The College Dropout

Joelinton was instrumental In the cup win and finishing 5th with some major performances in wins against the top 6 and ragdolling some of the Lower sides. That justifies the contract to me. HOWEVER - from a long term sustainability view Ashworths plan to move him on a few seasons ago was correct. It will be harsh to shift him with uefa counting it imo. Anyway I hope he has a wonderful season and gets to the World Cup and contributes.

Howe’s reputation for improving players is justified. He’s got the best out of big talents. The best out of misprofiled or overlooked talents. And he’s got the best out of limited talents. I’ve seen Jamaal Lascelles drill passes through the lines repeatedly. Lascelles, Dan Burn in the CL not looking out of place. Howe would have this Man U squad on the periphery of challenging for the title.

None of these players have finished in the top 7 - three years in a row. there’s a timeline where Sarr and Semenyo get moves to top 6 clubs. Still time for Semenyo.

I think someone showed here that he is underperforming his expected goals over the past year but not by a crazy rate. He should be a 1 in 4 man but he’s a 1 in 5 man. He’s not a crisp finisher or a composed one so that’s not a massive surprise.

Dyche is in the bracket of "PL survival specialist" which comes with being sacked the next season as standard. In about 2.5 years West Ham will get ideas above their station Nuno and he'll be sacked. He'll end up back at Forest at some point.

ON Gordon - never been a massive fan. I never put him in the same category as Bruno or Isak - he's too technically limited for his position. He has to be right on it mentally to deliver. He needs to be at the far post for tap-ins every time. I think people are often overly harsh about his general play. He often looks our most dangerous wide player for whatver that is worth. I do think he needs to be shown he can be dropped. If he's not pressing like a mad man and running back, he's not on it.

Nobody would think Burn & Murphy could play in a top 5 team or 7 team 3 years in a row.

Elanga can't control a football. Gordon keeps the ball a level better than Elanga/Murphy. IMO Elanga/Murphy are unique in how their fundamentals (for their position) causes moves to break down. Pope too. Joelinton to a lesser extent, he keeps it simple and can often use his strength or some quick feet to manoeuvre himself. I do think we need a better footballer for Big Joe though. I give wingers less grace for this than CMs, I give CMs less grace than fullbacks etc. For their positions I think Burn and Tino are fine. Burn doesn't play through the lines like Botman but he keeps it ticking calmly enough.

Same. I refuse to believe it’s going to be this bad consistently and that’s how he’s always played. It’s bad. The fans will eventually groan at such bad fundamentals. It just has to improve. His take on stats suggest he’s not a master manipulator of the football but neither is Anthony Gordon. But Gordon’s first touch is consistently solid. That’s why despite being technically limited imo he doesn’t stand out negatively for England. His touch, general build up is solid. Elanga’s touch can’t continue to be this bad. In general build up he’s been no better than Murphy, which is Murphy’s biggest weakness.

While I think Eddie will get the best of him and will become super effective in time. It’s fair to be critical of signing a winger that seems to have trouble trapping and controlling the football. i also think it makes it harder to eventually sell them for decent money.

A must win if we are aiming for top 8. Pretty crucial win for a comfy playoff spot too tbh.

If you buy them from the PL.

Frimpong’s attacking style is suited to Isak. Salah/Bradley on the right and Gakpo on the left stink for Isak. Etikite is better suited to play with Salah. Better at linking up, playing wall passes and such.

It’s critical every season if you want to keep and pay your CL level players.

They could still go down with Dyche mind. For the first team in a while 17th might need 33-36 points to stay up.

Signing Etikite was a dickhead move. I do love Nick W mind.

It doesn’t even have to be possession-based but just better in settled possession. Pope, Joelinton, Elanga/Murphy, sometimes Tino in the side it’s hard to get the ball down and get it moving. Last season that triangle of Longstaff, Tino and Murphy was super bad at times. Couldn’t build or sustain attacks.

They make each other look worse. Salah and Gakpo don’t suit Isak. They don’t look for him early at all. Wirtz on the left and Frimpong in the side somewhere would suit Isak a lot more. 2 players that would look for him early. Gakpo and Wirtz doesn’t work either.

He doesn’t know what to do and the Liverpool players don’t look for him half as much. His confidence isn’t there. We used to look for him when the ball wasn’t there for him. Howe ball looks for the striker early. Liverpool haven’t had a prolific striker since Suarez. They have not played for a striker for a long time. It’s in our DNA to play for the striker. We’ve never had a good side without a 9 scoring regularly.

It’s disheartening as a player. I reckon they won’t have rated Ange but at least he would try and play some football.

Was proper shit too.

Frimpong has been good since coming on. Got Dorgu on toast.

I like him as a player but he’s been off it totally.

Isak has been doodoo. He’s been so bad. I’m starting to believe he’ll fail FAIL

We can blitz teams with the press and on the counter. But we struggle to get it down and play. Proper top teams tend to kill games off with the ball. Sideways stuff. We can only attack or defend. So we often run it up because we keep attacking. Playing that way with European football is a risk. To become a top side I felt we needed a little more football in midfield and on the wings. Let’s see how Ramsey settles in but I was thinking more Tonali/Bruno levels.