The College Dropout

Have not considered Isak due to Etikite but that yellow changes things a little. A lot of rotation risk still. Also still a bit sensitive about his sale. I find posts about wanting him to die or anything very strange but actively wanting him to score? It’s a bit far rn.

Ndiaye is nailed on for me. He's a baller that lad and he's on pens. Been really impressed with Ndiaye over the last year. Grealish KDH Ndiaye is tasty But if they could get it to: Gueye KDH Grealish Alcarez Ndiaye or Dibling in there - they would be talking. Feel like Ndiaye would be better at AM or even as the striker - get some ballers behind him Everton could have something sexy brewing. But I like Everton and Ndiaye a lot. Think Grealish and KDH are good picks too. The penalties give Ndiaye the edge for me. Might keep KDH but he's on 4 yellows. That Stach looks good value at 5m too.

You’re going to blank for the 5th game in a row - against 10 man Sunderland? In the bin. I don’t even want to waste transfers on this. I could get rid of 80% of the team with ease anyway. I’ll have 4 transfers the next week. Probably 5 before I make another transfer. They’ve done well for me in the past so they are not DCL levels of hate. I think DCL scored twice in the first 6 games last season and then didn’t score another goal for the rest of the season. Couldn’t be more than 1 more.

Wildcarding. I’ve had enough of the Villa boys.

At a point he was a top goalkeeper. Seems a great lad to boot. Hope he’s good financially. Thanks for the memories Tim. Tottenham away, Palermo away. Some top performances. Was magnificent the season we finished 5th.

I’m not offended when ppl insult me here. You think I care that a professional footballer chooses another club over mine? its 7:20am and you’re on your phone/laptop worried about me. Get off my dick.

Questionable for what? I don’t go from admiring a players talents to hating them because they reject us or join a rival (for more money). I look at footballers as human beings.

Think he’s looked brilliant. Certified baller and looks like he’s becoming a bagsman. Im happy for him as I’ve been following him loosely since he was linked and always thought he could get to the top. It’s just a shame that it’s with Liverpool. I think he and Isak are both too good to play for the same team and can’t play together unless in a front 2. I expect when will have to leave over the next 2-3 years.

Slapped on The Sopranos. Again.

You guys hate Hustle Hard 305? I find him funny tbh.

Aye that gives him the edge on Yamal. But overall he’s been a joy to watch. Proven himself Baller of the Year.

He does like. He’s probably still under rated by many as a talent. Who is levels more talented than him as a footballer? Him at the 9 shows how complete he is as a footballer. Playing outwide limited his game. Congratulations Dembouz man. Well deserved winner. Ballon D’Or should be contested between supreme ballers not bloody DMs. ‘Donnarumma’ get tae fuck (I’m half joking) TCD Ballon D’Or: Dembouz Yamal Salah Mbappe Tonali

I understood his point re: Isak. but neither Eddie or the club has a history of doing that to players. I hate the Chelsea bomb squad shit.

Is this allowed?

Pau Torres is their best defender or at least up there with Konsa. The Malen transfer is weird. He’s totally unfancied. He looks dangerous to me whenever I see him. But Emery would rather play McGinn in an attacking role. Then they go and get Jadon Sancho too.

Villa missed out on CL on goal difference while being in the CL quarter final. They didn’t sell any key players in the summer either. The approach made sense, the execution was slightly out and the rest of the management/execution has gone haywire since. With the squad Villa has last season, Emery should’ve got them CL, if they had the squad from the start they would have. The squad they have now is good. It’s our turn to go CL and league again. It’s only Howe that makes me think we can hold it together. The squad is short again imo. 5th and CL QF would be brilliant with this squad.

Disagree. American owners don’t want to play Burnley twice while hoping to land big European sides in Europe. The money is in playing Real Madrid, Juve, Barca as many times a season as possible. the but American cartel owners view the PL as subsidising 14 other teams. That’s not going to change. So with that they will want a super league still.

Going for it and trying to consolidate CL place again I still think is the best right and decision. Ultimately they fell short by goal difference and it’s having a massive impact on them. And it’s more mental than anything. The squad isn’t any weaker than the one that qualified for the CL or the one that started last season. But something else is wrong. They’ve not sold any of their best players - the one you could argue they replaced twice. Where I think they have gone wrong strategically is the desire to keep trading. That impacts morale. If Emery was as good a manager as Howe I reckon Villa are in the CL or have a better chance of qualifying again. But I think their PSR approach last season was a good one. For us - we are reliant on the genius of Eddie Howe. Our PSR approach didn’t leave our squad in any better shape than Villa’s now. It’s only Eddie Howe that makes me think we can have a better season than Villa did last. If we don’t - we’ll lose Tonali imo. I pray the new leadership team is less risk averse and more innovative in the transfer market. Our initial aggressive squad building (and Howe) got us our success.

Good chance for non core starters to show something. Harvey Barnes show me something. Joe Willock show me something. Thiaw play solid for 90 minutes. Ramsdale even Elanga show me something. Tino. Trippier. Pope. Bruno. Tonali. Joelinton. Burn. Schar. Take the day off.

That game at Old Trafford was a sliding doors moment for them. Not just the £50m to alleviate PSR and maintain a feel good factor at the club. We lost at home to West Ham after about 12 games. We were mid table. Atmosphere rank. We had a spirited defeat against a top 4 side Liverpool maybe then Isak went on a tear, Tonali integrated and we changed the momentum of the season. But I think many forget how bad the atmosphere was at the club until about GW13-14. It wasn’t half as bad as Villa but it was bad. How held the fans and the group together just about. Villa kept trying to trade until the end. Players like Martinez wanting to leave and then staying. It kills the group. Similar happens to Gordon but not as bad and it messed him up too. Again smart thing Howe did was not wanting to lose any other key players to try and go again. Kept the atmosphere of the core group.

Going full tits up at Villa They don’t have an Eddie Howe to steer them through troubled waters (or a Sandro Tonali & Alex Isak)

Think Tino has looked good carrying the ball in the box.

Who is on penalties btw? I have a feeling it should be Schar. We might persist with Gordon though. Nick W or Wissa should claim it. Easy 3-5 goals a season.

Aye we’ve lost our best player so by definition our ceiling is lower. Elanga isn’t night and day better than Murphy so far. And the rest aren’t automatic starters (excluding the strikers who aren’t as good as Isak). It’s harder to get such big jumps in quality with the squad we have now. But even Burn to Botman you can see how Botman is better on the ball and almost as good in the air. Another Tonali/Bruno level player would take the level up despite how good Joelinton is. Having Gordon back will be big.

Being a CL side - you are always going to miss players. Arsenal were without Odegaard and Havertz on the weekend. Our issue is we still have a small squad. It's better now than it was last time and it helped us earn a point and rest some key players. The secondary issue is that I think the squad lacks class/ability. So far, it doesn't look like any of our signings are significantly better than a starter from last season. But they are nearly all better than the other players from last season. Higher floor lower ceiling.