The College Dropout

Nah it's not man. The "cartel" are doing their job - protecting their own interests. I said it before - we are not top 5 footballing priorities for PIF. We're one piece - and not a cornerstone piece of their footballing ambition. PSG & City are at the heart of their owners ambitions in football. We are not that for Saudi. They'll keep doing things to strengthen our rivals.

Thats what made JP ideal. He could play with Isak justifying the big fee.

@gdm is right Gallagher would mean still needing a striker.

He’s not going to be Declan Rice, Rodri, Caicedo, Bruno G for any top side. Not even Spurs. Maybe Man U. He’s Curtis Jones for us at worst. I think that’s pushing 3k minutes if he’s fit all season.

He’ll get Curtis Jones minutes minimum

In the squad - yes. But in reality he gives us an entirely new option. he could legit play in our strongest team. When we have 4 games in 15 days. He can get 200 minutes across the games. The level in team doesn’t drop significantly. Maybe even increases.

Think it’s worth it at £45m for me.

Of the top 6 clubs they still have the least ambition though. There’s a planet Kudus goes to Arsenal, Liverpool or City imo.

For Howe I love Gallagher. Somewhere somewhere we need a baller though.

I think so too tbh. Definitely ability wise. He wasn’t at it last season though. So he’s in that pack for now. Underr the right coach he goes supersonic. Joining West Ham and Spurs seem like bad decisions to me though. Very sometimesy clubs. If he would’ve locked in last season he goes to a more serious club. I rate Frank a lot but the standards at Spurs are the lowest from the top 6 clubs.

Agree with this. There’s a temperament issue for sure. He’s had long spells of being 1 yellow card away from suspension and avoided the suspension (from yellow cards) so he can reign it in. We’ve got a number of players that do that - Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon. Mentally Bruno and Gordon in particular have bad swings. A manager like Howe helps both of them.

Some of this is down to play style but there’s a lot to suggest Madueke is better at build up play than Elanga. He keeps the ball better. Carries the ball a lot more. Much more likely to beat a man on the dribble. Their expected data in terms of goals and assists are similar. Where Elanga’s stats are better is team mates finishing off chances but we’ll give Elanga the edge there anyway. It’s roughly the same. It’s that Elanga seems a more focussed professional. Maybe better suited to Howe’s system. Madueke better suited to Arsenal’s system too. Or at least the clubs they are joining from play styles closer to the new clubs. Our style is closer to Forests than Arsenal or Chelsea. Which I think is a both a strength and a weakness. I think we need to get players a bit more their type to work towards our style of player. Rather than doubling down on our style of player. But anyway - we’ll see.

Madueke and Elanga are the same level for me. Kudus too. (I think they are all Gordon level talents. It’s about how consistent they can be and mentalities). Kudus has baller benefit from me. Different styles and attributes but all land as ‘good PL attackers’ essentially. someone like Cunha has separated himself from that pack and is worth more.

I try to not talk about players attitudes unless something is reported. Jackson has a disciplinary issue sure. Lots of yellows and at least 3 reds from memory. Attitude? Well he works hard on the pitch. Presses. Always on the move for his team mates. So when you say attitude - you referring to his body language? Or how you think he is behind the scenes? Like I don’t get into it about Gordon’s attitude. When he lost the ball against Arsenal and made a half arsed attempt at recovery - that I will talk about attitude. He needed to react better than that. But his general demeanour I don’t like telling about outside obvious frustration or if I think it’s impacting his game. I think both Jackson and Gordon often look frustrated. Jackson is often missing chances so why wouldn’t look frustrated? 😆

Yeh i'd take Jackson. I assume he'll cost £40m odd? That would be the blocker. Less than £30m is a bargain. He has everything Howe wants off the ball and on, he's just not a great finisher (and likes a yellow and red card). Talented player could go supersonic under Howe. Could also go West Ham and score 8 goals.

Adingra's won AFCON like and he looked one of the best players in that tournament. I thought he would kick on but he hasn't. Randomly Ismaila Sarr suddenly kicked on at Palace last year. He once looked like he could go up levels and his career just stalled. Joins Palace, gets 15 G/A and is a major factor in them winning the FA Cup. Sometimes talented players can just put it together. Biggest example is obviously Dembele.

If Elanga is £50m so is Madueke. PL clubs deciding to just gut the competition than go abroad. Apart from Liverpool and City.

Arteta is so boring in the transfer market. I’ve grown to like Madueke ish. But he’s not going to raise their ceiling. That’s what they need.

They aren’t selling the others are they? It’s just another top 6 team with what I’m calling a ‘super team’. Just dumb levels of depth. I really believe that’s the new normal with this new CL format for PL teams.

It would be MGW running down his contract. PSr is a concern for next June.

We’ll get the £15m lads and lasses.

TBf nobody’s offered money for Lascelles that we know of. Certainly not £12m that we know.

I personally prefer Kudus to Elanga under Howe. However gets him consistent and takes him up a level.

Kudus at Spurs stinks. But Kudus with Frank is powerful. Frank gets numbers from his forwards. interesting how it lands. You can’t overcome Spurseyness though. That’s my hope anyway.

Had not seen that. Seems half the league wants him - literally.