The College Dropout

I think in a cup final we beat Chelsea. But I expect Chelsea to finish above us as they have done for the past 2 seasons. Too much quality in depth. I expect 65-69 points from them.

You don’t have to be that good to get 62-68 points. So I still think one of them gets in the top 6 at least. Maybe both. Man U not playing in the CL is a huge advantage.

Simons had a rep prior to Germany. He’s a big name but I don’t think he’s massively rated. He’s been pap whenever I’ve seen him. Wirtz is way more over rated. The talk in Germany was that he was THE guy.

Owens reputation has everything to do with his age and goalscoring. Goalscoring is a skill and Owen had an elite mindset as a kid. ‘Yeh I’m just ignoring the fact he scored 40 PL goals before the age of 20.’ This is such a dumb take I’m out.

Awful.

Particularly in the 442 era. Wingers played to feed strikers and create.

Name the other teenage Golden Boot winners

Shay wasn’t much cop with his feet from memory. Certainly not great at kicking. Michael Owen won the PL golden boot in his first proper season at 17-18 years old. Younger than Mikey is now. Michael Owen was a phenom. He has a top 5 teenage resume of all time.

Ah here we go. He's the literal heartbeat of the side. I don't get annoyed at some fluctuation in performance levels. Lad is a machine. I'm sure he's played 95% of the minutes we've played in the league over the last 3 seasons. Does anyone know?

Lads missed less than 10 games since he's joined I bet. Definitely the case in the league.

Before my era but my dad absolutely crows at the mention of Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Maldini, Baresi etc.

We made N'Zonzi look like Paddy Vieira.

He was one of the best 10 or so CMs in the world for about 5-6 years maybe longer. He was elite.

It’s not true like. Gerrard ran games. Loads of them. He decided if it was time to pass it around. Attack. Everything. It’s a different style but he dominated all the same. Vieira did it a different way, Kante a different way. Kroos a different way. Barcelona is a specific style. And Xavi played a different role of which he might be a GOAT at. I do think he got too used to playing hero ball Gerrard. And he was tactically ill disciplined. But he was THAT guy. Maybe a little over rated by some but he was brilliant. Scholes was brilliant.

Yeh - 5–10 which is massive. 15-20 is finishing 14th or lower. We should aim to be a 66-70 point team. You would hope that 60 points is the floor.

I love Eddie - but this isn't true.

He ran games against us time and again

Given was a great shot stopper - that was it. He didn't command his box. Rooted to his line. I love the bloke. But Pope is considerably better.

I don't like a central defender who doesn't win his headers. Colo would get bullied too many times. On his day he was immense though. Schar is way better.

I think all English CMs are slightly over rated. It's not all their fault but even the best English midfields (remove Pep and Wenger) don't dominate on the ball on the big stages. Man U's midfield were lauded as the best in Europe in the late 90's along with Juve and Real... but if United won it was often on the counter (long time ago tbf). I'll take Xavi, Iniesta, Modric, Kroos, Pirlo, Seedorf, a prime Kante over them. Scholes is still an all-time great though. And the others too. They would come to SJP and regularly slap up whoever we had with ease 75% of the time. I remember Stevie G just schooling Jenas and Speed again and again. Bruno G was doing to Sporting what I saw Stevie G do for a decade.

If you enjoy the beauty of football, you enjoy Eden Hazard. Yeh he could've had more output. Could've been more consistent. But that wasn't down to a lack of ability. For me, Sunday afternoon - Eden Hazard would light up a 90 minutes of football so many times. The entire 90 minutes. A love playmaker man. Saying the likes of Bergkamp and Hazard are over-rated is anti-football to me.

Agree Shay Given was over rated. Pope is way better.

I find most deep-lying playmakers a tad over-rated as ballers. If they were so good technically, they would play further forward. Busquets, Rodri whoever. I love Toni Kroos, one of my favourite players. But.... Mesut Ozil is a more talented footballer. Tight spaces, touch, vision, Ozil is better. IMO the false 9 is the ultimate footballer. Because they do all of the most difficult things. It's the position for the complete forward.

I don't like Guehi physically beyond his pace. Much prefer Thiaw. But I like Guehi's composure and leadership. Intangibles.

How are we going to pay the wages for these players? And the fees? It’s difficult to surpass the top clubs consistently when we can only sign players they don’t want. And struggle to keep the players from us they do want.