray wanting to leave if his football remains limited and Cucho and/or Lukebakio come in. His attitude to being benched is very good but I ultimately can’t see him wanting it to stay that way. Personally, if we can get £50 for Doucoure, I’d be courting Grealish if Villa don’t go up.
At the moment 7th spot is in our own hands, we have 6 games left, so 5 wins and a draw will see us on 62 points; Wolves only have 5 games left, one of which is against us at The Vic, so they would have to beat us in that game and win their other 4 games too in order to make 62 points. So as long as we don't lose that game, A DRAW WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH, and win all our other games they CAN'T catch us and neither could anyone else. Therefore our destiny is in our own hands, a tall order to win all those games I know, but why not...................... COME ON U 'ORNSSSSSSSSSSS
If we do qualify for the Europa League then it's possible that those key players could be persuaded to stay.
If Doucoure leaves, we’re going to have to hit the jackpot with his replacement. As we saw when he was injured, even after being below his best for most of the early season, we missed him badly. Very few players are capable of carrying the ball between the lines during transitions as effectively as he does. Sure his passing can be a little lazy or wayward at times, but he drives us forward, wins the ball constantly, and pops up with a decent number of goals.
Doucourè is class and for me the one player we will really struggle to replace. Having said that he’s not played to his full potential this season, that’s not a complaint as he’s still my number one player we have, but it may effect how much teams would pay for him and for that reason I think (and massively hope) that we will keep him one more year. I’m not convinced either that GD would want to leave this summer, based on the fact this has probably been his best full season at a club, and even this one has included an injury spell and a few games in the bench. My guess is he’s going to want to stay here at a settled environment and have a great season and probably then go to a ‘bigger’ club. I think a Europa League spot will also convince the squad and the owners to keep this group together and only sell / release / loan out those not in Javi’s main plans. And this thread is about the chase for 7 th which I’m loving and believe we have a cracking chance. Be nice to have a Europa League spot before the cup final.
It'll be very interesting to see which one of these we'll be offered 'a Richarlison' (an offer we can't refuse) for. My feeling is (and I'm throwing two more sets of initials into the mix) the likelihood of it happening is GD > AD > JG > RP > EC . But I wonder as they're all foreign (and not gormless English players) they'll know that another season in our shop window would be both extremely lucrative/beneficial to their future careers?
Of course. I was wondering if Gomes was called Joey or some such in the dressing room. A nod to the great Liverpool team of 18-19.
Less unlikely than you may think. This is Cliftonville's Joe Gormley. Hovvering on Pozzo's managerial radar? https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/08/*****Images-480572264-e1475490997104.jpg
Well, that's going to look extremely arrogant and moronic if we lose tonight. Bizarre to post right before a game. Edit: just seen it's a day old. Still stupid.
Hmm, bit of fairly harmless banter but setting us up for some stick if we don’t get 7th, and let’s be honest that’s still a 4 horse race even if we are looking like very slight favourites.
It's completely harmless. It says we want to finish 7th and qualify for Europe. Hold the back page! It's not like there's been a steady stream of interviews with our players in the last fortnight saying exactly that.
Ah for gods sake it's fine. All publicity is good publicity. If we do achieve either 7th or the cup all is good. If we don't no one is going to care. Lots of people getting wound up by us is just testament to us doing well
I think it'd be brilliant if we actually finished 8th and won the cup. Obviously winning the cup and getting europe would be incredible, but the meltdown from who ever finished 7th would be fun too.
It doesn't just say that. It suggests the other clubs listed don't or are bottling it and will look pretty daft if we then lose tonight too.