Football365

According to reports, Manchester United are ‘preparing an offer’ to sign Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze amid interest from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Red Devils are already linked with several potential targets ahead of this summer’s transfer window with a significant squad overhaul necessary.

United have spent most of the 2024/25 campaign in the bottom half of the Premier League table and need to win the Europa League to qualify for Europe ahead of next season.

Man Utd have struggled to adapt to Ruben Amorim‘s preferred style and formation, so INEOS will be hoping that a summer rebuild could make their squad more aligned with the head coach’s methods.

Upgrades are required in forward areas as Man Utd have been toothless in attack this season. Their priority will be to sign a new striker, but they also need to invest in a No.10 or two.

READ: Rashford ‘could play for Manchester United again’ – if finger-pointing Ruben Amorim suddenly resigns

Eze has been sporadically linked with Man Utd over the past couple of years and his performance in Crystal Palace’s FA Cup quarter-final should tempt the Red Devils to make a summer move.

The England international sparkled for Palace last season, but his form dipped before he grabbed a goal and an assist in his side’s 3-0 win against Fulham.

A report from Spanish outlet Fichajes claims Eze has been ‘identified’ as Man Utd’s ‘new dream’ target and they are ‘preparing a 60 million euro [£50m] offer’.

This offer would not quite meet Crystal Palace’s asking price, and there are two ‘problems’ to overcome.

‘Manchester United has set its sights on Eberechi Eze as one of its priorities for summer reinforcements.

‘With a transfer market that promises to be intense, the English club’s directors have identified the Crystal Palace midfielder as a player with the right profile to bolster their squad.’

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…

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‘However, securing his services will not be an easy task, as his club is not willing to let him leave for less than 60 million pounds, a figure that could complicate the operation.

‘United’s footballing management, led by Christopher Vivell and Jason Wilcox, is exploring various options for the summer transfer window, but interest in Eze is strong. His playmaking ability and attacking versatility fit with the coaching staff’s vision of strengthening the squad. Furthermore, Rubén Amorim sees him as a player with the talent necessary to be a starter and make a difference in the Premier League.

‘The problem for the Red Devils lies not only in the high cost of the deal, but also in the competition.

‘Tottenham is closely monitoring the player’s situation and could enter the bidding process, although they first need to resolve the continuity of Ange Postecoglou, who is under pressure after recent results.’

According to reports, Aston Villa are plotting a ‘tempting offer’ as they interested in signing Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Cristian Romero.

The World Cup winner established himself as one of the leading centre-backs in the Premier League following his move to Tottenham, but he has missed most of this season due to injury.

The 26-year-old has only made 14 Premier League starts this season after missing games with toe and hamstring issues, but he returned to action before the international break.

Romero‘s long-term future at Spurs appears to be in doubt, as he has been heavily linked with an exit in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a report from GiveMeSport claimed Spurs are ‘poised to give Romero an ultimatum’ ahead of the summer.

‘Influential figures behind the scenes are poised to give Romero an ultimatum as he will be pushed to sign a new Tottenham contract or leave during the summer, according to GMS sources.’

READ: Ten reasons why this Premier League season has not been entirely sh*t

‘The north Londoners are aware that La Liga title-chasers Real Madrid could be prepared to make a substantial offer if he is put on the market.

‘Although GMS sources have been informed that Tottenham have refused to rule out the possibility of sanctioning Romero’s departure ahead of next term, their preference is to keep him and offer a giant contract which would see him leap to the top of the wage bill.’

Despite lingering interest from Real Madrid, a new report from Football Transfers claims Aston Villa are ‘circling’ with Romero ‘wanting an exit’.

The report suggests Spurs are close to admitting defeat with Romero as they are ‘preparing for his exit’.

MORE SPURS COVERAGE ON F365…

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The report explains:

‘The 27-year-old Argentine is looking for a new challenge and the Birmingham club are ready to offer him a tempting opportunity.

‘We are told that Spurs are open to selling Romero but want around £55 million (€66m) for him. Sources with knowledge of the situation say Tottenham are preparing for his exit and are already searching for a replacement at centre-back.

