Pata

They were better in the first half but poor in the second.

Fucking robbed of the penalties.

Could've been a straight red.

Shortstaff has been alright.

Nah, it's the pre-season thread.

Yeah, Lascelles is absolutely fine as a 4th choice CB for now.

I didn't see Anderson touching the ball or doing anything else for that matter. No idea he's playing if I didn't see the lineup beforehand.

Trippier is ridiculous and Almiron makes my posts about the RW position look stupid.

Benfica have some nice players.

ASM close.

Good turn by Longstaff, Bruno is magical in possession.

Nice FK.

That's not a foul.

Wew, Almiron with a lovely ball to Trips and scores.

I could watch the Mainz game and the stream looks fine for this one too in Finland despite the 'UK and Saudi Arabia only' thing.

I think the salaries depend a lot on where players are signed from and how much they earned there. If for example Bruno made 30-40k a week at Lyon and he gets 3-4 times here it seems like a good deal for him. But if he was already getting 100k a week at France he would be looking for 200k a week deal.

It's possible but looking at his stats he seems to be a bit fragile mentally based on that one season at Stuttgart and the Chelsea seasons. He has had seasons where he's exceeding his xG significantly and then seasons where he can't hit a barn door.

Werner isn't as bad as he has been at Chelsea, he scored 28 in 34 in Bundesliga before the move. A classic case of a bad start at a new club ruining his confidence and has never recovered IMO. Fresh start would be great for him (especially on a World Cup year) but seems far-fetched with those wages.

Or maybe Howe realises that ASM is miles ahead of our other options on the wings and has world class ability to go past players and tries to mold him to be more effective.

He would get those 3 appearances no matter how fit he was returning from the summer break.

He's so fucking slow, what have some of you been watching? Would never have believed I would be happy about his contract extension but fair enough, he's been extremely solid under Howe and it's only until 2024. Most likely a good personality to have around the squad too.

Ryan Fraser had one successful dribble last season.

Draxler has barely played for the last three seasons, ~2300 minutes combined in Ligue 1. 6 goals and 9 assists isn't that bad considering the minutes but he has played for a dominant team and often against tired legs. Who knows how he would do in the PL at this stage of his career and whether he even cares anymore.

Based on xG+xA his best season for us was 20/21, 0.39 per 90. 3 goals and 4 assists doesn't look that great but he only played 1578 minutes compared to 2825 minutes last season when he had 0.35 xG+xA per 90. His stats are pretty consistent over all three seasons and I too think they should be better despite being a fan of his. Really hope we can sign a good RW and see how he does then.