The College Dropout

In the Ashley days it was first-team and then backups. In this era it's stars and first-team then backups. With like 4 backups for each area of the pitch. Not 8 or 9 backup players, that squad can't compete on multiple fronts. You need about 18 first-teamers. The top squads in the PL have about that.

We'll likely play 50+ games next season. Barnes will get lots of minutes. I expect we'll have 5 first-team attackers for 3 positions. The non-preferred 2 will play loads. Darwin Nunez is the 6th choice attacker for Liverpool - he's played 22 games in full worth of minutes. Making 45 appearances. Curtis Jones is the 4th choice CM, he's played 25 full games worth of minutes. It's going to cost £40m to replace Barnes. And that player will need time to get Howe'd. I just don't expect a massive turnover of players. Unless we have to because of FFP, which I don't it will. CL is £50m minimum these days. Then we can exploit FMV to our advantage with new deals.

I don't think we need all of that at all. I don't see a world where we sign 9 first-team players for a 25-man squad. We've got a winning culture in the squad, we won't look to revamp it in one summer window. GK (with one leaving) RB - no need to buy here unless Trippier is leaving. Krafthu is staying another year. CB - only need one. Schar, Botman, Burn, New CB, expect Lascelles to stay on too. LB - Maybe if we sell Targett or it's a free transfer. Why would you spend money on a third choice LB? CM - again probably only 1 if we think Miley can step up. Expect one of Longstaff or Willock to be sold - not both. RW - Yep there's an open squad role for that. Might also need to play ST. ST - Only think we can get someone if there's a great deal to be had or a free transfer. Why would you spend big money on a back-up striker?

The Champ has put in a horrible title defence. Aiming for a top 25 finish in the NO league. First time in a number of seasons I won't have finished in the top 10.

Unless we really need the money I don’t understand selling Barnes

Think Semenyo would give us something a bit different. Mbeumo I think is a superior version of what we already have at LW. He's a forward rather than a midfielder. I'd prefer another midfielder type that can graft.

Hojlund doesn't have anything to his game to suggest he'll be a top player IMO. Like Delap is overpowered physically. Isak's touch and composure is tops. Jackson and Nunez always seem to find chances. Hojlund? Doesn't have the sniff, average physically, average mentally.

I remember at least 2 goals he just got done by some good movement from an attacker. A goal conceded against Chelsea by Havertz springs to mind. He was great but - he was one of the weakest links. This season - he’s been our best central defender. He wasn’t better than Schar in those 6 months. He’s been better than Schar easily. Been better on the ball. A bigger aerial threat. He’s gone to another level. I wouldn’t have thought then we could get CL with a BurnxSchar defence

He’s been better at CB than when he first joined.

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.