‘Aston Villa are willing to offer Romero a five-year contract, which is exactly the kind of long-term deal he wants at this stage of his career. However, they aren’t the only club interested.

‘Antonio Conte remains a big fan of the defender after his time at Tottenham and he is keen on reuniting with him at Napoli. Bayern Munich are also known admirers of the 2022 World Cup winner.’

Ange Postecoglou is reportedly unlikely to keep his Tottenham job without European success, as it’s stated ‘Europa League or bust’ is the message at the club now.

Postecoglou’s Spurs side are far worse off this season than they were last. In his first season at the helm, the Australian boss engineered a fifth-placed finish, just two points off the top four.

This season, though, Tottenham are in 14th, and 10 points separate them from 10th-placed Bournemouth. Pressure is mounting on Postecoglou, with reports suggesting he’s soon to be shown the door.

And while it might not be before the end of the season, the latter stage will decide his fate.

Indeed, Football Insider reports Postecoglou is ‘not likely to cling onto the dugout’ if he doesn’t deliver European success. Tottenham face Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

And it’s said the message at the club is now simply ‘Europa League or bust’. Silverware is the only way of salvaging the season, and that’s the only trophy still available to Postecoglou’s men.

Also still in the competition are big names such as Lazio, Manchester United and Lyon. And though league for might be immaterial, the report states defeat in the upcoming London derby against Chelsea could ‘heap pressure’ on Postecoglou.

Spurs lost 4-3 to the Blues in a thriller earlier in the season, giving away two penalties in the game, both of which were converted by Cole Palmer.

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In their last three Premier League games, Tottenham have lost to Manchester City, drawn with Bournemouth, and then lost to Fulham. That run of poor results is not one which they will want to see continue.

However, Chelsea are 10 places above them in the Premier League, so it might be an uphill battle not to be beaten by their London rivals.

Tottenham are also believed to be looking overseas for potential replacements, with a number of Premier League bosses already on the radar.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou could reportedly be replaced by an overseas manager next season after his struggles this year.

The Spurs’ boss has endured a torrid season with injuries and poor performances, and his side sits 14th in the Premier League with a shocking 15 defeats. They do remain in the Europa League but face a tricky run to the final in what is a very competitive final eight.

Throughout the season, there have been many calls for the club to part ways with the stubborn yet expressive manager who has brought an incredible style of attacking play to the club. This season has seen them create the fifth-highest expected goals figure in the league but concede the fourth-worst expected goals against.

Of course, he has fought against a never-ending list of injuries and has been forced to play youngster Archie Gray, a traditional midfielder, at centre-back with back-up choice Ben Davies or Radu Dragusin. The frustrations have been felt by their players with Cristian Romero reportedly eyeing a move this summer as a result.

In terms of Postecoglou’s future, he has been defiant all season long, but there have been heavy links of a trio of managers that could take over his role: Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Fulham boss Marco Silva and Brentford manager Thomas Frank.

However, a new report has claimed that the club are scouring the overseas market. Football Insider have revealed that sources have told them this and that they are looking to cast a wide net to replace the Australian manager.

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365:

👉 Ange Postecoglou told conditions for saving Spurs job after dismal season

👉 Tottenham place Sporting CP star ‘very high’ on shortlist, with star ‘set to leave’ for discounted price

👉Ranking the Premier League ‘Big Six’ by magnitude of their 2025 summer rebuild

Difficulties in recruiting Iraola, Frank

With Iraola fast becoming one of the most in-demand coaches after his spell with Bournemouth, he would likely aim for a higher benchmark than Spurs. Especially given that Bournemouth could achieve European football.

There have been some links with Real Madrid as well, and he is held in an extremely high regard. With Frank, he has become part of the furniture at Brentford, and perhaps only the top teams could be able to tempt him away from a place that has become his home.

Marco Silva could potentially be an easier option to prise away given that he isn’t as adored at Fulham as much as the Iraola and Frank are at their respective clubs and he has shown a willingness to change roles across his career.

