The College Dropout

As you say, SBR was an open goal. We would've fallen faster if he wasn't around. We were rarely even linked to promising managers, either. I'm confident Steve Bruce knocked us back twice. And when we sacked a manager, there was never another manager lined up. Even the Bobby thing was done poorly. It was confirmed he was leaving at the end of that season, I believe - did we have a succession plan? Did we fuck. RIP Shephard. At least he tried. I don't want to be overly critical of a dead man who I think tried his best. We had good training facilities. He tried to appease the fans.

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway. Hindsight is 20/20.

This is it. A little problem we have is we want to continue to pass the ball to someone else and eventually (a) Tripps or Bruno can find a cute ball to someone in space that can do damage or (b) Joelinton/Willock/Isak can glide/brutalise past someone to get into a dangerous position. I'd like to see Gordon go on the outside a bit more and cross it with his left. He has that ability.

This is based on this season in the PL. He's a very safe passer but not a creative or progressive passer. Doesn't make a lot of passes in general. He's perhaps improved as a dribbler but for a PL winger, he's bang average at it. That's fine, we knew that. He seems to be sniffing chances out and taking them. He should continue his very good goalscoring form.

I agree with this fully. We can blow teams away. Literally - blow the hinges and collapse the whole building with our power. When it works, we can run up the numbers both in Xg and actual goals because we have finishers now too. That takes a lot of effort, physically and mentally. Those lads that you mention - have been great for us - but it's a lot of hard-running to win matches. Without Bruno & Isak our play lacks the craftsmanship of a typical top side.

We went from 4th (71 points) 3rd (69 points) to 5th (56 points). So there was a fairly big drop off in results and performances. But - wrongly IMO - there was this feeling that we should be doing much better. Klopp went from 92 points or something to 68 points or something. But the Liverpool fans and board believe in Klopp and he would've been afforded a fairly slow start to this season. Some of the fans and Shephard did not have faith in Bobby. And that was us done as a top PL club. That night at home against Partizan Belgrade was a real sliding doors moment for the club. The defeat shifted the mood in the club and meant resources were pulled back. Fundamentally, we were overly reliant on SBR (& Shearer). And they were ageing giants who were not at the top of their games. Shephard didn't know what he was doing. He was not half as competent as he thought, and he was overly involved, considering his limitations as the club leader/owner/ceo. In that same era - Levy came into power at Spurs. Levy isn't perfect. He has made a lot of mistakes at Spurs - particularly early on. But he does know how to run a football club and Spurs were always going to have success with him. It took him 3-4 years to overtake us and they haven't looked back until PIF. This is what makes me happy about our situation. The Saudi money is excellent and needed. But Staveley and co. are competent business people who know how to run a football club. We could lose Bruno, we could lose Eddie and hire a dud - they will get it right eventually and get it right more times than they get it wrong. We are on the up and up.

I don't agree with this like. We had decent teams but a lot of people hyped up some dross - Anita, Mbemba, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon

Where are you drawing the line? I think we need another player that can make line-breaking passes & create. I don't want another type like Werner. We've got 4 players that can score off scraps and good finishes when everyone is fit. Gordon, Barnes, Isak, Wilson. What does Werner bring that those lads don't? IMO we need someone in the Cole Palmer, Maddison, Dom Szob mould. A passer and a creator. Maybe we get 2 players for those 2 things. A Neves type (passer) and a Neto type (a creator) but the all in one is best. We really need that. Lascelles has been top. But a side that is serious about playing European football regularly needs 3 first-choice CBs. You can't afford a dip in quality at CB due to 1 injury. We have that. Lascelles is good money at 4th.

They've started to keep clean sheets again.

Nkunku soon come. Don’t know if he’s the answer but he’s an option. Jackson will only get better too.

I think they have a consistent style of play. It just doesn't consistently work in terms of goals. They typically don't concede many, keep the ball a lot, don't create tons of chances and miss more chances than they should.

They look good when teams come to play _ City & Arsenal. But against low-blocks, teams happy to sit back and hit them on the counter. I've not seen it from them consistently. The next 3 are tough on paper but good for them stylistically. It's the following 6 that look easy for them but they've struggled to deal with all season. If they pick up many points over the next 9 - they'll deservedly be in the mix. Until they start beating who they should routinely - I'm not believing it yet. They've had false dawns before but you expect Poch to get it right. Howe would've had them flying by now btw.

I agree with that. I liked him but he's not impressed in front of goal at RBL since he's gone back either. I think we need a different profile of player - a playmaker.

Germsn players have excellent PR. Lad has been bad for 3 years. Kicked out of Chelsea. Now Leipzeig want rid after 18 months.

I couldn't believe that Kasami volley when I saw it. Think it was a Sky game and that Palace manager's last game before he resigned. When a goal like that is scored against you when you really need a result, destiny is against you.

Biggest W is Germany at Home in the Euros. The next best result would be Colombia or Denmark. It's weak. In that time.. Italy, in a nadir generation, have beaten Spain, Belgium & England (a). France have beaten England, Argentina, Croatia, Uruguay, Belgium Even Belgium have beaten Portugal, Brazil and England twice in major tournaments in that time. And Martinez got a lot of stick for his performances.

Aye.

Again - we've had as good a run of fixtures as possible. But I agree.. we were one win away from maximising that spell. Timo Werner available? Then he's flopped at Leipzeig. I would avoid. I think this team needs another playmaker. We've got 2 proper strikers and a really good inverted forward who should get goals even off scraps. But we only have 1 playmaker, and he's deep-lying.

Arsenal win was huge. And we picked up points on the road in challenging fixtures. But we've also had an extremely nice run over the last 8.

Both of us have had good-great fixtures. The fixtures stiffen for Villa until Christmas. I expect them to fall back a little. I do not expect them to repeat that form over the next 8 or even close. They will want to still be in that pack by Christmas.

Spent a pretty penny at Chelsea too.

I only listen to ex footballer podcasts and tactical stuff now. And FPL content. Most good FPL pods know more about the PL than most journalists. They look at data and fixtures which really helps. Acrually some banter stuff for the lols too. I stopped listening to journalist led podcasts in the main. Too pretentious. Spread too thin.

The Obi One (Wan). His interview of Terry was interesting. Terry is super narcissistic as you would expect. Obi seemed in love with him though and it sounds like the Chelsea players in general really liked and respected him. But he’s obviously a prick.

A 3rd choice LB over a first choice RW is brazy. I think the lad is 4th choice now. I think we pegged his readiness too high. And I think that will hurt us this season.

I don't think so. There's always quality players around. I would've been happy with Palmer, Szob, Maddison - all less than Isak. If he could stay fit, i'd take Neto.