The College Dropout

You do love your Nigerian lads though. He’s not a baller. Think Isak, Bruno, Hall. Players with that extra bit of class on the ball. Touch under pressure, clean ball striking, ability to glide past players, weight of pass, ability to see and pull of the unexpected etc. The Willock - Isak goal against Spurs. The way Isak takes the ball with his left foot in stride, shifts it perfectly to the right in one smooth motion, strikes it clean and hard into the corner. That’s a baller. Pure footballing ability.

I’ve seen enough of him. The pace is amazing. He has impressive underlying stats this season. I do think he lacks something. In the CL final he missed a few great chances. Never looked like scoring either - something in the technique or the mentality. Couple years left on the contract. Might get a fair fee for him - might be a bargain. Im fucking desperate for a RW. £60m for Elanga or £30-40m for Adeyemi?

I don’t think Adeyemi is a baller. But he is super quick and direct. After seeing what Howe has done to Gordon, Almiron for awhile, Murphy, Howe could turn him into something special. We don’t seem to be going after ballers so… Adeyemi’s a fair shout.

Aye. He was a limited footballer but he had great athleticism and set the standard for work rate and desire which is admirable. I can never dislike a player that gives his all. He was so limited and some were so in love with him they couldn’t see it.

Indeed.

I like Adeyemi tbh. A Howe level improvement and he’s world class. Does seem to lack a bit mentally.

Yeh but a high average. Or what I would call a high ceiling. You take out Caicedo and Palmer you get: Lavia Santos Neto Enzo Madueke Jackson All of these would either start for us or be super important squad players (like Trippier or Barnes). I actually think all of these could be elite under a Howe like manager. It’s a talented squad at the least. Very talented. Obviously for all the money spent you would expect PSG levels of talent and ability. And they don’t have that at all. But that doesn’t make it a Man U level of average squad. Genuinely average PL players. Chelsea are all good talented players in the main. Most would play for other top 8 clubs. Man U’s wouldn’t.

On paper it’s lacking imo. I expected them to go with a Rodrygo. IMO this new CL format and 5 subs requires top teams to need top players on the bench. PSG are bringing Barcola/Doue off the bench. Liverpool have been bringing on top class attackers off the bench. Chelsea’s quality is deep. So is Man City’s. I think Arsenal need a Madueke level player that’s not an automatic starter

Agents are maximising what their clients can get. No problem with that element at all.

Trafford and Elanga want to join. It would only be where we are the only interested party at this level offering higher wages. If not for wages, would Tonali want to join?

No issue with Andy Howe or deals taking long. It’s easier to sign Matt Targett and Dan Burn than other teams very best players. Gotng after PL players is worthy of debate. But once we are doing that, and its teams most valued assets in their prime years. It’s going to take awhile to get done. We have lost some urgency and thrust from the Staveley days. That’s a problem when you don’t have an owner involved in transfers or someone with true power and influence. At least that’s not what it looks like.

Madueke is too much of an Arsenal player. All fart no shit. He’s a talented player. But they need someone more impactful in the final third. He’s done ok at LW is that where he’s getting most of his minutes or is he the understudy to Saka the fans have been screaming for?

He’s pretty good with his left mind. He’s not Perisic/Martins level of two footed but moreso than pretty much anyone else in our squad. Which I think is a major reason for us wanting him. If he was Isak level of right footed I don’t think we would be interested. From what I’ve seen Elanga, he’s more of a modern wide forward than a Murphy old school RW type. Elanga over performed his expected assists considerably so it will be interesting to see if he remains a primary assist threat. His underlying numbers didn’t suggest that as much it would look based on G/A. I see this similar to the Gordon transfer as I think it’s the profile Howe loves most.

In.

Real are slicing through them.

True.

Yeo just expired. And it seems they were considering an extension.

Nobody is found innocent though right? it’s guilty or not guilty. Not quite the same thing

Disgraceful by Arsenal. lad also thought he was invincible.

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a central defender described as raw but sounds full of upside

They also did better than us in the league vs our CL season despite playing twice the amount of CL games. Why was that?

Yeh that’s my point. They did better because their squad is better Unless the squad is significantly improved - I’d be shocked if we got to the CL QFs and finished level on points with 5th or better and not sell in June. Would love it though. I might take 2 of those now if offered. Let’s see where the squad is in September

PSG average 62% possession in the champions league. 70%+ in Ligue 1. Our average in the PL is 51%. We spend a lot more time out of possession. They spend most of their time with the ball, much less of the time is spent closing opposition down. They also have a massive squad and much higher quality players vs opposition. How many teams play regularly in the CL that average 51% possession? Would be interesting to see possession stats on the first 3 years of Liverpools Klopp team. By the end they were dominating possession like crazy. That was mostly out of fear from the opposition. They would win any basketball game.

It is tough judging the ball retention thing with Forest because they just don’t play that way. All of their players have poor stats on that. As do pretty much all of ours too. I guess it indicates a continuation of style. The elephant in the room is that those styles don’t scale with European football and establishing a team as a levels elite.

Mate - I know we support Newcastle United but the facts are the facts. I’m not suggesting anything - I’m stating some simple facts.