Other managers from outside of the Premier League could include the former Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic, former Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag, the former Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri and ex-Brighton man Roberto De Zerbi.

We were very, very rude about this Premier League season the other week. We were angry and we lashed out and we, well, we called it the worst Premier League season ever.

That was very mean of us and the fact it is 100% true and correct and accurate only slightly eases how guilty we feel about it. Poor 2024/25 Premier League season, just trying to go quietly about its business and we’re here calling it names. What an absolute prick.

So to try and redress the balance, we’ve thought really, really hard and just about managed to come up with 10 actual good things about this season.

The Novelty Value

Can’t go around complaining, as we are all sometimes guilty of doing, that the Premier League is a big dull closed shop where the same teams fight among themselves for the same rewards while everyone else has to live off scraps season after season and then also have a big tantrum when the top of the league looks funny with all weird and wrong teams in it.

Well we can – and did – do that, but you can’t do it without being an insufferable little tagnut. So let us acknowledge that there is undeniably a certain intoxicating quality to a league table where Nottingham Forest enjoy a six-point lead over Man City at this late stage, where Brighton, Fulham, Bournemouth and Brentford represent more plausible European qualifiers than Manchester United or Spurs and the relegation spots are a fascinating, unpredictable fight betw… oh. Well at least the top of the table is interesting. Don’t look at the bottom bit.

Big Final Run-in: Liverpool transfer prep, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Maresca, Foden

Bad Barclays Is Still Barclays

As ever, timing remains one of our very greatest strengths. Whinging like a bloody great baby about an unexciting Premier League season just before a yawning two-week abyss of an international break featuring the worst possible England action – two comfortable, routine, regulation wins that did absolutely nothing to get the blood up – was followed up by a weekend given over entirely to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Now we’ve nothing against FA Cup quarter-finals, but four matches does not a top-flight football weekend make. Yes, yes, the FA Cup has ‘got its magic back’ very good, that’s lovely. Now give us Man United v Arsenal and four days of increasingly unhinged and bad-tempered fallout please.

The Salah Debate

There’s always been something about Mo Salah that has agitated people. We genuinely don’t know what it is and aren’t trying to be flippant or snarky about it, even though those are our default settings. It seems to us that when people talk about Salah in terms of Premier League greatness there’s always an ‘obviously’ yet then also a ‘but’ in there that is really hard to justify for a player who has such astonishing numbers and so clearly passes the eye test.

And now he’s put together just about the perfect season to heighten everything about this particular discourse. On the one hand, he is on course for a season of statistical greatnesss unmatched in Premier League history, winning both Golden Boot and Playmaker awards by huge margins (Current Salah PL goal contributions this season: 44; next best: 24) to deliver his team the league title by another huge margin. And his team is not one that has, in the Premier League era, made a habit of winning league titles.

Yet he has also gone missing entirely when his team needed him most in the Champions League knockouts and Carabao final.

And thus it remains – but somehow, ridiculously, even more so – ‘Salah? Great player, obviously, but…’

Is he really one of only two Premier League players with ‘star quality’?

Barclays: The Next Generation

One definite boon from so many of the big clubs being so many assorted flavours of sh*t for such vast swathes of the season has been the chance to see some new, young and exciting players take the chance to impress.

Even at the two biggest current clown-car operations in the league at Manchester United and Tottenham, the dark black clouds have had silver linings thanks to your Amad Diallos, your Archie Grays and your Lucas Bergvalls.

Arsenal also have not one but two young pups already seemingly destined for greatness. Especially Ethan Nwaneri, but especially Myles Lewis-Skelly, who, as well being obviously a good player, has even greater potential as an arch sh*thouse. And that really is something to get excited about because housery is one of those things – like being a centre-back or goalkeeper – that is notoriously hard for a player so young to master.

Proper Centre-Forwards

Dying out, weren’t they? Your Proper Centre-Forwards? With 4-4-2 considered embarrassingly primitive there was less and less call for Classic No. 9s in the modern Barclays.

