Why the eulogy? It's only a loan deal.

If I was a PL goliath like Chelsea / Arsenal / Liverpool / Man U I'd look into turning a local, lower league, club into a feeder club. Then just loan them 5+ Academy players every year. Somewhere close enough that you can keep an eye on all of your players.

The idea is they have one of the best Academies in the country. They hoover up any talent at a young age. Leaves them with a huge playing staff that needs to be loaned out to get first team football. Obviously it turns a profit too. It's a shame that it's allowed to happen as, more often than not, any stand out young player you see in the Championship is on loan from a PL club.

I'm trying to think of the last player with world class attributes that trotted out in the blue and white halves. Bentley's crossing, maybe? Bellamy's pace?

Lampard was carried by world class players, which allowed him to drift in late to the box and score a bagful. I'm not sure we have the same luxury - right now it's very much about shoehorning Dack into a settled team.

Dolan's crossing needs a lot of work. It's as useful as a Nyambe / Bennett cross at the moment.

I think people need to stop viewing Dolan with rose coloured glasses. So far his final ball has been poor. Brereton has done fine out wide on the left. I'd prefer him in the middle, but that's not going to happen. Gallagher has proven that he can't play out wide. He should be the backup #9 to Armstrong.

That's very kind of them!

Really? That's moronic. He should be the backup #9.

Apologies if I've missed it - do we know how much the Greek GK cost?

The fact City have let a 20 something year old English player leave for peanuts tells you everything you need to know about how good they think he is.

Setting themselves up for a disaster next year in the Championship with those wages.

What?

Gallagher is tall. He's certainly not a target man.

I honestly miss Andy Gray.

Another clean sheet. Ayala looked composed. Cardiff never threatened. Not ideal, but I'll take a point in those conditions.

Their right back is much better.

Ayala and Kaminski are both vocal players - something we've lacked at the back for a number of years.

Shoved Rothwell out left, Gallagher out right. Mowbray reverting to type.

That's an expansion of what I said earlier. Look, it's the match thread, so I don't want to dominate it with this discussion - but a #9 is not a wide player. We disagree on that simple notion, so let's end the back and forth here, yeah?

Oh dear. Never mind.

I'm struggling to see why you're not comprehending this. As a #9 he's very good in this division. It plays to his strengths as a footballer. He has scored most of his goals for us playing centrally. If you ask him to play wider - either in the current 4-3-3 or in the 4-2-3-1 we played last year he's a poor player at this level.

How does this comment relate to my comment?

He's scored most of those goals playing as a #9. [insert snide remark here, as that seems to be the norm on here]

He's an instinctive player. Whenever he has to think he falls to pieces. It's why he's a L1 wide player and why he misses 1-on-1s with such regularity.