The College Dropout

Against good teams with 10 men we get stuck in no man’s land where we don’t attack with full throttle but also end up overly susceptible to the counter. Against 10 men you want to go side to side, run the legs down, have faith that a goal will come. But our crowd gets nervous at long passages of play without a shot then the players get nervous. Chelsea are also well suited to playing with 10. They do a lot of boring passing with a numerical disadvantage breeds belief and hope and helps against getting tired. I’ve seen a lot about Chelsea playing well. I don’t see it. Chelsea have a lot of possession and they maintained it with 10. But that’s it. They only created 2 half chances and Pope made only 2 saves of note. Both comfortable.

A point is good for morale. But agree this is a free hit. We need to win 1 - but don’t need to win this 1. Beating Arsenal would be amazing though.

I should stay away from this thread. We’ll get the 3 points needed and secure CL. We’ll sign Morgan Rogers June 30th. And challenge for the league next season. Win it the next. Eddie Howe statue by 2030.

Lucky for Aston Villa - Spurs and Man U aren’t top 12. They are facing second string and/or unmotivated teams with 2 of the most tactically predictable managers in the league. I don’t really care about Aston Villa. We are going to finish above them. Macro view - Villa are a bigger rival than Man U and Spurs. Their ownership’s aren’t levels. I don’t either ownership will make enough compounded good decisions. If not for FFP us and Villa would be title challengers. We will both find a way to make it happen.

We had an awful injury record with a small squad and got 60 points. Thats our floor. 60 points. Keep what we have. Add 3 or 4 quality players. Maybe 1 or 2 youngsters and we could challenge. Had we had Tonali firing all season, we would’ve got close to mounting a title challenge this season alone. We need bodies. But not 6 or 7.

That won’t happen if we qualify for the CL. We would have just qualified for the CL and won a cup. Why would we make wholesale changes?

Think Any PL side in the top 12 would have a decent crack at making the Europa league final this season. They wouldn’t have got to the final last year with Atalanta and Leverkusen. It’s genuinely harder to win a domestic cup this season. At least 3 of our 4 wins against Spurs/Man U were ‘live’ games. We smashed a live Man U at OT. We are good. But that is insane.

Adding 3-4 and keeping who we want will give us the squad. I think we are 3 quality players away from being as good Arsenal and Liverpool. 1 pacy quality defender. Another bionic midfielder with ability. And another attacker - preferably a creator like a left footed Cunha. With that we could win a 85 point league imo. In fact - if we ‘just’ signed a Cunha/Palmer level player. Another top quality technician that wants the ball at all times. It would add another dimension and we could have a challenge. This is why I’m so keen on CL. The best teams in the division are only 1 or 2 quality players above us. We’ll have a small squad and need a bit of luck. I think every team apart from peak City need that bit of luck with injuries.

Don’t overly care. We are good and Everton are shit. We take care of that and nothing matters. if we play our best - the game could be over by half time. We could grind out a 1 nil. We’ll find a way to beat Everton.

They are also shit. Don’t forget that. a shit team either hungover from a cup win or low morale from losing. impossible to go in mentally 100%. And again. They are shit. Villa are good.

we always had the CL to chase. Spurs have nothing.

Winning EL won't be transformational for Spurs. The Spurs "project" is not about winning trophies. It's not something they will consistently do. It's not important to Levy and the club embodies it. They only giving Europa a good shot because of CL qualification. Man U managers need to win trophies. Which is why they have won 3 different types, some of them multiple times, since Ferguson left. It's transformational for us because our "project" does require winning trophies. And we've only been trying to win trophies for the last 3 years.

Don't care. Due to their ownership both aren't title threats IMO. Due to finances Man U in particular will always be competitive. But Levy will never spend the money and Man U won't make enough compounded good decisions. Both of their managers aren't the right men for the jobs.

Arsenal need 2 top quality attackers. Martinelli is not at the level.

Harry Kane does it a lot. If he can't win it, he'll back into a player. It's one of those things that need to be outlawed from the game. Immediate yellow. It's dangerous. Chelsea are a pretty small team. I think it's a deliberate tactic from the coach. I get the idea of "if you can't win it, make it difficult for the opponent" but those snide back-ins and forearms to the face is too far.

Looks like he does none. Common thought is *some* strength training will help prevent injuries. Will literally give you stronger ligaments and connective tissues etc. but if he thinks it will increase his injury record then it will increase his injury record. There's a sprinter. Who was world class that never did weights. He finally started lifting in his mid 30's... then started getting PBs at a time when he should've started slowing down.... and it was attributed to the weights. Think it's Kim Collins. He hardly hulked up either. Might be PEDs.

He's well off it in Eddie's own regard too though. That's not going to help his development. He has the right team around him though. And a pre-season will do wonders. Hall learnt it quickly. Hall became an Eddie Howe player, Barnes too - by becoming that split second more aggressive in their play.

Man U last day of the season. But win or lose the Europa I can't see them turning up. Forget it. Villa 69 points.

He's one of the advantages of having a slightly older squad than most. We bring on seasoned pro's to close out games. You can tell he's a proper character behind the scenes. Good professional, supports the team, trains well, mentally prepared for battle even though he's unlikely to get many minutes. I don't think Chelsea have that type of culture in their club. Lack of leadership in management and above - most of these players have seen out 2-3 managers already. Too young. Too detached from the fans. Lack of leadership in the squad. I look at Krafth and I know "he gets it". It gives me faith that Miley will make the step up because he's surrounded by players that get it.

Nah it doesn't. It would be good for momentum though. I reckon we get a draw. I think the players are in line for massive bonuses if they qualify for the CL too. We get it done against Everton man, at the worst.

We just haven't been that side. We aren't that side. It's Chelsea and Forest that have been the poorest over the last 20 GW's or so and I think are most likely to have a twist go against them. Villa have been brilliant and have 2 of the best matches coming up. I expect Man U to win the Europa, so will have a hangover on the last day.... and they are shit. It's all coming up Villa.

Yep. I've got no reason to think we won't beat 1 of Arsenal or Everton. We should win and qualify for the CL. And this is with a fair few injuries now. As you say, if we get CL, we could add 2-4 players to take us to another level. We'll have had 2 seasons on 69-71 points and another 60-point season. Add another 2-4 quality players and we could be a 75-85 point team or a 70-80 point team + a deep CL run. That's another level from where we are and I think it keeps the Tonali's and Isak's long-term where we can add more of them. Could we start doubling our Saudi-sponsorship deals? And it helps keep the Saudi's super engaged. If Villa gets CL, they can continue to wheel and deal and keep a similar squad level. If they can maintain this level of squad, they have the potential to be an 80-point side. That is why I hope they miss out and need a selling summer.

Random players I think have done really well this season: Sels Aina VVD Gabriel Robinson/Hall Gravenberch Tonali Tielemans Salah/Mbeumo Isak/Wood/Wissa Rogers Lack of quality at LW these days. Once upon a time you had peak Sterling, Rashford, Mane etc.

???? We didn’t need anything against Villa which is why it will be in our hands in GW38 no matter what happens next week. Everton are still shit.

Or win against Arsenal. We’ll beat one of them at least.