But this year has produced a retort of sorts that extends far beyond the absurd Goalbot stylings of everyone’s favourite Leeds-born Norwegian.

Thirteen players are in double figures for Premier League goals this season – which is a quite pitiful number really, but we are struggling to find ways to make this look like a good season okay so cut us some slack – and nine of those 13 are unquestionably Proper Centre-Forwards. Forget about Salah and his absurd season for a minute, and the only other non-centre-forward interlopers in the double-digits gang are Bryan Mbeumo, Cole Palmer and Justin Kluivert. And both Palmer and Kluivert are at worst ‘second-striker’ types.

Smashing The Crystal Ceiling

Crystal Palace’s final points tally for each season since returning to the Premier League for the 2013/14 campaign: 45, 48, 42, 41, 44, 49, 43, 44, 48, 45, 49. Eleven straight seasons of 40-something totals. An almost sarcastic average total of 45.27 per season.

And now, with 39 points from 28 games, they stand on the brink of the unthinkable. Just 11 points from 10 games – a piece of p*ss on current form – and they will shatter the 50-point barrier for the first time.

And not just for the first time since getting back into the Premier League just over a decade ago, but for the first time in their Premier League history. Palace’s grim obsession with 40-something totals extends to contriving to get relegated with 49 and then 45 points during the early 22-team years of the competition.

The first of those remains a now surely unbreakable Premier League record for the highest points total for any relegated team, while the second singles Palace out as the only Premier League team to be relegated from fourth bottom as English football’s biggest beast assumed its final 20-team form.

Many people will say winning a first FA Cup is Palace’s main priority for the remaining weeks of this season. But many people are wrong.

Nottingham Forest And Yer Da

Been proved right, hasn’t he? Vindication at last for all those years he stubbornly kept Forest on the laminated list he keeps in his wallet of the 20 proper and correct Premier League teams despite them having only been in what he still calls the Premiership for five of its first 30 seasons – and relegated in three of those five.

He’s had the last laugh, hasn’t he? Classic Yer Da. Know your place, son, and respect your elders. Now if Sheffield Wednesday can just come good he really will be unbearable.

Tottenham Hotspur Or Spurs

The first law of football remains that whatever happens anywhere to anyone, the joke must always be on Spurs. But that has been taken to bold new heights this season.

We did, of course, include Spurs’ (and Man United’s) startling sh*tness as one of the sh*t things about this sh*t season due to its undeniable impact on the overall quality of the division, but there’s no point pretending it isn’t also very funny.

Newcastle ending their trophy drought has robbed Spurs of another canary down that particular mine, with every chance for Villa, Forest or Palace to follow suit in the FA Cup. But Spurs have very much boasted main character energy in their punchline status this season, all the way down (up?) to asking everyone to stop calling them ‘Tottenham’ when they should be prostrate in gratitude to anyone who doesn’t call them something far, far ruder at this time.

They are spectacularly, epically, heroically bad and, unless you have the misfortune to actually support them, an absolute guarantee of entertainment. They are the neutral’s friend this season to an almost absurd degree, with their only two apparent settings being ‘hilarious defeat’ and ‘goal-laden victory’.

Schadenfreude In General

And Spurs aren’t even the only ones, are they? Laughing at Man United hits different for those of a certain age. Those who had their childhoods ruined by Fergie and his relentless, joy-crushing, trophy-hogging teams.

They’ve been bad for a while now but, like Spurs, have taken it to astonishing heights never seen before from a single one, never mind a ludicrous pair, of the big boys in the Big Six era.

It’s even managed to almost entirely overshadow Man City going from title certainties to Champions League scramblers and whatever it is that Chelsea are currently up to.

Moyesiah

Sometimes it’s nice just to see something nice. Sometimes that’s enough. There’s revisionism aplenty around David Moyes’ West Ham reign now, but the facts remain a lot of it was grimly unwatchable for no particularly tangible reward in the results column. Not in the Premier League anyway. It wasn’t working for anyone, and it was right that it ended.

