The College Dropout

It’s going to take some time for us to leverage that type of thing regularly. Gravenberch is a little like Isak or Coutinho in that he was a wonder kid who had a big move that didn’t entirely pan out. Still young enough to become a top talent. Liverpool can spend €40m euros on him without massive pressure. FFP makes that a big transfer for us and we would want to be more risk averse atm. But we need calculated gambles on undervalued assets. And of course the academy is leagues behind. Curtis Jones would be our best youth product in 30 years. He’s not even top 5 for Liverpool. Maybe not even top 10 yet.

Aye last season we had bad injuries but Schar, Bruno, Gordon and Isak were among the best in the league. Not the case this season.

That falls on the DOF though.

We’ve built a squad without a 10 and without a RW.

The individual signings are good. But strategically it doesn’t make any sense given FFP. And neither did chasing Guehi.

Unless something big change with PSR - that was always going to be the case though.

Massive chance like. Likely even. Brighton have so much more depth than us. Our squad is so imbalanced. £60m players in some positions and lads that would struggle to get another PL big deputising.

I think european football this season was always going to be difficult given our ffp position. Keeping all of our purples but not adding to them always ran the risk of stagnation.

I think 8th is about par. But there’s a lot of head wind this season. That positive armosphere we had around the club for about 2 years has absolutely gone. It gave everyone a huge lift. This season feels a a bit SBR 5th season.

Decent test of our level this.

I’m not sure this is true. If he was available for free would Wolves or Brentford Sign him? I believe we made it known we would entertain offers for Miggy. No PL club came in for him seemingly.

He's almost 27. We would give him what? Another year? Maybe 2? Anything between £5-10m would be a good fee for him. Is it worth keeping him for that? The annoying thing, is we don't have a natural replacement for him lined up. Maybe we do give him another year, just so he can really start sharing minutes with Miley.

I liked Carsley tbh. Took some risks. Promoted lads did well for him at U21s. But if you decide to go for the best coaches. The list of semi suitable English ones is short. In terms of cup wins. International FA System managers and old boys seems to win the most. We don’t have a decent old boy option since the Redknapp era. Carsley was the system option.

It’s the usual NO pattern. When Sissoko first joined people attributed his lack of pass accuracy to other team mates not making themselves available. Then it Swang the other way and he became worse than shit to people.

When was the last time a fit Joelinton was benched? On Sandro - I didn’t have heady ambitions for him. And he’s yet to hit best case scenario due to the ban. When he joined, his data suggested he could be loose in possession and he’s proving that. I’m not going to blame others for something he’s shown his entire career. I was hoping for physical dominance, creativity and a higher technical floor than a Longstaff or Joelinton. Haven’t seen all of that just yet. But we’ve seen good signs.

Everyone remembers the asterisks against Greece winning Euros or Chile winning 2x Copa’s with foreign managers. Saying all this I do agree the England manager should be English. But in reality, if not Howe or Carsley (just to promote the system), Tuchel is a good appointment.

I’ve made an indifferent start. And now I want Foden.

In the sense the players job is to play for their clubs. The clubs pay their salary and are their literal employers. They are selected to represent their country and can be dropped at any time. There’s no obligation either way. The England manager position is a literal job. Employment rights and laws etc. and obligations. Random: I swear I saw Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in the England coaching setup at the Euros.

It’s looking bleak. I’m a big fan of the lad.

Managing England is a job. Playing for England isn’t.

Less DGWs this season. And a new unknown chip. Haaland (H) against any bottom half team is a TC candidate imo. Wildcard into Bench boost is best DGW route. Or a free hit alternative.

It might/should be illegal to mandate a football job be given to a British person. Playing is different aye.

Did they even try? With him existing he’s still a factor. The lack of viable English coaches is a massive factor too. I would’ve been tempted to give it Carsley just because.

The only viable English manager was Howe. Maybe Potter. Potter vs Tuchel is almost a philosophical choice. 1 is better qualified . The other is likely to be a better cultural fit (including personality here). Eddie would be the standout. Managed at every level of the English game. Prefers British based players and has a modern style that is also very British at the same time. As much pedigree as 90% of international managers in modern club football. If not him there’s big sacrifice to make. And they sacrificed nationality and depth of knowledge of the English game.

Agree with all this.