The College Dropout

He went to Bournemouth for £20m in 2017. He's always been a highly-rated player. He's rated higher than Botman to this day. He was a wonderkid at Chelsea. The fact he went to City after relegation says it all about his reputation—a good £40m to boot. His pedigree is higher than any of the Bournemouth players you've mentioned. A lot higher. Ake went for x10 more money from Chelsea to Bournemouth as Tosin to Fulham. It's a different level of prospect. I'm not against any of those transfers again. The one I've watched the most I like and don't have strong opinions on the others. But comparing it to £40m Nathan Ake or keeps our star CB on the bench for the NT doesn't make sense to me.

Even QF?

Maybe i'm over-pessimistic but when have we ever beaten a top team in a semi or cup final? I don't trust us to do it now.

My view on Dan Burn hasn't really changed. I've always thought he's a limited player. It's just being exposed now more than ever. I still like his profile - he's just not good at it. I don't like him as a CB either. I'd happily see him replaced by a good Botman level LCB who can play Fullback. Can spend £30-40m on him and shift 2 couple defenders for whatever we can get.

Nathan Ake was a genuine wonderkid and a fine player. He keeps Sven Botman out the national team and has racked up £61m in transfer fees. I think he's a better player than Sven tbh. It's not the same as Lloyd Kelly or Phillip Billing. I'm not against any of those transfers btw. I have no feelings on Kelly, Billing has always looked like a good player to me and Toney is a great player (and he won't be coming back here). But it's not comparable to Nathan Ake.

Manager might need to try and be a little flexible.

Pope gets to the ball before Elanga 95 time out of 100. It's not as bad or obvious as letting a shot go through your hands but it is poor goalkeeping at this level.

Annoyed with the Man U win. Think they’ll get 5th.

Doesn’t look a CB to me. But a great defensive fullback.

Congratulations Ivory Coast. Adingra showed levels between him and Aina. Adingra just turned 22, if he finds another level he’s going to be some player. Played off the left today but I sear I’ve seen him off the right for Brighton.

Yeh Wilson has better movement in the box. He’s a much more aggressive player and tussles with defenders. Chases and fights for duels better and wins enough of them to make a difference. Im a massive fan of Isak but he lacks aggression. The big issue is that Isak is often injured. I said it last season I think he needs to toughen up physically and mentally. From the naked eye he doesn’t seem to have developed significantly physically. Isak hasn’t looked fit for a lot of the season. ATM he doesn’t have the physical capacity to play Howe ball for 90 minutes every week. He gasses out after an hour frequently to the point he can barely move. And then he picks up an injury. This is consistent. Between Isak and Howe they need to manage Isak better physically. He needs better stamina and conditioning. And if he can’t cope with the physical load, fucking sub him when he gasses. We need to help prevent injuries for our strikers and not just keep doing the same things that we’ve done for the last 20 months that has seen both of them injured for large spells.

I agree. I just don’t dislike Villa and hate Man U. Man U are in trouble FFP wise too.

Feel like Man U will hunt Villa down if they win. I take no delight in that. I don’t think we’ll finish above Man U. And I don’t want them to prosper.

This is why I’m asking for examples. So you want the 18 year old version of JP straight from Brazil ? it’s such a difficult task. IMO it’s much easier to just manage Wilson’s minutes properly.

So a £30m backup striker when we have FFP restrictions. If we sell Wilson we might need to do that. JP almost exclusively plays as 10 for Brighton btw and almost exclusively played on the wing at Watford. I just feel like the mythical 3rd striker isn’t based on reality. And replacing Wilson would likely mean signing an inferior player. Would people be happy with a Wissa type backup striker? I look at the league and most good teams have a winger or 10 as a backup striker. Or a clearly inferior striker like Arsenal or Villa.

Can the 3rd choice striker of City or Arsenal or Villa or Man U or Spurs or West Ham do those things? This is why I’m asking you to name the profile of player. Give me an example that’s actively playing in the league. Sounds like you’re naming Chris Wood. You all hated him.

Then name a similar profile of player then. Nicholas Jackson? Who did Arsenal start up top today? Btw our CB options are among the weakest in the top 7. Villa have Konsa, their captain, Pau, Carlos and Lenglet. We have Schar, Botman, Lascelles, Burn, Dummett. It’s much weaker. We need a CB before a striker. We need a winger before a striker. We need a LB

CB LB RW Id ship a left back. Unless we sell I’m ok with the rest.

We need some athleticism in defence for sure.

Are we getting our midfield back this season? Big Joe is so important

Got a triple up. A clean sheet here would give me 3 hauls.

No European football means spurs won’t fall apart. Going out the FA Cup helps Villa imo. A deep run in the conference though could help with a collapse. But I just don’t see a collapse. And I don’t see us sorting out our defensive frailties enough to go on a big run.

Have you not described Anthony Gordon?

Wilson and Isak have both been rushed back from injury early - look to have played close to 90 minutes when both visibly unfit to do so. We need to more proactively rest them and perhaps alter the tactics so that they can cope with the workload expected. Neither Isak or Wilson seem capable to play Howe ball 90 minutes game after game. Howe needs to adapt a little imo as we’ll struggle to find 2 better goalscorers. We need our CM unsuspended and a RW. That would mean our wingers would be New RW, Gordon, Barnes, Almiron, Joelinton, Murphy. That would free up Gordon to get rest and *proactively* fill in for Isak and Wilson to ease the load.

Liverpool are only doing so through injury. But Klopp is happier playing Gomez at FB than ever before. Liverpool and Spurs are also by the weakest defensive teams in that top 5.