But that didn’t mean Moyes didn’t have something to offer someone, and his return to Everton – a club he knows and instinctively understands – has been lovely. He’s steered them well away from any relegation unpleasantness, allowed fans who have been through more than enough stress in recent seasons the treat of being able to just relax and enjoy the Goodison Park farewell, and there is no other plausible Everton manager more deserving of leading them out next season at their spanking new home.

There, surely that’s enough niceness now.

Tottenham reportedly have Sporting CP defender Ousmane Diomande ‘very high’ on their shortlist for the summer, while the defender is said to be ‘set to leave’ his current club for £17million lower than his release clause.

Spurs’ best centre-back pairing of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero is a good one. The pair have played 39 times together for the north London outfit, winning 1.77 points per game.

However, this season, they have played alongside each other just 11 times, owing to injuries. The pairing could be split up for good, too, with a recent report starting Romero is ‘willing to do everything’ to leave in the summer.

Atletico Madrid are said to be chasing him, and Tottenham could receive a big fee from the transfer.

They will want to replace Romero with a top-quality defender, and reportedly have Sporting’s Diomande in their sights. Indeed, TBRFootball reports the centre-back is ‘set to leave’ his current club this summer, and Tottenham have been watching him all season.

Despite manager Ruben Amorim’s exit in November, Sporting have maintained form and are still top of Liga Portugal, with 21-year-old Diomande playing almost every game.

While ‘several Premier League clubs’ are said to like the centre-back, Tottenham are reportedly ‘very much in the conversation’ for him. They have closely followed him this season and could make a move for him in the summer.

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👉 How much total prize money each Premier League team will make through all competitions in 2024/25

Diomande has a £67million release clause, though as per the report, it’s believed his price could be dropped down to £50million.

That is less than it’s suggested Tottenham will demand for Romero, so they could certainly have a chance of landing the Sporting man if they are to lose their own centre-back.

Manchester United have previously been linked with Diomande, given his former boss Amorim coaches the Red Devils, while their rivals Manchester City are mentioned, as are Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle.

But Spurs are said to be in the mix, so could see their defence improve from the struggles of this season, when they have shipped 43 Premier League goals in 29 games so far.

Tottenham Hotspur will reportedly make Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola their ‘top target’ to replace Ange Postecoglou should they sack the Australian.

Iraola has done a fantastic job the south coast and is widely regarded as one of the most promising managers in Europe.

His start at Bournemouth was far from ideal though, winning his first Premier League match at the tenth attempt.

The Cherries drew three and lost six – five of which were by two or more goals – of their first nine league matches with Iraola in charge, but the club’s hierarchy did not make a kneejerk decision.

Iraola was nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Season award and is again in contention in 2024/25. He was the only manager from a club outside the top four to be nominated last year.

Bournemouth’s form has dipped in recent weeks but they are in the race for Champions League qualification, sitting four points behind Manchester City in fifth, which should be enough to qualify for Europe’s premier competition.

His work has not gone unnoticed, with a move to a bigger club on the cards.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Postecoglou is under pressure to deliver the Europa League with his side lingering in the bottom half of the Premier League and out of the FA Cup.

The former Celtic boss pretty much assured the club’s supporters that he would deliver a trophy in his second season and ending the campaign trophyless and in the bottom half of the Premier League will surely see him relieved of his duties.

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Iraola has been tipped by many to succeed Postecoglou if he gets sacked and a report from The Athletic says Spurs will target the 42-year-old if they get rid of the Australian.

Indeed, Iraola will be the London club’s ‘top target’ should they part ways with Postecoglou.

With Postecoglou’s position ‘under increased scrutiny’, there is a good chance Spurs will be searching for a new manager this summer, though their current focus is ‘finishing the season strongly’.

Even with a Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt around the corner, ‘there are question marks over his long-term future’, which is in ‘serious doubt beyond this season’.

Iraola only has one year left on his Bournemouth contract but Spurs would have to pay a £10million release clause should they wish to appoint him.

