The College Dropout

We over commit a lot against 10 men. We can bore this game out.

McCoist is an idiot. He looks at him. Forearm smash to the face. No attempt at the ball. Red of all reds.

It’s a red all day.

2 wins and we are in the CL. Forest and Chelsea both can’t maximise their points.

CL is massive for me. No point keeping Isak and co. to be in the same position next year. Get in the CL and build this team out.

Always thought we needed to beat Chelsea and Everton to secure CL football. Nothing has changed. The Amex point was a good one

Was always going to be needed

Yeh Villa likely getting 69 points. Good draw at the Amex. Beat Chelsea and Everton to secure CL football.

Fancy Joe to come back in. Doesn’t really matter about Chelsea’s team. We’ve beaten better teams without Joe this season already. We have to win. I trust that we will.

I hate this middle one.

Don't really care. Don't stick with the NUF C One though. I dislike that one

Logically speaking - it must impact summer spending. CL is a minimum of £50m guaranteed. You'd have to win the Europa League to get close to that. And I'm sure there's bonuses from sponsors and an increase in sponsorship demand and FMV. But it's not Eddie's job to worry about that

Still got 2 years left on his contract and is already on massive wages.

I've more confidence in beating Chelsea at home than getting a point at the Emirates. Your scenario also leaves the door open for Villa potentially. Fuck that. Beat Chelsea and we have 2-swings at securing CL football, all in our hands.

Not at all. I'm more bulish than most about our chances of beating Chelsea. Just an interesting stat.

https://theanalyst.com/2025/05/champions-league-qualification-race-man-city-newcastle-chelsea-nottingham-forest-aston-villa "To add a further worry, one of their most important players could be missing for these two games, as Joelinton is still struggling with a knee injury. When he missed a three-game sequence against Man City, Forest and Liverpool back in February, Newcastle conceded nine goals – 20% of their total for the whole season."

We'll have to see how the other results go. But we have the hardest GW37 fixture by a distance and we play last from the bunch. I expect 7th place will have 64 points minimum by 4pm of GW37 Saturday. That's massive pressure on us, if we are also on 64 points. For me it's been clear what we need to do to secure the CL from since the League Cup final. We've dropped points when I expected we might and we've won every game we needed to win. Chelsea & Villa have picked up the points they should've got in that time too so there's no massive margin for error. I thought we needed to beat Chelsea then and I've never changed my mind. I thought it might be the death knell for Chelsea, while it won't be that - it will be a hammer blow. You're right it's not over if we don't beat them. But I can't stand that mentality. It's a must-win. Always has been for me. I want the players thinking the same thing and I'm sure they will. I think we are readying Big Joe for precisely that reason.

The biggest threat would be a Forest-Chelsea draw that see's them both qualify with 68-69 points on the last day.

I don't buy this at all. There's loads of variables in the number of matches elite players can play. And the average is much closer to 700, and the best of the best are consistently closer to 900 (think Modric, Kroos, Iniesta, Xavi). I do think explosive players tend to peak earlier in their careers and tend to be more injury-prone due to the stress explosiveness has on muscles and joints. Precocious talents also tend to have more personalities that don't prioritise lifestyle and training. But most of them still end up around 700 top-level games like Neymar and Hazard. When the lifestyle is well-aligned they can do more like the Messi, Ronaldo's, even to Lukaku

Why is thos its own thread? Delete and merge with another IMO. As to the point - teams are getting younger but not to a teenage level typically. Inter are in the final with the oldest team since 2017. A lot of the modern game requires elite athleticism which leans towards a younger profile. I really like the mix of youth and experience our team has. I wouldn't want to become a Spurs that lacks leadership and authority. Happy to continue our transfer approach and wouldn't mind the odd older signing.

I didn't. Was always going to be a bonus. Liverpool winning the league and a good win at Fulham tilted my perspective on Chelsea. They've got a good chance of making it, I expected them to finish 6th/7th. We should beat them. But i expect they will still be in the race come GW38 with a win probably enough to secure it. We need to beat Chelsea man. Not beating Chelsea opens the gates for a GW38 draw that would see both Forest & Chelsea qualify, which we need to avoid.

It's a lot of change because you want to rotate 1 player. IMO we need to sign another first-choice athletic midfielder. We need a viable alternative to Tonali/Joelinton that is a similar profile but a level above Willock/Longstaff. The powerfulness, the combativeness, the athleticism, that's our CMs USP. We need more in that mould, Longstaff and Willock have the athleticism but not the other pieces. Miley has the technical elements but doesn't impose himself physically on games. I like the idea of Hall in midfield but not a Joelinton replacement. For me, Miley and maybe Hall can be Bruno replacements/rotations. Or we can sign Angel Gomes for similar. I've heard some pundits mock/laugh at Joe/Bruno celebrating tackles but it's a massive psychological factor for us and the opposition when Joelinton hunts down a man on the ball, stops him from doing what he wants to do through sheer force and power and is there growling and shouting in victory. Like he loves it. Most DMs these days aren't even built like that and the attacking ones don't like it either,

Chelsea aren't good but they will have grown in confidence. But I'm confident we can and will beat them.

Big Joe is so playing again this season. Maybe even Sunday. Start and win against Chelsea. See you in July.

They need a physical monster in that back line ala Walker. Pep also liked a fairly small squad, so Tino’s positional flexibility is a big bonus.