The College Dropout

One of those. Fine to give it. Fine not to give it imo.

I’ll say it. Issa dive. The jump would make me not give it.

Any English player who gets game time at a trad big 6 club gets a call up. @ RICO Lewis

Yeh maybe. But Colo has a better career in this era than he did back then. The football is better suited to his strengths and would expose his weaknesses less. Whether he would be better than Schar, I don’t know. I don’t think they are miles apart talent wise. Schar is in a better team, better suited league, better club and is maximising his talents.

Without City Man U win 2 PL titles post Fergie mind.

Easy. Either the owner has it and can prove it and is legally binded to use it. Or they don’t. Or is that too simple?

I think they will increase the limits. £30m loss per year is too small. Most owners won’t want to drastically spend like that anyway. It probably best something curtails Forest’s spending as well. Can their owners sustain more losses?

Man City don’t get to where they are without being able to spend crazy amounts of money. They currently have a top 5 academy in the world because of the wealth of their owners. Same with Chelsea. They have a production line of talent they can sell and make their net spend look promising. They have a multi club model where City sign players, loan them To Giroma the other club Abu Dhabi own and then pocket the increase in sell on. None of this is possible without insane wealth. We’ll end up the same. It will just take 7+ years to come to fruition. City aren’t curtailed by FFP currently.

There's a wage cap in La Liga btw. I think it's linked to revenue or some system.

The PL would be awful without FFP right - dominated by 1 team. So glad that hasn't happened. The three clubs that have finished runners-up are the three most successful in English football history. Fantastic competition. Keep it up. More... of the same please.

I wouldn't have believed Schar could play in a back 4, in a high-line. I would've described him in similar terms to Colo before Eddie. Poor in the air, slow, not the strongest physically. But a good ball player. In this era if a defender can get the ball aggressively or smartly up the pitch - he doesn't need to be the strongest or quickest. Especially if the defensive line is well coached. They are often not marking a particular striker either. Physicality is much less important in this era as a CB. Lisandro Martinez was the best defender for the team that kept the most clean sheets last season. Lisandro Martinez doesn't make it in the PL as a CB in 2001. I refuse to believe it. This is a different era. Different skills are needed. Even Johnny Evans. His style is much better suited to this era. Less physical. More intelligence, interceptions and ball-playing. He wouldn't want to see Shola Ameobi & Demba Ba in 2-man attack though. I sometimes watch Rio's podcast and he talks about it a lot. It's a different era for CBs - much less physical and less touch defending with strikers, less autonomy to lead others. But a lot more demanding in terms of understanding the game and playing with the ball.

Shane Long played with a partner up-top - right up against the CB. Shane Long wouldn't play up against Colo in 2023. He would be stuck out on the wing. I was never Colo's biggest fan but the 4-4-2 era, deep line.. didn't suit him

Southgate wouldn’t have had Bruce or Pardews career.

Generally, I agree with your point that expectations have changed. And a lot of those changes are different rather than being better. Example I think the requirements at CB are different today but not necessarily making today's CBs better. I think Colo would have a better PL career today. More emphasis on playing football and interceptions, reading danger - less emphasis on physical strength, less contested headers etc. But Goalkeeping today more talent. Fullback too. You still need all the traditional skills but now you need other things or be so good at the traditional things that it doesn't matter. And even 15/20 years ago I thought Given was over-rated. The best GKs in his era all had one thing in common. They commanded their area. Given never did that.

No top team has GKs the profile of Given. The GK role has evolved far beyond what Given could do. He was a great shot-stopper and consistent. What else was he good at? - Distribution and generally bad with his feet - He didn't command his area or collect crosses often - Sweeper keeper, absolutely not - Penalty saving record was woeful That's why there's so few top keepers in today's game. They have to do a lot more. That's what makes Pope such a great keeper. Great at the traditional stuff (penalties, shot stopping, commanding his area) and he can sweep it up. If he was good with his feet / on the ball he would be one of the best in the world.

IMO I agree with the poster who said yes to a wage bump. No extension. He'll be 32ish when his current deal is done.

No he doesn’t. The good shot stopper and not much else Arsenal had plays for Fulham now. Man U’s is a free agent.

De Gea is a better shot stopper than Given. He’s a free agent. He was let go and hasn’t been signed by any top club because he’s rooted to his line, doesn’t collect crosses, can’t save penalties and is bad with his feet. He’s a better version of Given and he was replaced by someone that can play football. Thats the way of the modern game. No top team has a GK the profile of Given anymore. GKs these days for top clubs have 2 of these or almost 3: Good on the ball Shot stopper claims crosses / commanding sweeper keeper so teams can play a high line Given is only good at 1 of these.

Shay did an interview with Pope at the driving range. The difference in size in significant.

Massive. Given was too small to command his box. Pope deals with a little more issues at source. It’s not close for me I’ll be honest. Given was an elite shot stopper and was v. consistent. Pope is about equal a shot stopper, far better on crosses, far better off his line and can save penalties. Given might not even be a PL goalkeeper in this era. Or at least not one of the better ones.

Think Pope is better than Given pound for pound. Shay was rooted to his line.

There should be strict measures to ensure owners can sustain losses. We don’t need FFP for that. Things like heavy leveraged takeovers should be banned. That risks clubs existence.

Aye and FFP is one of the main instruments.

How so? Theres only 3 European clubs (us, PSG, City) that could spend gazillions. The rest are largely commercial endeavours that need to limit spending for financial viability. PSG have already made Ligue 1 anti competitive and are poorly run. City have gamed the system. They can do whatever they want under FFP anyway because they have a top 3 academy in the world and a manager that doesn’t love superstar players. And us.

FFP is anti competitive. I don’t support it at all.