This is ‘unlikely to be a barrier’, though it all comes down to Iraola, who could be courted by other clubs in the summer, namely Real Madrid.

Also ‘under consideration’ at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are Brentford boss Thomas Frank and Fulham’s Marco Silva, the report adds.

Silva was considered in the summer of 2023 and ‘reached the final three’ candidates, meaning he is ‘the second likeliest for the role behind Iraola’.

Tottenham star Cristian Romero is being linked with a high-profile exit this summer, with Atletico Madrid leading the charge.

Romero, 26, is a World Cup winner and the starting centre-back for the world champions and has played 115 games for Spurs since joining in 2022.

Alongside Micky van den Ven, the duo have formed a strong partnership that, when fit, has been fundamental to the club’s form. However, regular injuries have derailed that and resulted in the type of form we are currently seeing this year.

Sky Sports claim that the Spanish giants are all in on a potential move, and all signs point towards an exit for the ex-Atalanta defender who has two years left on his current deal.

Journalist Matteo Moretto claims that the Argentine is ‘willing to do everything’ to leave the club this summer, who is likely frustrated by the club’s regression this season after losing 15 league games.

FourFourTwo understands that Spurs could start the bidding at a whopping €95m, which would constitute a strong profit on the £42.5million spent to acquire him.

With both Axel Witsel and Cesar Azpilicueta in the twilight of their careers at 36 and 35 respectively, a new defender in his prime would galvanise this strong Atletico side under Diego Simeone that are currently challenging for the title.

Clement Lenglet is also on loan and will likely return to Barcelona in the summer and Robin Le Normand and Jose Gimenez could be improved on with the addition of Romero.

If he did opt to join then there would be no better manager to link up than the fiery and passionate Simeone who would champion his aggressive style.

However, he would have to manage his aggression, given he has been sent off seven times in his career, with five coming by way of a second yellow card and two being straight red offences. Nevertheless, it would be incredible fun to watch.

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Replacing Romero with Premier League quality

Given that Romero is a high-value asset with his age, international status and quality, they could easily reinvest that into their defence with Premier League quality. Namely, Marc Guehi at Crystal Palace, whose deal expires next summer.

However, they are set to face stiff competition from the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle United and others, given his experience and clear improvements at the top level over recent seasons.

Ange Postecoglou has been warned that unless the team go on a run from now until the end of the season, he will be sacked by the club.

That is the prediction made by former scout Mick Brown who believes the Australian could be for the chop should results not improve.

Spurs occupy 14th spot with just nine games to go in the season and a Europa League win is the only chance of some success for Postecoglou’s side.

Despite an injury-hit season, Postecoglou is still under pressure, having failed to address a slump that began midway through his first year in North London.

With that form in mind, which has seen Spurs win just 10 games this year, former scout Brown believes the 59-year-old Australian could be shown the door in the summer unless his side goes on a run of form.

“Tottenham, unless they put a run together from now to the end of the season, you would think that things might happen [to Postecoglou] there in terms of the sack for the manager”, Brown told Football Insider.

As for who should replace Postecoglou, Brown reckons another manager currently working in London fits the bill.

“Marco Silva would certainly be top of the pops in terms of competition for that [managerial] spot, that’s what I’m hearing from my sources there.”

Silva signed a new deal until the end of the 2025-26 season at Fulham in 2023, having turned down interest from Saudi Arabia.

Postecoglou has reportedly been told by chairman Daniel Levy that the club must qualify for Europe next season should he wish to remain in charge.

Even if England is awarded more European spots, it is unlikely that Tottenham, who are 13 points off sixth-placed Newcastle, would qualify through their league position.

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That means the Europa League is Postecoglou’s best chance of saving his job with the London side facing Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals.

Success in that tournament is no given, though with the likes of Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, Rangers, Lyon and Manchester United still in the hat.

Away from Silva, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has been linked to the Spurs role as has Brentford boss Thomas Frank.

There is reaction to an England ladder which placed Jude Bellingham above Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice, and Dominic Solanke higher than Liam Delap.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

England ladder ahoy

Just a few comments:

Mike

Poor Jarrod?

