The College Dropout

Aye he's clearly fallen out of favour. He was hooked at HT in that game iirc. Might have started the next game too and also got hooked at HT. Do you know how bad you have to be to be subbed at HT by Howe? Twice? Since then he's only got proper minutes once we've proper been battered and the game is gone. Rarely comes on when a game is tightly contested. Zero trust.

At the time the loan was viewed as only a FFP hack.

We've got £55m worth of left-back on the books. Crazy. Matt Targett made sense at the time but it's a horrible transfer. Will be hard to shift considering his wages.

I don't think he meant that. He was trying to say "yes every transfer has to be right because of FFP.. but it's also not possible". But he didn't commit on the obligation but said earlier Hall was getting closer to activating it. Regardless of what he says, Eddie doesn't think he's ready at a minimum. 25:25

Eddie starts with a back 5 surely? Now's the time surely? I can't see Burn being dropped. We're not the biggest team if he's not in there, Joelinton's not in there etc. Arsenal are best in the league from set plays. But he surely can't have him at LB in a back 4.

Debt doesn't have anything to do with anything. Anyone with a £5m house and a mortgage would probably have more debt than me. But they have the income to service it comfortably which is the important thing.

The quality in the Conference League is low man. The PL clubs in it should win it every season. The purpose is to get those non-top 5 leagues deep into Europe playing competitive matches and it's great for that. Great for fans too - some great away games. Friday off work it wfh - brill.

Eddie Howe on Alex Isak and Joe Willock: "They have trained this week; it has been good to see them back on the grass. It has been a long time for Joe, he is a huge player for us. We are pleased for him to be back amongst the group, he is a very popular member of the squad. Alex is an important player for us too, we have one more training session today - we won’t take any risks - but we are pleased with their progress."

Because Gordon has improved as a player and is playing ina better team. Even today his underlying statistics aren't phenomenal but they are good for goalscoring and he looks a very tidy finisher. Where his underlying stats are weak (creativity, ball progression, chance creation) - he makes up for with winning fouls and penalties. When he does create they tend to be quality chances too. And it backs the eye test - he's a good player technically but he's not particularly creative. Palmer had minimal data before his Chelsea move. But his underlying data (and I just don't mean goals and assists) suggests he's a v. talented player. Again, i'm not talking goals or assists. He gets on the ball, he progresses the ball, he creates chances, he beats players. But more than anything the lad plays the game beautifully. Like how Bruno, Schar & Isak are beautiful footballers.

He's mentioned it before. Which didn't make sense. When Hall was signed - the noise was that we had an obligation to buy him with minimal criteria and the loan element was just to balance FFP. Similar to the Wood sale - he just had to make 5 appearances.

Too slow and boring.

I thought Moyes should've went last summer tbf. This was the perfect summer for those midtable teams to take a risk.

Not in the same way though. Caicedo did look good in the Brighton system but that was a functioning system. Chelsea's isn't. Purple patches like Miggy, Lingard or Cisse usually involve a player overperforming their underlying Expected Data or they don't maintain their expected data. The underlying data on Palmer is pretty excellent. And while Miggy was scoring goals - he's never looked an excellent footballer to me - at least technically. Doesn't beat a man often, never been a creative passer, he's scored some delightful goals but never looked a fine striker of the ball, first touch or basic passing can be erratic. Take away goals or assists, Palmer lad looks a player. Enzo's stood out for me so can't comment. Enzo, Palmer, Caicedo in that Chelsea side, if you didn't know you wouldn't believe Palmer cost half the price of the other two.

And this is in a midtable team. This is an excellent playmaker. Have you watched him play? I don't know how you watch Palmer, Walcott and even wor Willock... and think the footballing ability is the same. And Walcott and Willock are very good players - with different skillset to Palmer. Outside of goals and assists - watch the lad play, Cole Palmer is a baller. Like James Maddison is a baller. Bruno G is a baller. But anyway - forget the actual player. We went for the wrong profile of player and have a lopsided squad as a result.

If Isak can't play 80% of games - we need to get rid. Solanke can play 80% of games himself. With FFP we can't have a £120m strike force while having Miggy Almiron at RW.

I'm not a Football Club decision maker with several professional scouts. It's not like one of you signed our players. These are professionals working with other professionals. The fact i didn't know Cole Palmer was this good isn't a poor reflection on me at all. But I did want that profile of player and I thought it was a mistake we didn't get a player there.

Don't make me say the other guy man. We could've diligently spend £40m on a RW.

Oh aye. It works because 1 is aging and injury-prone. And the other is picking up injuries.

Yeh and £40m on Palmer is better value for money than £40m on Barnes. He’s 4-5 years younger to boot.

I'm not sure he's prolific enough yet to be their main striker. It took Rodri & Gundo about 18 months to work well together. Alvarez only been a mainstay in the team this season. And in any case... the manager plays both of them when fit. That's the plan he's had for the season. And Alvarez didn't cost £50m. They've started like 6 games together in 18 months. Hardly plenty. With Gordon's form and signing Barnes - I think the plan was to rotate with CL football and otherwise have Isak as #1 with Wilson getting 20-30 minutes a game. Which is all good.

Even Alvarez has more minutes in other positions.

I agree. I suggested A and B is a valid route. To his credit, I think Howe has tried to do B for Isak at times. But his lack of conditioning and persistent injuries persist.

These all play together - not instead. Alvarez moves into midfield when Haaland starts. Havertz plays in midfield in the main (old tired eyes is starting upfront recently - Nketiah on the bench). Garnacho was cheap and plays on the wing. The back-up striker is Martial and he's backup backup. Diaz & Nunez often start together. Liverpool are stacked upfront tbf but they have a weak midfield. Unbalanced squad. Apart from Liverpool's unbalanced squad - no team has two £50m+ strikers that can only effectively play as a striker. We have Isak / Wilson / Gordon It's as good as any of these. Alvarez, Diaz, Havertz, Garnacho - none of these are centre-forwards and get more minutes in other positions. Solanke's a good PL player and will continue to score goals at this level imo. Miggy Almiron had a purple patch.

Why don't any other club have 2 "A standard" strikers? With FFP - it just doesn't make sense. Isak needs to improve his strength and conditioning so he can cope with the physical demands of Howe-ball better - that's route A. He visibly struggles with the pace of it. We also need to rotate more when he does get fatigued but that should happen less often. I don't see how we spend £50m on a striker - then have enough money for RW, LB & CB.

Love away goals. Added so much drama. You can be winning the tie and 1 goal means you're out. We've lost that jeopardy. Real Madrid are the only team that have made the CL exciting in recent years with their high-scoring games and dramatic comebacks. Top level football needs more jeopardy and luck. Top team playing away 1st and no away goals reinforces dominance of the strongest teams.