aka Dus

Does VVD stop us being the bottom 14's favourite team to play against? If Kloppo can't stop us being everyone's bitch on set pieces, this will be his last full season with us.

Where does this leave Rakitic?

Funny / not funny that this is not being remembered by the jungle drums driving the Coutinho story like ESPN and Duncan Castles. I haven't followed closely but there was defo a lot of talk when the story first floated that the fact Neymar was at Barca was a big incentive for Coutinho to join. So I thought then that Barca telling Neymar they're going to sign his pal was a way for them to try head off PSG. Obviously that didn't work and now Barca haven't so much as returned with a new bid. If Coutinho really does put that much stock in where his pals play, they we might be right to be more worried about PSG.

He's some a*******. Did ye see the interview he did talking about Conte, calling him "Cont". Touching his head while saying he won't lose any hair over what "Cont" says. That tedious, tedious man.

I just don't like it cos him choosing PSG makes a mockery of the history and culture of the game - the great players crave the best chance of winning the big trophies. *If* PSG wins the CL then fair play to him, he has been fully vindicated. If this precipitates a rebalancing of power in European football, then we'll all reflect on a huge turning point for the European game. But until such a time, it kinda stinks, and this particular iteration of transfer fee inflation is absurd. We all though that with Lentini but this is f***ing mental. And yeah, a pox on Barca (and Madrid) too. Built their empires on the back of the Spanish tax payer and the collusion of La Liga (and doubtless Uefa / Fifa). But just in the context of the integrity of the game (and I mean the game rather than the circus) him going to Paris at the peak of his powers is weird and suspectible.

Yanited: the Chelsea of the north west.

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The Celtic experience has soured lately, their Green Brigade is getting a chunk of the rail seating temporarily shut down due to obscene banners / chanting etc as is their wont. Not sure if it has anything to do with the seating form per se but it's a negative in the narrative currently.

With bells on. Michael Cox has a great bit about him in his new book, comparing and contrasting Scholes before the era of Rafa and original Mourinho, when they transformed the English game tactically with midfielders playing between the lines. Scholes only played deep the last few years of his career, after the Makele era ended. He spent ten years unable to influence the game at the tip of a diamond for England, and unable to last 90 minutes and unable to tackle to justify a deep midfield slot. Hence Gerrard and Lampard and Keane etc. being better midfielders. Then he peaked in his last few years when football fashion came round to suit him in 2008-2011ish, with Barca possession play. Scholes never even got voted player of the year by the Yanited fans who today spend half their time tweeting pics of celebratory quotes about him attributed to various players of the past 15 years. Yet despite this, he never got a *single* balon d'or vote. Not one. FWIW, Cox would have Gerrard of him, Lampard, Scholes as the best all round footballer, with all at their peak.

I'm still finding hard to get my head around that it's so difficult and expensive to sign players from Southampton and a German team nobody had heard of 2 years ago. £140/150m the pair? FFS.

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The poor young fella is on his very last legs, the poor mother somehow finding the wherewithal to keep the twitter updated.

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He's on his way. https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/status/872785988489236480

I hope the leaks stop but not until someone leaks what actually happened here and who is carrying the can. Then it can be silence, right up until we sign VVD.

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Is it any consolation that I saw Malmö FF give VDV ( - VVD!! Been a while since we were obsessing about VDV transfers....!) the total run around in a CL qualifier v Celtic a few years ago?