I was confused by Tom G feeling sorry for Jarrod Bowen, who got his chance to impress but didn’t really take it against Latvia. Tom compares the situation to when Andy Johnson was called up and played out of position, but the comparison is frankly a bit odd.

Jarrod Bowen is 28 and has played the vast majority of his career as a right winger, I hardly think he has forgotten how to do so just because he’s been covering for Antonio for a few months. And besides, what is the alternative? Bowen isn’t going to be picked as a 9 for England, because that would be absolutely mental.

To get a chance in his most natural position is the best and only chance he was ever going to get.

Phil, London

The law is an asterisk

I read the mail from Mannix (Boro Fans) and he made interesting and valid points.

However, he fell into the trap that many seem to, and stated ‘City fans will never forget those moments, acquired unlawfully or not’

Unlawfully implies criminality, and City, and their employees, are not subject to anything like criminal proceedings.

Rules may have been broken. It’s very different to laws being broken, and this should be clear in the way it is written about.

A, LFC, Montreal

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Tone it down

While not strictly related, Keith in the mailbox did touch on an ongoing issue with this site of late. Specifically, now that we’re all being forced to pay to view this website (either with money or our personal data), do you think you could tone down the hyperbolic, tribalist clickbait nonsense? It’s exactly the sort of thing that I (and many others, I’m sure) have historically come to this website to avoid, but the descent over the last couple of years into the sort of childish mocking and ridicule that genuine football fans despise has been so, so disappointing.

Even as an Arsenal fan, I’ve found myself feeling sorry for Spurs fans this season due to the repeated and unwarranted kickings their team has received in some of your articles. Yes it’s fun to see them struggle, and yes I’m sure the thought of Arsenal failing to win the league is ROFLMAO, but when your writers start sounding like the perpetually antagonistic pub d*ckhead, then honestly I might as well just start hanging out with Jason Cundy.

Matt, AFC (at least the Mailbox still has some well written and insightful pieces)

Less crust, more trust

Nicholson, you miserable crusty old sod.

Your latest article reads like it was written by a bloke who peaked in ’66 and hasn’t seen a decent game since. Lay off the bloody negativity for five minutes, will you?

You bang on about Tuchel being an “elite” manager like it’s a bad thing. Newsflash: We hired him to win, not to give everyone a cuddle and sing Kumbaya.

And while we’re at it, let’s address this sh*te about club management being harder than international management. Picking a squad from dozens of different clubs, each with their own style, and trying to get them playing as a team in ten training sessions is arguably much harder than handling a settled club side. An elite manager working for an elite team has an elite recruitment team, so it’s not as if recruitment is something to beat Tuchel with.

Your bit about the “hipster’s choice” and “footballing ark of the covenant” – that’s rich. Especially from someone with pre-historic football rose-tinted glasses. A bit of jealousy, methinks, from someone who rates themselves as a hipster.

So, instead of wallowing in your nostalgic misery, how about we give Tuchel a chance to prove himself? He might fail, sure. But at least he’s got a plan. He saw what went wrong in the tournament finals and is figuring out how to address that during the qualifying stages – something Southgate (whom I liked) only appeared to do after the qualifiers.

Your nostalgia for Southgate’s “beta male culture” is touching, really. But last I checked, we’re not here for group therapy sessions. We’re here to win something. Anything. It’s been 58 years, in case you’ve forgotten. Southgate’s initial very defensive approach worked until it didn’t. England couldn’t turn it on when needed – as against Italy in the final. The best chance since 1066 – I mean 1966 – to win something. We saw that over and over again. Enough to get through the early rounds but not enough to get past that final hurdle.

Tuchel will get some things right and some things wrong in the early stages, but as long as we qualify and he learns enough to make England more competitive in the finals…. Look at how we crucified Carsley for one bad game and then lauded him later—after he learned and adjusted.

Johnny, have a cup of tea and a lie down. I am sure there are some replays of First Division games from the 1970’s you can use to settle your nerves.

Paul McDevitt