The College Dropout

We drastically overpaid because we were panicked

Nah it was panic. £55m for Wissa is desperate desperate stuff.

Gordon, Livramento, Tonali were bought for £40m in total or more. England internationals, won cups, CL qualification you would assume add-ons have been met. All of these are successes. They would all be sold for a profit. Including Hall, £33m after 12 senior appearances. We spent a premium on all of those. I’m happy for us to do that if the club really believe in the signing. We saw in the doc - Ashworth, Howe, Staveley all really believed in Gordon. IMO he had not shown to be worth that money based on output or even talent imo but they all believed he would be. Everyone said we overspent on Gordon, Hall, Tonali, Isak etc. but we really believed. Again - we were going for players 1-2 years before the other big 6 clubs would. We need to get back into that. We took risks on high talent players. We were signing all the players the top 6 just weren’t quite convinced on. Instead we pivoted to players that were definitely never capable of being close to that elite level (in the main)

Not doubting this may have been the idea. But it always looked like a bad idea. Nobody thought Ramsey or Elanga would be that bit of quality to really solidify us as CL chasers. Especially compared to Tonali, Isak, Bruno at the time of their signing.

It's extremely tight. I have literally a few more points than you but deep into the top 10. Depending on how today goes I could fall out the top 10 completely. There's a bit of a gap to the top 5. Currently 85k. Would love to beat my second-best finish of 64k. My best finish of 6k (did I mention I won the NO league that year?) is too far gone. Anything lower than the top 100k and I would be disappointed.

Better season this. The Chanp isnt in the running to win it this year but I would be disappointed if I don’t finish in the top 10.

That goal in the CL final is one of my favourites. Silky build up then he just dinks it with the outside of his foot over Dudek. Criminal they lost that final. Think Crespo was one of the few not to get the get back CL 2 years later.

Elanga has abilities. Once he gets going on can beat a man, decent off both feet, quick. But he’s never a player. His touch is too bad. His general control of the football is too bad. Same way Murphy is just not a player that’s the same for Elanga. Both have genuine abilities. But still m… neither have ever been a player a day in their life.

My biggest fear with PIF is that they are demanding owners that don’t provide ppl with what they need to succeed. Forever chopping and changing managers, DOFs, CEOs. That will end in relegation.

Agreed. This is why I’m in no rush to sell Gordon. There’s lots of business to be done as is. Im actually less concerned about squad age. We could do with another leader out there.

I agree with this. But where we need better players the most is CM, ST, RW etc.

The entire summer transfer business and this season’s approach has made me question how Eddie views the game. I always thought the profile was wrong. Nevermins ability or lack thereof

Those are highlights. We’ve seen flashes of great play for us. Also seen a lot of miscontrolled balls. It was obvious from game 1. This is not a player.

This. Never been a massive fan. But I don’t think he will be easy to replace. We’ve shown no transfer acumen in about 3 years. Not in a rush to move him on at all

Both Gordon and Barnes have contributed a lot to teams that have finished in the top 8 and won cups. They aren’t bad players or below our level. I don’t think either are world beaters but both are decent players for this level. Neither Barnes or Gordon will be easy to replace. Theres a reason 1 is going to the World Cup for England, linked to Liverpool and Bayern and the other is in the conversation to go. There are not loads of top class wide players floating around. And again - we have much weaker areas of the squad to address. Elanga and Murphy are not good enough for this level and the priority should be improving them. We lack quality in midfield. We lack any quality upfront. We may only have 1 fullback in August. Like I wouldn’t want to buy a LW unless Gordon really wants to move.

I would like to keep Barnes and Gordon and get better players to play on the right.

I’m Howe in. But if he looks like he only has 1 idea and the players can’t be motivated to execute it at all through to the end of the season then it gets really tough. Klopp has some really bad seasons at Dortmund and a couple at Liverpool. These lows are really low.

I think he’s like Jenas. Technically very solid, Jenas a stronger athlete and presence but both mobile. But Jenas was just passive. Jenas was often at his best against superior opposition because he was forced to play. Better players would test his touch, press him, run at him. And he would show he could play. But against most opposition when Jenas has to make the play and take the game to them, he just wouldn’t. Games would pass him by just not doing very much. Ramsey is similar in those regards. He’s a good and talented footballer. But he’s not going to be a difference maker. Basically has no footballing personality. Anita was just shit. Couldn’t compete physically in midfield. Not enough ability on the ball to compensate m, nowhere near actually. Probably worse than Colback.

Anita was absolutely shit.

That wasn’t a bottling performance. Actually unlucky there.

But specifically with Howe - it would. We’ve seen it. I actually think you are both right. You can’t keep our coaching continual mismanagement at the top. I fully agree. And this is the biggest reason I want to keep Eddie, coaching I think is the final piece. Everything else needs to be right. But Eddie’s limitation as a coach and a footballing mind are also being exposed. He does need people to push him in different directions.

We don’t have technically gifted players though. He does seem to avoid them too.

I think Howe needs to try something just a little different and playing Nick as a supporting striker and attempting to play through him some is the path he should take. because there’s no other options. Or we can just try to run super hard again.

I also agree he has some talent. But I don’t think he has enough talent to make up for his shortcomings. At least with How Howe wants to play. Legit a Fulham where they play a bit more. He could find something good.

Is a nice touch and some nice lay offs enough for a top 8 PL attacker? Thats Zirkzee, a 20 minute bench player imo. IMO in the PL you can be a budget Drogba and be a really useful player. Half PL strikers fit that build. A budget Berbatov? That doesn’t work here.