The College Dropout

Cole Palmer is a better footballer than Anthony Gordon. Gordon may end up the more effective player. But Palmer is more talented at the game.

It's Liverpool's to lose. They are heavy favourites. It's just an example.

1. I agree with this - which is why I didn't reference Villa in particular as I assume their wages have increased a lot. West Ham's like-for-like I think is significant. The difference to West Ham is £50m. That's the salary for Isak, Botman, Bruno, Tonali - bonuses and all. The gap to Villa will be smaller I'm sure. For comparison, an extra £50m puts us above Spurs and in league with Arsenal. We are in a different league in wages to West Ham, Brighton and Wolves. Finishing below 1 of them... ok. But all 3? That's a bad season. 2. This is a fair point. Those bonuses were earned as meritocratically as possible though. 3. I'm using this to judge the whole club's performance. Players, staff, management, and leadership. It's not just Howe. Those people are meant to eventually add value on the grass through better scouting, data analysis, injury prevention, psychonalysis etc. And again it's like for like. My point isn't to say Howe is a failure and must be sacked. But if we finish 9th or below - it's a bad season and an underperformance. I still think we finish 7th. The biggest issue with Kieran's data for me is that it's always a window or two behind the current state.

Villa do have a lot of long-term injuries. They'll do well to hold onto 4th/5th.

UEFA need to confirm maximum allowance but this is the assumption. It gets sticky if Villa win Conference or Brighton win Europa.

I agree with lots of this and disagree with lots of this. Agree with everything about confidence and fine margins. But that is elite sport. In any elite sport, compounding fine margins define over and under-performance. Again in any elite sport but really any profession. Anyone leading/managing a team or programme has to take responsibility for its performance. Even Howe wouldn't claim he has a small amount of responsibility of how things have turned out so far. I'm not suggesting that's the end of the world and he must be sacked or anything. His job is judged by results and he definitely holds himself to account. Because you rate and like him - it doesn't mean you should absolve him of his contributions. It's him when it works but not him when it doesn't? Life doesn't work like that. You know that. Man U comparisons are valid. They have the 4th highest wage bill in the league. Anything below 4th/5th is an underperformance. Aston Villa are likely to have played the whole season without their equivalent of Schar & Willock. And they will play the rest of the season without their equivalent of Lascelles, Joelinton & Burn. There's no excuse for Man U to finish below them outside of underperformance by squad/management/leadership and the fans already accept the leadership has underperformed. We should end the season closer to Villa than we are now both in terms of points and position.

And recently... so have we.

Every team has injuries man. Man U are missing their first-choice CB, LB and 2 starting CMs for most of the season. They have the 4th highest wage bill. No matter the injuries, the court cases, the disrespect.. anything less than 4th maybe 5th is a proper underperformance by the whole organisation. i think I said at the start of the season - with some bad luck with injuries we might be down to 7-8. I think that's fair. Good luck with fitness and continued momentum we would be 4-6th, closer to 6th considering Europe. Because I believe our manager is excellent, the squad is motivated and aligned and our recruitment is superior. Once you start going 9th, 10th, 11th... it's a bad season. Some of the factors i believe... you have to question if they hold true. Injuries contribute but there's an underlying underperformance from the squad, management and leadership. Every other team will work on the same basis.

Probably because actual accounts will be out of date with reality. These are 22/23 accounts I believe and others are still on 21/22. https://x.com/KieranMaguire/status/1762492809121280064?s=20 But it's the most accurate data available.

One of the teams above is Chelsea. And there’s a £50m+ gap between us and the other teams sitting above us btw. Thats the full picture of the finances.

500+ drone strikes. About 4,000 lives lost. A status-quo man. The head of US imperialism isn't for me like but I don't come here to talk politics. But there are many reasons to despise Mr. Obama. Charming and good looking though.

I despise him. But my point is valid. I don't think the players have the physicality or mentality atm to carry out what they have been coached to do. Again, that is partly down to Howe to achieve,.

Sounds like he was asking should we setup 3-2 in build-up. That's high-level stuff that's obvious to the untrained eye. If we have been coached defined patterns of play in possession - we would recognise them no matter who is playing. And some of them we do see e.g. the 8's pushing right up and supporting the striker. Our out of possession approach and patterns are obvious too.

What does the start of next season mean?

I think the players came up with that by themselves. I've heard Neville & Keane say they didn't practice those in training, the players learnt each others game and developed it themselves. Obviously Ferguson had a style he wanted to play but he wasn't instructive the way Guardiola or even a Rafa seems to have been. Think Howe might be similarish in that regard. I look at Spurs or Brighton and I think their managers practice that a lot. When players are missing - the patterns are still v. similar (and both have had bad injuries). Ours is a bit more dependent on personnel. Give it Bruno, run forward.

Tonali - can argue all day about if they should've known. Spending so much money on one player is always a massive risk. Barnes - think we should've got a creative RW. Still expect to be a good signing. Tino - great signing on paper.. needed more buy-in from the manager IMO Hall - well.. There's lots of ways the window could've gone. Could've tried spreading funds more. Mine is Kieran Maguire. Look him up on X. I've shared the precise post elsewhere on the board. He uses clubs latest public financial accounts. Most haven't been released for 2023. What's your source?

Agreed. That's how this forum is - someone is either the best thing in the world or the worst. No in-between. I might come across as a major Howe critic but I'm not. I just don't see him as infallible and I think he's made several mistakes and decisions. As well as some great ones. I also think other decision-makers at the club got things wrong in the summer.

Where has it been discredited? Injuries and injury management are a part of football. That excuse doesn't remove accountability (and that is wider than Howe). Our wage bill is £50m+ more than West Ham, Brighton and Wolves. That's the combined salary of Isak, Bruno, Botman, Trippier, Pope, Tonali and more. Finishing below all 3 (and Chelsea) would be a bad season. We finished 12th under Bruce. I don't think that will happen though. I reckon we'll win 6 out of 8 or something by the end of the season.

This I think is mental fatigue and a lack of confidence in the main. Starts dithering. Options close.

Mo Salah plays on the wing. Any central attacker needs to be able to play with their back to goal. Gordon did it pretty well last night - dropping off and linking up play. Isak doesn't look 100% fit so needs to be managed carefully. One larger point. Eddie's system only seems to work when the press is super intense. Even when fully fit - I don't think Isak has the conditioning for it for 90 minutes at the moment. He needs a fully summer to get his conditioning to the right levels. If he needs surgery - he may not get the time.

Thanks Martin. Made some big saves too in the game. That final penalty save was magnificent too. Fingertips onto the post.

Agreed. Brighton's wage budget is like 13th or 14th highest in the league. Excellently managed. I'm not against his approach. Like Almiron - he often sets the tone for the team. Aggressive, first to the tackle etc. Both of them force the team up the pitch when out of possession.

It's not all on Eddie by the way. I think our recent transfer strategy has been dodgy.

Gordon is very solid technically but he's not progressive or creative with the ball. For a winger he doesn't beat a man often or carry the ball loads. He doesn't often play a cute pass through the lines. All the cute passing comes from Schar, Trippier & Bruno. All the progressive running on the ball comes from Willock, Joelinton and Livra. Neither Gordon or Tonali or the type to pass it through the lines loads. Tonali has a great switch and cross mind and can run with it. Gordon is a nice crosser off both feet too. The technical profile I'm describing is more Paqueta, Maddison & Palmer. Having another proper baller will help us keep possession better and higher up the pitch.

Couldn’t agree more. We finished 12th, 13th, 13th in three preceding seasons. 2 of them with Bruce as manager. Finishing 11th with Isak, Bruno, Pope, Botman? Crazy.