The College Dropout

Aye. Good shift defensively. Solid passing. Kept going. No mistakes. Good nights work.

Absolute baller. Has he played much with Barnes before? Thoufht Barnes and Gordon close to him running off him worked really well.

Benfica’s physicality isn’t PL standard. But technically they are very good. Showed it at points in the first half.

I just came

These are slow as fuck to a man.

He’s playing like a prime Stevie G

The King

That’s kind of the point of xg. It’s a wonderful finish.

Was it Martial or Mbappe that finished from an angle like this I the CL for Monaco?

Only Barnes could finish that dinner at the club. Love that.

This second half is not it.

Some moss that Miley

Wasn’t a foul by Lukebakio

He's got a contract for the next 2 seasons on big wages. As much as I love him, he looks a diminishing power with diminishing resale value. In our position, you want to sell our star players right at the end of their peak. 1-2 years before a drop off in performance and value.

Agreed. He’s a legend to me. All of them that had a major hand in that win can do no wrong in my eyes unless they go the Isak route. Big Joe was a monster in the final. I will never forget. It doesn’t matter if I think we should have moved him on, I can only speak of him with the utmost respect. Sean Longstaff hitting that winner against Forest. Pivotal moment.

I obviously never wanted Souness but he was a lot worse than I could have imagined. For some reason i thought he would win a trophy here before things went south. Within 6 months Bellamy and Robert were gone right? Signed Boumsong in January. Absolute bobbins. Souness the worst manager i've experienced due to what he inherited. SMC next. I don't count Carver.

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.